Homeowners hire attorney to obtain information from GIL Board

Although winter is not yet over and the drop in evening temperatures can still fall below freezing, things sure seem to be heating up here at Glen Iris Lofts.

The Blog has recently learned that a group of Glen Iris Lofts homeowners have hired Atlanta law firm Lipshutz Greenblatt, LLC in an effort to enforce compliance on the part of the GIL Board to provide access to information the homeowners claim they have a legal right to review, following the Board's latest denial of their request for information. 

According to a letter sent to the Association this week by the group's attorney, Mr. Randall M. Lipshutz, Esq., (a copy of the letter obtained by the Blog has been included with this post, below) the homeowners have requested; to review all ballots, proxies and other material related to the most recent election of Board members in December; to view the emails that evidence proper Board approval of the 2012 budget, given that the budget was not approved at a Board meeting where minutes were taken; all maintenance contracts maintained by the Association in excess of $25,000; all documents related to the Board's decision to seek a loan to pay for exterior stucco work and window repairs (the so-called 'mega-loan').

This is not the first time Mr. Lipshutz has been involved in the legal affairs of Glen Iris Lofts.  Most notably, he was the attorney that drafted the Association's By-Laws, Articles of Incorporation and filed the initial Declaration of Condominium.  In their selection of legal counsel, the homeowner group could probably not have found someone with greater knowledge and familiarity with the governing documents of our Association.

The Blog sent an e-mail to the GIL Board seeking comment on the homeowner group's action, but did not receive a reply.

The Blog will keep our readers abreast of any new developments that pertain to this story as details emerge...stay tuned!


Copy of letter sent to the GIL Board from Randall M. Lipshutz, Esq., the homeowner group's attorney, can be viewed, below.  Note that if you are unable to view the letter in-line on this Web page, simply click the link below to open the letter in a new browser window.

Document Inspection Letter

Sutherland support dwindles as homeowners shut out of loan process

KNOW WHEN TO SAY WHEN  Being in the driver's seat of our association has its perks - just ask Kit and Stuart Sutherland; they've had their derrieres planted firmly there for the past eight years.  Not only do you get to bend and stretch every detail of the home lives of over one hundred of your neighbors until it can be shoe-horned into something more to your liking, you always have a steady supply of sycophant vendors and homeowners lined up to stroke your ego and whisper sweet yeses into your ear.  And best of all, the job comes with your very own girl Friday, who's commanded by your every wish.

She has your money to burn

About a month ago, on January 16, 2012, the Blog ran a post entitled the $3,064 phone call, where we pointed out that our Association was on the wrong rate plan with Georgia Power. In that post, we detailed our analysis of prior and current electricity usage, which indicated a minimum possible savings of $3,064 on the Board's budget for common area electrical expenses over the coming year. We even included the phone number so that they could easily call and switch our rate plan.

Hijacked

Outwardly, they have been the poster children for the archetypal community volunteer and concerned neighbor. But underneath their meticulously crafted public image, tireless self-promotion and thin veneer of volunteerism and community service, has been a nine year calculated endeavor to subvert the democratic will of GIL homeowners by engineering at least one election outright, contorting election procedures in every election, keeping a sharp eye out for new homeowners that can be easily manipulated and by making Board service so untenable for the ones that can’t be that they either resign or decide not to seek re-election.

The courage deficit

For those of you that couldn’t make the Glen Iris Board meeting Monday evening, you missed a good show. The usual cast of characters was there, and in a sign that the Blog is causing real and growing concern about their ability to remain so, they had their attack dogs in tow and their guile polished to a blinding gleam. 

It quickly became apparent that the Board had met in secret at some point before the meeting as the minutes from last month’s meeting had already been approved - proving that their pledge not to have secret meetings to do so this year lasted all of a few weeks. No surprise there. But things got more interesting when Stuart delivered his remarks about the authorship of the Blog. Acting as if he alone was this century’s only university graduate that learned more than they ever cared to know about the National Socialist German Workers’ Party – a/k/a the ‘Nazi Party’ - and their bottomless hat of slick rhetorical devices, subterfuge and demagoguery, he implored all in attendance to ‘come forward’ with the name of the Blog’s author if they ‘had any courage’.

AJC article may hold clue to Sutherlands’ developer ties

Both the Dun and Bradstreet Credit Report and the Hoover’s Company Report that claim an ownership interest by Mary “Kit” Sutherland in Miller-Gallman Developers – the developer of Glen Iris Lofts – noted that her involvement began in 2005. And, given that the Glen Iris Lofts development was completed in 2002, an involvement by Mrs. Sutherland starting in 2005 has been a bit of a sticking point.

But a recently discovered article written by David Pendered of the Atlanta Journal Constitution, dated May 23, 2005 (included below) may hold new clues to help explain the timing of the information reported by Dun and Bradstreet and Hoover’s. In Pendered’s 2005 interview of Jerrold Miller and W. Bruce Gallman, they shared an interesting detail about important changes being made to Miller-Gallman Developers at the time:

“Miller-Gallman Developers is poised to add a consulting arm. The aim is to advise other residential developers about the potential for adapting and reusing the innumerable old buildings that flank the Beltline and dot the inner city”

-Atlanta Journal Constitution, May 23, 2005

This raises an interesting question.  Who better to provide that additional talent than

Cart-Gate: No carts? Kit says just make two trips

It’s not exactly news to anyone who’s read Kit’s e-mail that she has a petty streak wider than The Home Depot parking lot, but what may be news to many homeowners at Glen Iris Lofts, is just how quickly she’ll throw them under the bus to accommodate it.

In a stunning display of just how little the Sutherlands really care about the needs of GIL homeowners, they announced yesterday that they intend to have the janitors throw the one brand new utility cart the Blog recently donated to the community into the trash and said ‘no’ to the donation of four additional carts!  And, in a year when we are staring down the barrel of over $400,000 in necessary building repairs with only $250,000 in the bank – and had to increase monthly assessments by 15% just to pay the regular bills – you think they'd have been happy to have the nearly $1,000 donation.  Yet they weren’t.  And that’s because from their perspective, when - and if - they decide homeowners can have more carts, they will just roll that cost into whatever increase they’ve got brewing for everyone next year.  Problem solved.

Isn’t it time that our community be treated like something more than a grade-school playground where immaturity reigns, petty trumps practical and all you can hear from those that are supposed to be leading us and setting a good example is ‘I know you are, but what am I?’

Might Glen Iris Lofts be a lot better off if the janitors left the new utility cart where it was and threw the Sutherlands out instead?

the Blog

Call the APD: Sutherlands steal funds from police, fire and schools?

[POST UPDATE: The amount of tax evaded by Stuart Sutherland's fraudulent filing to receive a homestead exemption on more than one property for each of the years between 2005 and 2011 totals $1,614.55.  Per Georgia Code, the Sutherlands currently owe $3,229.10 (twice the amount of the tax evaded) to the Fulton County Tax Commissioner]

Fulton County and City of Atlanta property taxes are a vital source of funding for a multitude of services provided by local government. They fund the police and fire departments, local schools, parks and recreation, county and city government administration, courts, and the list goes on. And despite the fact that many Atlanta taxpayers feel that property taxes are excessive, everyone understands the important role they play in keeping our community safe, healthy and vibrant.

Of course, most taxpayers can get a small break (about 9.5%) on their property tax bill if they qualify for the homestead exemption. Basically, If you own your own home, it’s your primary residence, your drivers’ license was issued in Fulton County and if your vehicle tag was likewise obtained in Fulton County, you qualify.

Like all tax deductions, the homestead exemption does come with a few rules – one of which is that you can only claim a homestead exemption on one property. (Continued...)

There’s a thief in our midst

All of the brouhaha that has followed 'Cart-Gate' has certainly brought one question in particular more sharply into focus for everyone living here at Glen Iris Lofts.

AND THAT QUESTION IS by what authority is Kit Sutherland running about investigating key finders on carts, authoring ‘community announcements’ in the name of the Glen Iris Lofts Board of Directors (in that headmaster tone like only Kit can do) summoning the Atlanta Police Department to ‘investigate’ delusions of ‘compromised security’ on GIL property, authorizing billable time by Association attorneys and, unbelievably, having the audacity to confiscate utility carts when they are in short supply and desperately needed, when she hasn’t even been elected to serve on our Board for more than three years now? (Continued...)

CART-GATE

Dear Neighbors:

The Blog recently donated a brand new cart for homeowner use, since they always seem to be in short supply.  Fully knowing that Kit Sutherland would sooner take it away and deprive every one of its use than she would have anyone who doesn’t already know about the Blog find out about it, we installed an RFID tag on the cart so that when it went missing, we would know who took it – and that would be unit 519, Andrew Mark Hicks.

But you know Kit – being a bit of a tech-not (by her own admission), she didn’t know what an RFID tag was and became convinced it was some sort of sinister plot to upset the security of our community, and sent out the (somewhat embarrassing) e-mail, below.  (Continued...)

Election fraud bombshell: 2003 rental cap amendment FAILED

For anyone that still harbors the quaint illusion that GIL elections are fair, honest and accurate, prepare yourself.  The Blog recently obtained a folder that contained the ballots from the February 13, 2003 Annual Homeowners’ Meeting, at which homeowners voted on whether or not to amend the By-Laws to include, among other things, a 25% rental cap.

But an audit of the vote count reveals a startling discovery - the amendment actually failed.  (Continued...)

High cost of free counsel: Stuart Sutherland's cost us $200K

The following is an intriguing timeline of events that surround Kit and Stuart Sutherland’s acquisition of the unit adjacent to their own that curiously unfolded at precisely the same time GIL homeowners found themselves the only ones left at the dinner table when the nearly $200,000 tab was delivered for a construction defect that no one – not even the developer – argued they should have to pay for.  No one, except Stuart Sutherland, that is.

HOW IT CAME TO BE

02/19/01

Kit and Stuart Sutherland purchase 660 Glen Iris Dr, NE, Unit 409 (their primary unit) for $342,000, of which $273,600 was financed via a conventional mortgage obtained from First Union Mortgage Corp.²⁹

05/30/02

While the Glen Iris Board was still under developer control, Jerrold Miller, of Miller-Gallman Developers – the developer of Glen Iris Lofts – appoints Kit Sutherland to the GIL Board of Directors publicly at a Glen Iris Lofts homeowners meeting.  The Board then consisted solely of Jerrold Miller, W. Bruce Gallman and Kit Sutherland. 

“Kit Sutherland of Phase I was appointed to the current Board of Directors by Jerry Miller and Bruce Gallman”¹

At the same homeowners’ meeting that Miller announced Kit’s appointment to the first homeowner Board, Miller acknowledges responsibility of the slope stabilization project when he responds to a homeowner question on the subject.

“Homeowner question for Jerry Miller:

3. What are we doing about the landscape at the rear of the building that washes away when it rains?

The landscape architects have been assigned to examine the erosion and give a plan of correction to us.”¹

10/02/02

In a meeting with the GIL Board of Directors, developer Jerry Miller again openly acknowledges responsibility for correcting the slope stabilization problem behind the Phase II building.²¹

02/11/03

At the Annual Meeting, held at 7:00 PM, Stuart Sutherland voted by proxy for Ellen Hines - the owner of the unit adjacent to their own that they would buy the following year.

06/04/03

Sandy Jones, the first President of the homeowner-controlled GIL Board, sends an e-mail requesting Gary Caruso, an engineer with Criterium-Caruso Engineers, to perform a forensic study of the failed retaining wall to determine if the developer should have taken steps to shore up rear retaining wall.²

06/12/03

In a noteworthy halt to the momentum to build the case that the Miller-Gallman should be held accountable for correcting the failed retaining wall, the GIL Board minutes note that it has decided to take the Erosion Engineering Control Study off the table for the time being.

“Bid for Erosion Control and Next Steps (Kit and Sandy) Kit will you please bring the letter from Craig Howell?

Erosion Engineering Control study is taken off the table”³

GIL Board votes to approve a special assessment to fund the slope stabilization project, although the amount of the assessment will later prove to be only about one-tenth the amount eventually required to remedy the problem.³ (Continued...)

Why all the secrecy? The Blog investigates this central question

It is a widely known fact that our Board, under Sutherland control, has gone through extraordinary lengths to deny homeowners access to Association records. The rights of inspection spelled out in our By-Laws have been largely ignored - even flouted - for years, as repeated attempts by a parade of former and current homeowners seeking to exercise their rights of inspection were - almost without exception - summarily stonewalled. 

There is a relatively straight forward way around that brick wall – although it is costly. Given the clear rights of inspection that are due members of the Association, not only as guaranteed by our By-Laws, but by the Georgia Non-Profit Corporation Code (O.P.G.A. 14-3-101) – state law by which our Association is governed – an aggrieved homeowner can obtain judicial enforcement of their rights without having to leap any extraordinary legal hurdles. But the mere fact that our Board forces the issue itself creates an extraordinary hurdle – because the only way to bring the power of judicial enforcement to bear is for the homeowner to sue their own Association. And, given that the costs of bringing such legal action must, almost invariably, be underwritten by a single member, that cost is usually sufficient to discourage any casual interest that homeowner may have in reviewing Association records.

Of course, there is one homeowner among us who has been pulling the levers of power on the Glen Iris Lofts Board of Directors since its inception, and who knows better than anyone - by virtue of being an attorney - that the cost of suing one's own Association will nearly always trump that member's interest in reviewing records, and that person is Stuart Sutherland.  This, despite the fact that professional codes of conduct and the ethical requirements of his profession would appear to demand that he demonstrate a greater respect for the law. But, for some reason, he doesn't.  And this apparent willingness to simply disregard what the law would require - knowing that the eventual cost for doing so could be professional censorship or even possible disbarment from practicing law in the State of Georgia – raises a number of interesting questions. (Continued...)

Dun & Bradstreet Credit Reporting also notes a Sutherland/Miller-Gallman affiliation

Last Monday, the Blog posted a copy of the Hoover's Business Report that noted the alleged affiliation between Kit Sutherland and Miller-Gallman Developers.  We have since been able to obtain a copy of the Dun & Bradstreet Comprehensive Credit Report for "Miller Gallman Developers", that, like the Hoover's report, supports an apparent affiliation between Kit and Miller-Gallman Developers.  Note: The Dun & Bradstreet report is included at the end of this post.

As with the Hoover's report, we wondered why no other executives (namely Jerrold Miller) were listed as having an affiliation with the company.  Upon further investigation, (Continued...)

Sutherlands bounce check to Association

No one is particularly thrilled about the prospect of having their lesser moments made public, and that's even truer when those that would make them public would do so with the apparent objective merely to embarrass or discredit. Worse still are the occasions when lesser moments are fabricated out of whole cloth for the same purpose. One wouldn't have to walk too far down either direction of any hallway here at GIL to find a homeowner that will claim to be a victim of this sort of demagoguery at the hands of the Sutherlands. And I personally have witnessed people that have found themselves caught up in a Sutherland gossip and discredit campaign that was either a dramatic embellishment of facts or that had absolutely no basis in fact at all.

This 'sort of behavior' - to borrow a phrase from Kit Sutherland - is dangerous politics, because with each successive engagement, the retail price of hypocrisy is ratcheted upward, should one ever find one's self at the cash register paying retail for their own lesser moment. But knowing this doesn't require any special insight; admonishment that reportedly came from Jesus' own mouth more than two millennia ago has served to better advise those that would 'cast the first stone'.

That's why I think it would be surprising for many to learn that Kit and Stuart have bounced a check to our Association at least once. It's true (documentation included and follows post conclusion).  Of course, (Continued...)

Remember: Rules best serve those who make them

OUR BALLOTS ARE NOT SECRET  When the ballot on which you are asked to cast your vote requires your name, unit and building number and contains a written admonishment that ballots that lack such information are ‘invalid’ and will be ‘discarded’, that’s generally a sign that your vote is not secret.

Worse, your secret-to-everyone-but-the-Sutherlands ballot then serves as an excellent tool to accurately determine whom among us is a ‘good resident’ and who needs ‘re-education’ - lest they become an object of scorn, gossip and retribution.

Our By-Laws mandate ‘secret ballots’.  AND SECRET BALLOTS ARE WHAT WE WILL HAVE.

Hoover's Company Report: Mary Sutherland is Secretary of Miller-Gallman

The Blog was finally able to get a copy of the Hoover's Company Report for Miller-Gallman developers that, does indeed, list Mary C. Sutherland as Secretary of the company (see below).  We wondered why no other executives (namely Jerrold Miller) were listed in the report.  Upon further investigation, the Blog discovered that information is contained in the company report for "Miller-Gallman Developers" (with a "-" in between the words "Miller" and "Gallman"), whereas the company report that mentions Kit was filed with the company "Miller Gallman Developers" (note the absence of the "-" between "Miller" and "Gallman").  If you combine the two reports, you would have the complete company information, at least as far as Hoover's is concerned.

You can judge for yourself, but in the Blog's opinion, it doesn't look necessarily like a "telephone marketing" roundup of random names.  Hoover's is a name that's well respected in the business world as a reliable source for corporate information, and there is no reason to believe that they simply concocted the information out of thin air.

At the very least, I think most would agree that it's a situation that certainly warrants a statement from Kit herself as to whether or not the information is accurate.  To-date, Kit has not denied the allegations that she has financial ties to the developer of Glen Iris Lofts.  Doesn't it make you wonder why she hasn't?

Join your neighbors in support of change by sending an e-mail to gil@go.to with the simple subject line ‘Count me in’ – and be a part of where Glen Iris Lofts is going.

Note: If you see the message "Sorry, embedding multiple documents..." below instead of the file contents, simply click the link below and open or save the file to your computer.

Hoovers Company Report

Change is coming to Glen Iris Lofts…

No one who reads the Glen Iris Board meeting minutes is going to walk away with anything other the clear and sobering assessment that our Board leadership isn’t much interested in change of any kind.  Precious little time is spent on discussion of how things may be improved – unless of course one counts the time the Board leadership spends shooting down suggestions for improvements.

The list of resident demands for change that have gone unheeded is long and distinguished.  Whether it’s the enclosure of the lower Phase II car park that the homeowners who park there were willing to pay for themselves, the constant clamor for the installation of security cameras on the property to do something – anything – to address the serious property crime problem we have struggled with from day one and still continue to struggle with nearly ten years later and whose rate of occurrence hasn’t decreased at all, or whether it’s a guest parking policy that doesn’t really match the ‘needs curve’ of guest parking accommodation by homeowners.  And there are countless other issues or ‘hot buttons’ that various homeowners have that fail to be addressed – or even considered – year after year.  Most who are knowledgeable about the political realities here at Glen Iris will tell you the simple truth: it doesn’t really matter what you or any other homeowner wants, if Kit doesn’t want it, it ain’t gonna happen.

But, finally, there is some good news for everyone that calls Glen Iris Lofts 'home'.  Although the (Continued...)

In her own words: An e-mail from Kit Sutherland

There are some who claim that Kit Sutherland is simply misunderstood - and that she isn't caddy, nosey, conniving and always up to something nefarious, as many have alleged.
So the Blog decided to let you decide for yourself.  In an e-mail (see below) recently obtained by the Blog that was sent by Kit Sutherland to then Board President Sandy Jones, Kit trashes a GIL homeowner and one of her closest neighbors - a person who has been, by any account, an outstanding neighbor and a reliable pillar of support for our Association - Frank Lynch, the owner of Cactus Car Wash.

"Apparently, Frank's inability to sell or lease his investment property is not hurting his cash flow. His Jeep Cherokee, which was fairly late model(ed) and in good condition, was replaced this week with a massive, brand new Range Rover. I expect to see it parked soon in the center of the driveway in front of the elevator, where he parks regularly when he is unloading groceries, dry cleaning, etc. Can't wait to get a management company that can supply pre-printed "courtesy" warnings about this sort of behavior..." -Kit Sutherland

The e-mail also reveals the shocking revelation that, beyond harboring ill will toward GIL resident Lynch, Kit and Stuart Sutherland were even milling over what they could do with the Glen Iris Lofts commercial space that Lynch owned at the time, should the Association find a way to wrest it out from under him by way of playing hardball in resolving a technical error made in the drafting of an easement agreement granted to Decker Car Wash (d/b/a Cactus Car Wash) the year prior.

"Speaking of Frank, Stuart and I keep pondering what we (i.e. the association) might be able to do with the ground-floor level of #206, if it became an element in re-negotiating the easement situation..."      -Kit Sutherland

But she didn't stop there, no.  The e-mail goes on to reveal that Kit was also plotting to pull a fast one on her BFF, Jerry Miller, by trying to (Continued...)

Exciting news and an open letter from the founding author of the Blog...

AN OPEN LETTER FROM THE FOUNDING AUTHOR OF THE BLOG

TO THE BLOG’S MANY SUPPORTERS
The generosity of your loyal readership, comments, e-mails and offers of support has been truly amazing, and I thank you.  Apart from making the countless hours required by this endeavor more rewarding, your support has provided incontrovertible evidence that a new day is dawning for our shared community. Your overwhelming support is witness to the well spring of interest, concern and desire to participate that exists in the hearts and minds of everyone here at Glen Iris Lofts. (Continued...)