Deerfield News Connection

March 25, 2024

 

HOA Transition Delays 

 

After the most recent letter to the community, dated March 12th, we received many visitors and questions through our webpage. In fact, this year alone, our webpage has been viewed more than 5,000 times. As it is our intent to share documents and information within the community, our website is constantly being updated. Please see answers to one of the questions we received below.

 

Why has there been such a delay in moving the HOA forward?

 

We know there is frustration within our community that the HOA has not moved forward. Two primary reasons for the delay are addressed below. 

 

Mediation Agreement

 

This agreement was executed and agreed to by the Defendants at the end of June 2023. You may recall, Scott Fields posted a FB message saying that both parties came to agreement on certain terms via a Mediation Agreement.  Judge Boniface signed the agreement on December 28, 2023. From that point, there was a 30-day window for the agreed upon items to be completed by both parties, meaning that all terms were to be met by Monday, January 29, 2024. 

 

A review of the approved Mediation Agreement details these obligations:

 

• Plaintiffs to pay all outstanding security & maintenance fees for 2020, 2021, 2022 and 2023.

• Defendants to pay $160,000 in legal fees.

• Defendants to pay all outstanding security & maintenance fees for 2020, 2021, 2022, and 2023.

• Defendants to turn over bank records for 2021, 2022, and 2023.

• Defendants to convey common area back to the Deerfield resort HOA

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The Plaintiffs met their obligation and paid all outstanding fees by mid-January with the Receiver being notified, which was the subject of the March 12th letter to the community. 

 

As of March 24th, the items the Defendants agreed to provide in the Mediation Agreement had not been received.  Because of the refusal of the Fields to honor the settlement agreement, both counsels and the Receiver had to meet to address these deficiencies, repeatedly requesting the missing documents. Beyond the time and money impacts caused by these delays, the homeowners have not been able to move the Deerfield Resort community closer to achieving the homeowner-directed HOA as ordered by the court. Due to this delay, a motion was filed with the court on February 22, 2024, Motion to Compel Performance of Mediation Settlement Agreement. Subsequent to that motion, the Judge has scheduled a hearing for April 2, 2024, at 1:00pm in the Campbell County Chancery court. (Link to Zoom)

 

Bylaws and Covenants, Conditions, and Restrictions (CCRs)

 

The Plaintiffs, Defendants, and the Receiver have been working on Bylaws and CCRs for the transitioned HOA.   By having a proper set of Bylaws and CCR’s, the HOA board can work on management of Deerfield Resort after the board is elected.  During 2023, the parties were essentially in agreement as to the Bylaws. However, now the Defendants and their counsel have indicated their desire to have a limited set of Bylaws.  This is not agreeable with the court- appointed Receiver (or the Plaintiffs). With regards to the CCR’s, the Defendants want language that states that they will still have control of the CCR’s after the board is formed.  This is also unacceptable to the Receiver and the Plaintiffs.  Once the developer turns over control to the board, the developer should not have control over the community, as homeowners through their newly elected board, would then make decisions in the best interest of the community.  This disagreement with the CCR’s has been on-going on for months now and is preventing the community from moving forward. 

 

We will continue to be forthcoming with information and respond to other questions as received.