|
Sapphire Bay Condominiums West
|
May 14, 2004
TO: Members of SBCW
From: Board of Directors
As you may or may not be aware, SBCW
has been experiencing a problem created by a new owner. The Board feels that it is necessary to inform
you, as members of the association and property owners of the events.
July
28, 2003 – Mr. and Mrs. George Simpson closed their purchase of Unit C-4.
August
2003 – Without the permission or knowledge of the Board of Directors of SBCW,
the Simpson’s removed the bearing wall between the living room and the front
porch, including the bracing at each end of the wall. This renders the building unsafe as the essential bracing has been
removed
October
2003 – Mr. Simpson gives an undated letter to General Manager, Frank Barry,
asking for permission of the Board of Directors to change the front windows
of their apartment.
November
10, 2003 – Mr. Simpson’s request is placed on the Board of Director’s meeting
agenda. He and Mrs. Simpson presented
their case for changing the windows and are told that they can’t do this by
the Board President Steve Kershner. Other
board member comments are negative on the changes, but out of respect to an
owner, he is told that the Board will continue to discuss the situation and
that the Board will let him know the results.
November
28, 2003 – Jack Donahue, a Board member, writes a letter to Mr. Simpson, stating
that the Board has denied the request to alter the windows of C-4.
Subsequent
to the November 10, 2003 board meeting, Mr. Simpson begins to call and write
letters to the Board of Directors and General Manager and publish on a website
(SapphireBayCondos.com) comments calling various members of the Board and
the General Manager liars, cheats, dishonest and other terms deemed slanderous
and libelous by the Board’s attorney, Andrew L. Capdeville. Those comments have continued to the present
time (May 2, 2004)
February
16-20, 2004 – Steve Sokolow, a member of the Board of Directors and Frank
Barry, General Manager discover that the bearing walls in the Simpson’s apartment
have been removed.
March
11, 2004 – Udo Penther, a Registered Professional Engineer, provided a report
to the Board of Directors stating that the removal of the bearing walls in
the Simpson’s Apartment created an extremely unsafe condition.
March
17, 2004 -- At a Board of Directors meeting Mr. Simpson was officially given
30 days to correct the unsafe condition in his apartment.
March
19, 2004 – Steve Kerschner, Board President, officially notified Mr. Simpson,
by registered mail of the Board’s action directing Mr. Simpson to correct
the unsafe condition in his apartment.
March
31, 2004 – Since there had been no communication from Mr. Simpson concerning
the bearing walls and he, during General Manager Frank Barry’s absence, replaced
the windows contrary to the Board’s decision, the Board of Directors held
an emergency meeting and authorized legal action to be commenced by Attorney
Andrew Capdeville. See
Response
April
12, 2004 --- A lawsuit was filed to enforce compliance with respect (to) replacing
the bearing walls in Simpson’s apartment and to remove the windows he installed,
replacing the original windows.
April
20, 2004 – A civil action for damages, including punitive damages was filed
against Mr. Simpson to force him to cease his conduct against the Board of
Directors and the General Manager, as well as his statement on his web site
which he has labeled ‘the official web site of SBCW’, which your Board believes
damages our whole community.
April
22, 2004 – In Mr. Simpson’s response to the lawsuit to require him to return
his apartment to a safe condition and to remove the windows and replace them
with acceptable ones, he states that he hired Udo Penther, the Board’s expert,
to provide him with a proposal to cure the deficiency and work has commenced. This may or may not be true. What is true, however, is that prior to this
response, neither the Board nor the General Manager has had any notice of
this. In a phone call to Mr. Penther to verify Mr. Simpson’s statements, Mr.
Penther said that he could not comment on any of this, as Mr. Simpson had
sworn him to secrecy. The Board finds
this very curious and wished that Mr. Simpson had kept us informed, which
might have avoided costly litigation.
May
5, 2004 – As a response to Mr. Simpson’s complaint to The Virgin Islands Department
of Planning and Natural Resources wherein he listed the following apartments:
A-2, A-4, A-14. A-18. A-20. B-2. B-7, B-8, B-9, B-10, B-11, B-12, B-13,
B-16, B-17, B-18, C-1, C-3, C-4, C-6, C-8, C-23, C-24, C-26, C-29, C-30, C-32,
C-34, C-36, D-2, D-6, D-17, D-20, D-21, D-25, D-26, D-27, D-30 and D-34, we
have been informed that a DBNR representative will be on the property Monday,
May 10, 2004 to personally inspect all of these apartments.
May
12, 2004 – The inspection was made on May 12, 2004. Frank and Bud Wood accompanied the inspectors they found no major
problems. Several suggestions were
made concerning smoke detectors and Ground Fault Interrupter switches. The DPNR respresentatives indicated they will
send a written report in a few days.
Your Board of Directors has been forced to engage in litigation
because of the lack of communication from and the uncooperative nature of
one of our owners as well as the derogatory comments concerning the Board,
the General Manager and Sapphire Bay Condominiums West that this owner published
on a web site. This is unfortunate
and your Board regrets having to pursue these actions, but feels that they
are necessary for the safety and quiet enjoyment of all owners at SBCW. See
Response
This
owner is costing all of us. The Board
believes that his web site may have a negative effect on the currently rising
property values here at SBCW. In addition,
his allegations and actions are taking a great deal of Frank’s time away from
the normal, day to day operations Frank has to deal with. We are also incurring legal frees for the necessary
litigation we are pursuing. We have
reason to believe those fees will be recovered.
SBCE
BOARD OF DIRECTORS