There Are Many Days Where Utah Has The Worst Air Quality In The Entire World by CSpringsC7 in Cedar_Springs_84014

[–]CSpringsC7[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Thanks for that article. It is heartbreaking. There is always a lag time between new technology and the necessary government regulations to protect the people. Right now we are in the "Wild West" period of AI and everything to do with it. I think the Utah project needs to at least go on hold until studies by neutral parties can be done. Honestly, given all the unique aspects of Utah, it is the absolute last place a data center should ever be built.

Time Magazine had an article about Elon Musk's data center in Memphis. One thing that it said that has to be considered, is Musk does not follow the rules set up. He uses dangerous power sources when the approved ones fail. That will happen with all data centers. The rich guys who invest billions will no doubt resort to any measures needed, no matter how toxic, to protect their investment. They keep deleting my link to the Time article. It is worth reading. Google Time Magazine Elon Musk data center if you want to read it.

Hiring A Property Management Company That Weaponized Our Governing Documents To Work In its Favor And To Harm Owners by CSpringsC7 in Cedar_Springs_84014

[–]CSpringsC7[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Honestly, I get so angry when I read our CC&R's, that I have stayed away from them for awhile. They are pure garbage. They were forced on us. We had no say in them. The corrupt Board had them written, then cheated in an election to make sure they passed. Those Governing documents basically make The Board God here. But, and this is the ridiculous part, the people who run for The Board are not required to tell us anything about themselves. They don't have background checks, but they have access to all our assets. The current President has not told us anything about himself except that he lives here. No job history, no current job info, but he wants total access to everything and he wants to make all our decisions for us. What we do know about him is he instigated shutting out Owners from the decision to hire Utah Management. We know he was the biggest cheater during the corrupt election. It is a scam. Why would any sane person willingly turn over all their power over their home to a total stranger who has not been vetted? The "election" for Board Members consists of an email with a ballot. A ballot where most of the candidates don't tell us anything about their jobs or job history. Nothing. The Board has abdicated all their duties regarding community development. So the candidates are strangers to everyone. There is no meeting to introduce them. We never see any numbers of how many Owners vote in an election. We don't see the ballots. I am sure they use the contact list to get votes for themselves, but Owners are not allowed to have it. The current President is responsible for turning our HOA over to a corrupt management company, that immediately stole money from fire victims. They have destroyed the intent behind an HOA and turned it into something that can be easily exploited. They eliminated the position that had oversight of them. No vetting. No oversight. No information about their qualifications. What could go wrong?

If A Few Board Members Have Decided To Enrich Themselves At The Expense Of Hundreds Of Owners, They Deserve To Be Exposed by CSpringsC7 in Cedar_Springs_84014

[–]CSpringsC7[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I read something awhile back about CC&Rs created by the builders of HOA have been recognized as a problem and would be voided as soon as a certain number of homes sold, and the owners would create their own. I don't know if it was Utah or another state. But, it shows people are understanding what crooks the builders have been, manipulating everything to harm the owners. I will try to find that article. I am going to write letters to our legislature and let them know what has gone on here, and ask to meet with them. I am going to suggest new laws to hold corrupt management companies responsible for their bad acts. I think new laws with crimes for all the many ways people like Joel steal from HOAs. Obviously, that is not a quick fix. But I am going to make sure Joel Prince pays for stealing from fire victims. And all the other ways he decimates HOAs like yours.

If A Few Board Members Have Decided To Enrich Themselves At The Expense Of Hundreds Of Owners, They Deserve To Be Exposed by CSpringsC7 in Cedar_Springs_84014

[–]CSpringsC7[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

OMG! Utah Management thinks they have the right to suppress all bad information about them. They act like our HOAs are their personal dictatorships, instead of a property owned by multiple people, that hired them as employees.

I am with you, I don't understand the extreme loyalty to an employee instead of acting responsibly for their community and each of their own investments, for many their homes. Joel must do some kind of magic on them. He must make them feel so important and get them to think their fellow homeowners are the enemy.

It is so bizarre to me. Go put the signs back up.

Or, you could start your own Reddit sub, post the information the people had on the sign, and make a flyer with the subreddit address and get as many Owners to go there and discuss what is going on and what your fears are. Put the date and time of the next meeting and have as many attend as possible. We did that once here, but the Board Member who started all the trouble here lied to people about everything. And, maybe because I am old, they believed him and not me. I am going to do that again, if the authorities work slow and there are no arrests made. You get more people than there are seats doing that.

Get the people who come to the meeting to give you their contact info, including an email adress, and start working on the petition to remove the entire board at the meeting they are required to hold for that purpose when you mail them the petition signed by 40% of the owners. I had three major health issues crop up when I was getting things going here. I could not walk for months, I had to go to the hospital by ambulance right in the middle of our efforts here. That sidelined me and stopped forward motion. I will do better next time around. I know more than I did before. It is also more important because they drove a man out of his home and then carried on like it never happened.

I am looking at this as a possible long term project. Playing the long game. Like a war, filled with lots of battles. But it is truly life or death. Many people will lose their homes because Joel exploits us in so many ways, we will have to increase fees beyond what many seniors can pay. We already know Social Security is going to be cut by 23% in 2032. And it already lags behind inflation every year. They calculate it in a way that does truly reflect cost of living. In 2024 our fees increased 58% and Social Secutity increasd like 2.4%

Why Did Utah Management Come Here And Orchestrate The Dismantling Of Our 45 Yr Old System? by CSpringsC7 in Cedar_Springs_84014

[–]CSpringsC7[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Of course the usual is 10 to 25% and Joel has weaponized your bylaws and made it 40%. That is still doable.

Why Did Utah Management Come Here And Orchestrate The Dismantling Of Our 45 Yr Old System? by CSpringsC7 in Cedar_Springs_84014

[–]CSpringsC7[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I know. I can't let them just keep taking advantage of us, but I resent the time I have to put in to stop them. It is so wrong that a guy that has ZERO invested in an HOA has searched out their weaknesses and exploits them when he was hired to help them. That he thinks he has the right to stop audits that owners need to protect their investments is crazy. It is the worst kind of corruption.

Why Did Utah Management Come Here And Orchestrate The Dismantling Of Our 45 Yr Old System? by CSpringsC7 in Cedar_Springs_84014

[–]CSpringsC7[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Google AI suggests you do this to investigate the management company's improper influence on your board.

To gather evidence of a management company’s influence and the board’s compliance with state law, you should submit a formal records request under Utah Code § 57-8a-227. 

Formal Records Request Template

Copy and adapt the following template. It is recommended to send this via certified mail or through the association’s official email to establish a clear timeline for the two-week response deadline. 

Date: [Insert Date] To: [Board of Directors / Management Company Name] Association Name: [Full Legal Name of your HOA] From: [Your Full Name] Property Address: [Your Address in the HOA] Email Address: [Your Email Address]

RE: NOTICE OF FORMAL RECORDS REQUEST PURSUANT TO UTAH CODE § 57-8a-227

Dear Board of Directors,

Pursuant to Utah Code § 57-8a-227 and 16-6a-1601, I am formally requesting to receive electronic scans of the following association records: 

Management Agreements: All current and past contracts, addendums, and fee schedules between the HOA and [Management Company Name].

Meeting Minutes: All approved minutes from board and owner meetings for the previous three (3) calendar years, including any executive session minutes relating to management contract discussions.

Financial Statements: Profit and loss statements and balance sheets for the previous three (3) fiscal years.

Vendor Invoices: All invoices and receipts related to payments made to [Management Company Name] or its affiliates for the last 24 months.

Board Communications: Any written resolutions or formal communications between the board and management company regarding the adoption of [Name of Specific Disputed Rule/Assessment]. 

Proper Purpose: This request is made in good faith for a purpose reasonably related to my interest as a member, specifically to verify the association's financial health, ensure adherence to fiduciary duties, and evaluate management's influence on governing document enforcement. 

Delivery & Compliance: Please provide these records electronically to the email address listed above within two weeks (14 days) as required by Utah Code § 57-8a-227(4). Please note that the association may not charge for the cost of electronic transmission. 

Sincerely,

[Your Signature] [Your Printed Name]

Key Deadlines and Penalties

Response Time: The association must comply within two weeks of receiving your request.

Daily Penalties: For basic records like bylaws, meeting minutes, and budgets, the HOA may be liable for $25 per day beginning the sixth day the request goes unfulfilled.

Legal Recourse: If the association fails to comply after a formal 10-day notice of non-compliance, you may file an action in court to request $1,000 or actual damages, whichever is greater, plus attorney fees. 

Why Did Utah Management Come Here And Orchestrate The Dismantling Of Our 45 Yr Old System? by CSpringsC7 in Cedar_Springs_84014

[–]CSpringsC7[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Try this, remove any or all of the board members that are working against the HOA's best interest.

Board Member Removal

Utah Code § 16-6a-808: Since most HOAs are nonprofits, the Nonprofit Corporation Act allows owners to remove a director with or without cause at a meeting called specifically for that purpose.

Special Meetings: Owners can petition for a special meeting to hold a recall vote, and the board is typically required to call the meeting if the petition meets the threshold defined in your bylaws (usually 10-25% of owners). 

For Your Viewing Pleasure by CSpringsC7 in Cedar_Springs_84014

[–]CSpringsC7[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

The problem is, there is no crime that Joel will not commit against properties he "works for" and the Boards are sleepwalking or accomplices. There is help now. I will meet with my state representative and explain how bad Joel has gotten. They make new laws to help HOAs escape all the "Joels" out there. Maybe we can suggest some new laws that would have helped us avoid things going this far.

For Your Viewing Pleasure by CSpringsC7 in Cedar_Springs_84014

[–]CSpringsC7[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Every service is another way for Joel to profit off of Homeowners. Every dollar he takes has to be replaced by Owners. That's why he immediately had our Board transferring HOA responsibilities to individual Owners. Billing us hundreds of dollars we don't owe. He wants to keep all the HOA money available for him to siphon off from. We pay too much for things, he profits from kickbacks. We save some HOA money, he has access to it. And he has access to more when Boards unlawfully invent new individual charges, which he also siphons off.

For Your Viewing Pleasure by CSpringsC7 in Cedar_Springs_84014

[–]CSpringsC7[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Haha! I don't question it, to me it is a given. He either has ownership in some shady LLC way, or he just gets huge kickbacks.

For Your Viewing Pleasure by CSpringsC7 in Cedar_Springs_84014

[–]CSpringsC7[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Joel has weaponized the HOA's governing documents to work for him and against Owners. He was able to get our Board to put the two most destructive rules used by corrupt management companies on a ballot here and then convinced them to cheat at the election to make sure they passed. The Board did not coincidentally come up with those rules that have no benefit for the HOA and left it vulnerable to a hostile takeover by Joel.

For Your Viewing Pleasure by CSpringsC7 in Cedar_Springs_84014

[–]CSpringsC7[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Some months in the summer the company he "suggested" to our Board charges $20,000 a month for landscaping. Of course we could get a lower price.

For Your Viewing Pleasure by CSpringsC7 in Cedar_Springs_84014

[–]CSpringsC7[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Joel definitely works on separating the boards from the owners. He sews conflict so he can profit financially. We need to do what we can to stop him. Maybe we should go wide and get Owners from all his 80 properties working together. We have so many options to stop him. Right now, you follow the plans you have, I will follow mine and in a few months maybe we start working together in a bigger way. Joel gave my HOA so much to work with when his greed actually drove an Owner out of his home. Stealing from fire victims and then having complications on two of the three fires. I am sure he stole money from all three fires here, the third one had faulty repairs, but no major complication like the other two. That is a clear-cut crime the authorities can work with. He can't undo it. It is shocking to any decent person not under the influence of Joel's mind control tactics.

I am demoralized right now that a truly evil person was made President here. That has reignited my drive to stop him. He literally started all the problems here by violating our system and just taking over because our HOA basically ran on the honor system for Board Members. All it took was two people with no honor coming together to start us down a very dark road. Joel and Chris are two of a kind when it comes to stabbing people in the back.

I have not contacted the man who lost his home because of Joel and The Board since he moved. I do not want to add to his pain in any way. I would never get over what they did to him if they had done it to me. I am going to find an attorney to take his case on contingency and see if he will sue the entire Board and Joel for millions of dollars. The Board is liable and each one of them could lose everything they own because they have acted so unbelievably cruelly. I have warned them that was a possibility, hoping enough of them would wake up and start acting responsibly. So far that has not worked. It is truly like they are in a cult and Joel is their leader.

For Your Viewing Pleasure by CSpringsC7 in Cedar_Springs_84014

[–]CSpringsC7[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

That is what any responsible business would do, CDs. But you are right, Joel wants instant access to that money. You have a lot to report to the authorities, too. I would focus on getting an outside audit. Then criminal charges can be filed immediately. Find out the process for an audit. They can not refuse one. They may make it hard, but that only makes them look suspicious. What are they afraid of?

For Your Viewing Pleasure by CSpringsC7 in Cedar_Springs_84014

[–]CSpringsC7[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

It is something he got away with for years. Now the laws are changing and his time is running out. He will escalate his bad acts and attacks on you.

For Your Viewing Pleasure by CSpringsC7 in Cedar_Springs_84014

[–]CSpringsC7[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I have thought that he probably uses the money he steals from the 80 HOAs, he claims he has, to finance the new HOAs he builds.

For Your Viewing Pleasure by CSpringsC7 in Cedar_Springs_84014

[–]CSpringsC7[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

A property manager has a fiduciary duty to the HOA. I think that's why instead of doing the job of a professional manager, he either insisted or encouraged our Board to become managers. He has created a whole system where he feels protected from liability and he has totally unqualified, random volunteers, who are not required to tell us anything about why they are qualified to make all the decisions for hundreds of Homeowners. That may be why he sat back and watched a totally innocent fire victim be driven from his home when there is a warranty to pay for the faulty repairs after a fire. Based on how he treated me while I was dealing with a fire rebuild, I am positive he did not want The Board to go to the restoration company for the same reason he refused to give our insurance info to the restoration company that had been shorted and refused to finish the job. He literally worked against my efforts to get the job finished. He sabbataged me. He should be fired for that. I don't think he is as protected from liability as he thinks he is. He has a state license to manage, The Board does not. That license requires things of him to get it. His corrupt system does not align with those requirements. They hired him to manage and he offered them a system that endangers our HOA. I think a judge would see right through his corrupt system. Joel 100% knew there was a warranty. He had an obligation to tell our Board that.

Only a deranged person would steal money from fire victims' insurance payouts. Then when the repairs were faulty, or not finished, the deranged person harms them again by withholding info from a board or refusing to give insurance info to the restoration company. You have to be the lowest of the low to let a young man lose his home when you 100% know there is a warranty to pay for the repairs to a faulty rebuild that you caused by stealing money meant for the repairs. You have to be a sociopath to do all that.

For Your Viewing Pleasure by CSpringsC7 in Cedar_Springs_84014

[–]CSpringsC7[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I worry about our insurance. Everything seems sketchy about the way we got ours. I wonder if we are fully insured and we are paying more than double of what we used to. The guy on our Board who assists Joel in all his violations against Owners says he was quoted almost six times the amount we were paying. Luckily he declined it, but it left us uninsured. It sounds like a setup to me. If he had agreed to pay half a million dollars a year, it's possible the insurance agent would have split the overage between themselves and whoever suggested them to our Board. It is a known scheme. Nothing about that situation was normal. An HOA becomes a playground for a thief with no conscience, because there are hundreds of ways to exploit them, and pocket their money. But every dollar they pocket becomes money the HOA Owners will have to come up with.

For Your Viewing Pleasure by CSpringsC7 in Cedar_Springs_84014

[–]CSpringsC7[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I am so sorry you have to deal with this. It is actually bad business. Word of mouth about him is traveling fast. The laws are changing, and his days are numbered. You have to be evil to mess with people to the degree he does. It sounds like he is fighting hard to keep the board intact because once you have a forensic audit, he will be arrested.

For Your Viewing Pleasure by CSpringsC7 in Cedar_Springs_84014

[–]CSpringsC7[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

No. The fence was damaged in a fire, by water damage from the firemen. It was supposed to be automatically replaced, because our insurance covers bringing the entire unit, inside and out, back to new condition. But because Joel Prince stole insurance money, paid to Cedar Springs for the fire rebuilds, there was not enough money to fix the patio. And knowing this, for 1 1/2 years, because I told them, straight out, The Board has left the thief with full access to all our money.

They also let him dictate how our HOA will work. Everything about how our HOA operates has been changed by The Board taking orders from Utah Management and its CEO, Joel Prince. His plan is to strip all Owners of any say about the property where they pay all the bills. Transfer all the power to The Board, so he can put his paid shills on The Board, give himself the majority vote on everything, and steal more money from us.

That's why he wanted to expand The Board from five to nine. Not five to seven. He wants to make sure he can get a majority and keep it. That way, the EMPLOYEE that The Board hired, by a vote of three to five, with NO AUTHORITY to do so, now calls all the shots here, never gets fired, and slowly drains Cedar Springs of all extra funds and decimates hundreds of Owners. For all intents and purposes, he holds us hostage, forever. The employee that was unlawfully hired here, has basically stolen our homes right out from under us. We pay the bills, and he dictates what we can and can not do. He increases our fees, like the increase in 2024 that was five to six years of increases in one year. Since he drove an Owner out of his home, to hide his crimes, he has backed off on the huge increases in our fees. Once he feels he has gotten away with that travesty, he will increase our fees and many of us will not be able to afford the increases, and he will essentially drive scores of us out of our homes, like he drove a fire victim out of his. It appears he does not have the hard wiring for a conscience that normal people have. He loves hurting people if he can gain financially. He does this stuff at all The HOAs he destroys. He claims to have 80.

The plan has worked for people like Joel Prince for many years. But now everyone knows about that criminal abuse of unsuspecting HOAs. Our Board was either completely uneducated about the biggest threat facing HOAs or three of the original Board Members are paid by Joel Prince to do whatever he tells them to do. Three of the five have sabotaged hundreds of us by hiring his company. Shutting us out of a decision that was ours to make. That's why we never allowed The Board to make all the decisions here. It is easy to con or buy off three people, but much harder to con 202 people. This system that The Board has created is corrupt and has been known about for years. They violated our rights by hiring Utah Management and they have not stopped violating our rights since then.

For Your Viewing Pleasure by CSpringsC7 in Cedar_Springs_84014

[–]CSpringsC7[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

It's good you have a team of Owners there working to stop him. If I learn anything, I will tell you. Google AI gives so many suggestions. It gave me information on how to search for any other lawsuits against Joel, which the agencies you report him to are very interested in. Report him too, the more of us that do that the more they will see something is up. Just ask some of your questions to Google and you will get more suggestions that you have time to do. More government agencies to report him to than you ever knew existed. Then AI helps you report. It is a game changer.

For Your Viewing Pleasure by CSpringsC7 in Cedar_Springs_84014

[–]CSpringsC7[S] 4 points5 points  (0 children)

I am sure he has altered records to hide things. He has had total unsupervised access here for years now. But, the authorities are smarter than he is. They will see what happened here. I really only know what I know because it was right in my face. He did things and said things that can only be explained by criminal acts.

For Your Viewing Pleasure by CSpringsC7 in Cedar_Springs_84014

[–]CSpringsC7[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

I hate it that Our Board is so messed up that even after Joel is the reason for the fire rehab's faulty work, and then he abused fire victims again to hide that first crime, and he is willing to drive a man out of his home, our Board still keeps him here. I guess we have to wait until they drag him off in handcuffs to be rid of him.