We are publishing the newsletter earlier than usual to keep everyone abreast of the latest developments.

 

1. Results from Court Hearing on July 10, 2019

Our attorneys report the following results which are very positive for the District.  Hearings were held today in the original Garrett lawsuit and the bond validation lawsuit.  In addition, prior to the hearing the Court advised all attorneys to be prepared to discuss why the most recent lawsuit filed by Garrett (filed last week), should or should not be expedited.

The first matter taken up by the Court was the County’s motion for protective order/limit discovery related to the County Commissioners, County Attorney, assistant County Attorney, and staff.  After listening to extensive argument (close to an hour), Judge Nicholas agreed to limit the discovery sought from the County.  He is allowing Mr. Garrett to take only two depositions limited to three hours each of the two County staff members that prepared the report.  He is not allowing the depositions of any commissioners.  He did indicate that after the initial two depositions are taken, Garrett can come back and ask for additional depositions if he can show a need.

The second matter taken up by the Court were the case management conferences.  The primary purpose from the District’s perspective was to get the cases set for a date certain final hearing.  After considerable argument by Garrett’s attorney about not knowing how much time or when it could be scheduled, Judge Nicholas indicated that the cases need to reach the end and his assistant will contact the attorneys and provide two or three days in November for the final hearing.

Prior to the hearing Judge Nicholas told the attorneys to be prepared to discuss expediting the motion for temporary injunction in the new lawsuit, he ultimately said there was not sufficient time and that he would not take it up.  The injunction cannot be entered without a hearing.  As a result, the District is free to move forward with its current course of conduct on the special assessments, until a hearing is held and the Court rules in favor of Garrett.  There was no indication by Judge Nicholas on setting any such hearing.

Finally, you all should have received a copy of the affidavit of Robin Disabatino.  This affidavit was raised throughout the hearing on the County’s motion and did not seem to impress the Judge.  I cannot speculate as to why Ms. Disabatino signed such an affidavit.  I can say that it contains a great deal of legal conclusions that are ultimately not the subject of testimony but are for the Judge to determine (in fact the Judge has already ruled that the Commission has the authority to grant the additional powers that were granted by way of his ruling denying Garrett’s motion for summary judgment).

2. Progress on the $1,000 Special Assessment

 The District has collected over $200,000 in special assessments.  As you know, these funds will be used to pay for legal expenses to defend against the Garrett suits, for District operating expenses and to repay the $350,000 short term line of credit.

A problem has developed with the post office’s delivery of our mailed notices.  We received a number of envelopes returned to us with the notice “Temporarily Away”.  It is unclear why the post office did not forward this mail as they did with other mailings.  Nevertheless, we are taking the following actions to deal with this challenge:

  • The District will extend the deadline for the assessment payment 30-days to August 31, 2019.
  • We will aggressively seek to contact all those whose notice was returned to us.  Please note that the District explicitly followed the provisions of Chapter 170 posting notices using the official addresses from the property appraiser’s office.  That said, we will take extraordinary actions to be sure that all property owners receive notice of the assessment.

If you are out of the country or haven’t received your O&M Statement, the letters for O&M assessments and for the assessments for the proposed BAN are available on the District’s website: http://universityparkrd.com/letters.  The O&M Statement is dated 07-01-2019

3. Workshop on July 9, 2019

 At the workshop, Mr. Ludmerer reviewed where we are today and how the Garrett lawsuit has increased costs and prohibited us from moving forward with the acquisition of the Club and developing plans for the future. Mr. Ludmerer also clarified the fact that we have never received a settlement proposal from Mr. Garrett and his attorneys.  Subsequently, Mr. Garrett told those present he would settle his suit if the District would promise not to impose any more assessments without a referendum vote.  Mr. Smith summarized his extensive efforts to settle the suit with Mr. Garrett, all to no avail.  Mr. Barnebey reminded Mr. Garrett that the District’s offers to settle the suit have been ignored so far.  Further, if Mr. Garrett is serious about his offer, then he must have his attorney formally provide his settlement offer to the District.

4. Responses to UP Concerned Residents

 The District will no longer respond to every email and claim by the UP Concerned Citizens.The Board recognizes that this group of disgruntled residents represents a very small minority of the community and is instigated by Mr. Garrett. The District will only respond when it is deemed absolutely necessary.

5. Subscribing to the Newsletter

 We now have over 500 subscribers to the newsletter.  Subscribing is easily done through the website. If you have trouble subscribing, please send an email to uprdmessage@universityparkrd.com

6. Commitment to Completing the Acquisition of the Club

The District continues to move forward and is steadfast in it’s determination to do what we were elected to do, which is purchase UPCC in the best way that we agree is possible.  Unless there is a settlement we expect that this will have to play out in the courts which will take months; so we urge those residents who continue to support the District to keep up their support and encourage their neighbors who might be out of town to follow the news on the District web site (universityparkrd.com), through the UPRD Newsletter, and the Transitions Newsletter. The District owes a great level of gratitude to the many people who have assisted us over the past year in providing their talents and time on District matters.

7. Up Coming Meetings

Regular Meeting           1:00  pm         July 12                   Lakeside Room
Special Meeting            10:00 am       July 23                   Card Room
Workshop                      10:00 am       August 6                Card Room
Special Meeting             3:30 pm        August 13               Lakeside Room
Workshop                       8:00 am       September 6           Card Room
Regular Meeting            1:00 PM       September 13         Lakeside Room
Workshop                      10:00 am      September 24         Card Room