A Message from the Maverick Board President:
10/14/2024
Maverick Owners:
The bad news is the Resort did sustain roof damage from Hurricane Milton. The good news is the vapor installed this time appears to have held and prevented a repeat Hurricane Ian/Nicole disaster. The barrier island where the Resort is located was in an evacuation zone during the 2-day weather event. Bridges were closed delaying entry until the storm passed and the roads were deemed safe for re-entry. Our management team has been onsite to visibly inspect the property. We are expecting to have roofing contractors on-site today for estimates on that repair. Water and electricity have been turned back on to the property.
Our target partial re-opening date of February 1st has not changed.
Sincerely,
Lance Douglas
Maverick BOD President
A Message from the Maverick Board President:
09/04/2024
Maverick September 4th, 2024
Maverick Owners:
There was a Board Meeting on August 21st with some important agenda items discussed and motions voted on that I wanted to summarize ahead of the Meeting Minutes that will become the Official Record of the meeting.
- The Partial Re-Opening Plan was approved for a February 1st partial re-open date. Owners should have already received a copy of this plan in a prior email but it needed to be formally approved.
Here is the link in case you missed it.
Owner Information – Maverick Ormond Beach located in the ‘Maverick Documents’ section titled ‘February 1st Re-opening Plan.
- Distribution of Association Inventory
- The Maverick Condominium Association has acquired a large number of units\weeks. Since the Association is not a licensed Real Estate Broker, it cannot ‘sell’ units by law. To remain compliant, a motion passed for owners and non-owners (Friends and Family) to choose an Association owned week\unit for the cost of the 2024 Maintenance fees ($731.00) plus the County Recording Fee ($10.70) and ownership of that week\unit will be transferred. This will allow for 2025 usage when the Maintenance fees for the coming year are approved, invoiced, and paid by the new owner.
- These will not include 2024 usage nor have any Bonus/Make Up week attached to the transfer of ownership.
- Multiple weeks\units can be claimed simultaneously.
- Requests by an individual or corporate entity of more than 5 units, will require Board Approval.
- This promotion will end; however, that date has not been determined.
- An updated list of Maverick owned inventory has been placed on the website.
- Owner Information – Maverick Ormond Beach located in the ‘Maverick Documents’ section under ‘Maverick Inventory Units’.
- Requests should be emailed to: klashley@maverickormondbeach.com
- The Maverick Condominium Association has acquired a large number of units\weeks. Since the Association is not a licensed Real Estate Broker, it cannot ‘sell’ units by law. To remain compliant, a motion passed for owners and non-owners (Friends and Family) to choose an Association owned week\unit for the cost of the 2024 Maintenance fees ($731.00) plus the County Recording Fee ($10.70) and ownership of that week\unit will be transferred. This will allow for 2025 usage when the Maintenance fees for the coming year are approved, invoiced, and paid by the new owner.
- Voting rights for Delinquent Owners
- For the voting rights at the November annual meeting to be suspended and not calculated into a quorum percentage for every owner (delinquent or not), the Board would have to approve a Florida Statutory alternative requiring costly mailings that cannot be done electronically. The motion to suspend these voting rights did not pass. Given our financial situation and stretching dollars as far as possible this expenditure was not justifiable by the majority.
- Board Member Resignation/Officer position
- Board Member and Vice-President Freddie Stephens officially resigned from the Board. Denise Mentzer was nominated as the Vice-President replacement. She accepted the nomination and was unanimously approved to fill that role. Congratulations, Denise!
- This leaves us with 2 Open Board positions. Our By-laws address how the Board can handle these situations. First, the Board can nominate and replace a Board member to serve the remainder of the time for the vacated seat and then be up for re-election when that term expires. Per a Maverick By-law Amendment, Maverick Board members serve 3-year terms to maintain stability and balance. The second option is to allow an open Board seat to be filled at the Annual Owners Meeting by the highest number of votes.
- In our situation, the resignation earlier this year was at the end of the 3-year term. This position has remained unfilled.
- Freddie Stephens’ term is not set to expire until the owner’s meeting in November of 2026, more than 26 months away.
- The Board is asking for those interested in filling a Board spot to submit their information and a short bio for consideration to BOD@maverickormondbeach.com.
- Eliminate Bonus/Make up weeks for Delinquent Owners
- The Board passed a motion that any owner delinquent on maintenance fees or special assessment after October 1st, 2024 will lose all Bonus/Make Up weeks that were offered, as an incentive, for owners to remain current on their account.
Reminders…
The Maverick website has been updated to provide a direct link to our newest online payment platform. You can follow the link below. If it is your first time using this new system we have a unique code for each owner that was assigned by the vendor. You only need this once to setup your access. If you do not have it, please contact the Resort by phone (855) 573-7457 or email the GM Keith Lashley (klashley@maverickormondbeach.com).
Owner Information – Maverick Ormond Beach
Please use the Board of Directors email address to communicate with us directly. bod@maverickormondbeach.com
Sincerely,
Lance Douglas
Maverick BOD President
A Message from the Maverick Board President:
08/07/2024
Maverick August 7, 2024
Updated: August 8th, 2024
Maverick Owners:
Greetings, Maverick Owners. August is upon us and, as promised, I wanted to get out an update.
As many of you are aware, we had our first brush with a tropical system over the past few days. The storm “Debby” moved up the western side of the State making landfall in the Big Bend area as a Category 1 hurricane. What was unique about Debby wasn’t her strength but massive size that covered the entire State of Florida. Debby was also a slow-moving storm that dumped record levels of rain in many areas as she made her way up through Georgia and parts of the Carolinas. The Maverick Resort suffered no damage from the storm. To my surprise, the impacts of the trailing bands were stronger than I expected. We did have 35-40+mph sustained gusts and a lot of rainfall. We cleared crews off the property for 2 days. The wind gusts and sideways rain would have set us back further than waiting it out. This will not delay our February 1st reopening date as we have been aggressively working with the contractor to bring it in sooner.
We are also very relieved that our hired CPA firm has finally completed the 2023 Audit and it has been submitted to the State. I am very happy to have that completed and made available to owners.
The partial re-open plan for accommodating owners drafted by Board Member Denise Mentzer has had final reviews and is ready for distribution this week.
Board Member Amy Kolis took a fresh set of current pictures and posted on our Facebook page. Have a look!
Building progress update:
FF&E (headboards, dressers etc.) The top 3 floors will arrive by the 2nd week of October and shouldn’t take more than a week to install. This is being done by the vendor.
Locks – the board approved new locks back in 2022. The new locks arrived about the same time as the Hurricanes and we held off on the installation. The top 3 Floors are scheduled to be installed beginning 10/28. Should take about a week to install and program.
The Elevators, the work the state required us to do this year is complete and scheduled to be inspected and certified next week.
The Fire Suppression system is being inspected and certified in September.
We are also currently turning the water on testing for broken and leaking pipes. The entire North section of the building, the water is on and has been tested under pressure and working. The sewage cast iron that runs the length of the building and is visible under the parking area – most of the cast iron had developed cracks and leaking is now being replaced as needed. We will be done by end of next week.
All the Furniture (beds, Sofas, etc) for floors 7 & 6 are in the units now, Floor 5 we will be moving from the Warehouse beginning in October. Should not take more than a couple of weeks to get them installed.
Reminders…
The Maverick website has been updated to provide a direct link to our newest online payment platform. You can follow the link below. If it is your first time using this new system we have a unique code for each owner that was assigned by the vendor. You only need this once to setup your access. If you do not have it, please contact the Resort by phone (855) 573-7457 or email the GM Keith Lashley (klashley@maverickormondbeach.com).
Owner Information – Maverick Ormond Beach
Please use the Board of Directors email address to communicate with us directly. bod@maverickormondbeach.com
Sincerely,
Lance Douglas
Maverick BOD President
A Message from the Maverick Board President:
07/07/2024
Maverick July 7, 2024
Maverick Owners:
I hope everyone that we have in the States enjoyed their 4th of July Holiday. For those outside the States, I hope you enjoyed the 4th of July also. For me, it was bittersweet as my family and some friends set up our shade and chairs on the beach in front of the Maverick. Seeing those 138 rooms sitting vacant is very grounding. This is not a week we own but the sense of those displaced is felt and I spent time in prayer for guidance and strength to see us through this turbulent time.
As far as an update on the progress of the renovations, I can tell you that work has progressed at a favorable pace for us. We have not encountered any construction concerns for delaying our Feb 1st partial re-open projection. We have entered our afternoon thunderstorm and Hurricane season but so far that has had minimal impact. Our pre-emptive work to focus on the exterior of the building, for these reasons, has put us in a good position for the interior work and for the structural integrity of the building (which I will expand upon further down).
Denise Mentzer has written a draft of the communication to owners regarding our partial re-open. We will be reviewing that this week to get it out to everyone. There are a lot of finer details to work out for us to have everyone in alignment. Nobody wants to be told one thing from someone and then hear it differently somewhere else. There are no changes from the update I provided last month. Our partial re-open will consist of floors 5-7. If you own on floors 2-4, we will offer to move you to a room on floors 5-7 for your week. Floors will be ‘handed over’ by the GC in descending order. Floor 4 will be next in line but I don’t have a date on how soon that will be. As floors are turned over to us, we will keep owners in the rooms they own. We will not be able to accommodate requests for bonus or make-up weeks until that is communicated at a later date.
I wanted to also make mention and highlight some recent turmoil in the Oceanfront Resort landscape. On June 24th, 2021 a 12-story oceanfront condominium in Miami collapsed causing the death of 98 people. There were 136 units and 55 were involved in the collapse. Since then, the structural integrity of Oceanfront Resorts has gone through a massive movement towards safety. Governor Ron Desantis signed a bill into law requiring buildings over 3 stories and over 30 years old to obtain engineering certification by Dec 31st, 2024 ensuring that a similar event will not happen. The remediation work needed is proving to be astronomical for many properties and huge special assessments are being levied to make the repairs and secure the required certification by the end of this year. Read below for a local article discussing an Ormond Beach Condo property where owners are being assessed over $100k per unit owner!
Just what we need. Another Special Assessment! Fortunately, no. Our work contracted by our GC was forecasted forward to include the necessary remediation for this certification. We have a certified engineer that inspected the property, reviewed the proposed work and provided assurance he will give us the certification upon final inspection. This included a lot of work on the balconies and extensive stronger adjoinment of the South tower (Rooms 1-6) to the North Tower (rooms 7-23). Additional work on the walkways and the underside of the building over the parking area was also completed. The building is solid and we will have the certification prior to the mandatory deadline.
There have not been any additional Board Meetings since my last update. Unfortunately, I can forewarn that the next one will have to readdress owner delinquency with a firmer stance.
We have begun posting current pictures of work in various stages of completion on our Facebook page. Have a look!
Reminders…
The Maverick website has been updated to provide a direct link to our newest online payment platform. You can follow the link below. If it is your first time using this new system we have a unique code for each owner that was assigned by the vendor. You only need this once to setup your access. If you do not have it, please contact the Resort by phone (855) 573-7457 or email the GM Keith Lashley (klashley@maverickormondbeach.com).
Owner Information – Maverick Ormond Beach
Please use the Board of Directors email address to communicate with us directly. bod@maverickormondbeach.com
Sincerely,
Lance Douglas
Maverick BOD President
A Message from the Maverick Board President:
06/20/2024
Maverick June 20th, 2024 – PARTIAL REOPENING DATE ANNOUNCED
Maverick Owners:
Tonight, the Board approved a plan for a partial reopen on Saturday, February 1st, 2025. We have been given a completion date for the top 3 floors. Those are floors 5-7. With the time needed for staffing and final room preparation, we are very excited to announce this date and begin preparing to welcome owners back to the Resort.
How will a partial opening work?
We will begin communicating more details to owners as there are a lot of considerations to be sorted through. We do believe that we can accommodate all of our owners that wish to use their deeded week from Feb 1st, 2025 forward. We will need to move owners that own on floors 2-4 to an upper floor for this year only. We will match room layouts to the best of our ability. Owners on floors 5-7 will check into their respective unit.
As you can imagine, this is going to take a great deal of planning and coordinating. We will not be able to take reservations for bonus or make up weeks until the Resort is fully opened and on sound footing. That will be a separate notification. When we do have an available unit, we will utilize our rental partners to book the room. This is to provide cash flow to the Resort. The Deli and Tiki Hut will remain closed until we can accommodate enough guests to cover the operational costs.
Work will continue on the remaining floors while we are partially open. The estimated timeframe for final completion is June 2025.
I’m sure there are plenty of questions and we will be communicating more detail as we sort through the logistics.
We have begun posting current pictures of work in various stages of completion on our Facebook page. Have a look!
Reminders…
The Maverick website has been updated to provide a direct link to our newest online payment platform. You can follow the link below. If it is your first time using this new system we have a unique code for each owner that was assigned by the vendor. You only need this once to setup your access. If you do not have it, please contact the Resort by phone (855) 573-7457 or email the GM Keith Lashley (klashley@maverickormondbeach.com).
Owner Information – Maverick Ormond Beach
Please use the Board of Directors email address to communicate with us directly. bod@maverickormondbeach.com
Sincerely,
Lance Douglas
Maverick BOD President
A Message from the Maverick Board President:
06/07/2024
Maverick June 2024 Update
Maverick Owners:
As anticipated, we had increased activity on the renovations at the Maverick. I was at the Maverick on Monday, June 3rd along with our Treasurer Amy Kolis for the better part of the day. We did a lengthy tour of the property and multiple floors to see how the work is progressing.
There is still a lot work to be done. There is a lot of work that has been done and there are a lot of projects in various stages. Here is a summary. I am trying to upload pictures. I can post these updates but the pictures are giving me a hard time, so I’ll have to get to reach out to our web designer for help with that.
- The Lobby roof and ceiling work has been completed.
- The Laundry room has new lights and ceiling tiles waiting to order washer /dryer until closer to opening date.
- Pressure washing on balconies has been completed. Those birds make a horrible mess. We need to get owners and guests back in the rooms to keep those birds off the balconies!
- The Sealing of windows and ac units on floors 5-7 is complete. Floor 4 was being finished up.
- Walkways have been scraped from texture, concrete repair is completed and preparation for water testing is done on each floor to pitch walkways correctly so that water does not pool.
- Floors 5- 7: New vinyl flooring installed.
- Floors 5 -7: Balcony concrete demolition, steel replacement and repairs, steel rust proofing and zinc coating and new concrete repour complete.
Cabinets and furniture have begun to be installed on 6 and 7.
We still have a ways to go with floors 2-4.
Coquina removal is scheduled to start Monday after a delay.
Reminders…
The Maverick website has been updated to provide a direct link to our newest online payment platform. You can follow the link below. If it is your first time using this new system we have a unique code for each owner that was assigned by the vendor. You only need this once to setup your access. If you do not have it, please contact the Resort by phone (855) 573-7457 or email the GM Keith Lashley (klashley@maverickormondbeach.com).
Owner Information – Maverick Ormond Beach
Please use the Board of Directors email address to communicate with us directly. bod@maverickormondbeach.com
Sincerely,
Lance Douglas
Maverick BOD President
A Message from the Maverick Board President:
05/07/2024
Maverick May 2024 Update
A Message from the President:
It is with great relief that I’m able to share some positive news regarding the Maverick. The Mediation that took place in March has been finalized, fully executed and funds have been received. A meeting with our GC was set for the following morning to dust off the plan to re-open and resume the work needed to get our owners and guests back to the Resort.
Once we see how the work is progressing, we can start to align with an opening date. Right now, everything is a priority, but the reality is we have to juggle the phases of the project. One of the primary focuses is to secure what is referred to as the ‘envelope’ of the building. This is everything on the exterior to protect the interior as we approach hurricane season (and wildly fierce Florida thunderstorms). All of the rooms will have the ocean facing balcony windows and ac units resealed with new door thresholds to prevent water intrusion. We have a new roof installed with a vapor barrier to mitigate excess water. All of the plumbing that was on the roof has been re-routed. Also, all of the electrical components and wiring have been removed from the rooftop. A new roof over the portico and lobby is being installed. The Cocina rock removal is underway. Rainwater flows into the cracks of this rock and causes interior damage. Street facing walkways are being resurfaced and sloped to divert water and prevent standing or pooling.
All of the balconies are getting the necessary concrete reinforcement and repair required to be engineer certified by the end of this year in accordance with the latest FL State code requirements.
This ‘envelope’ phase will take an estimated 4+ months. Interior work will also be taking place during this time but the emphasis is on protecting the Resort for the upcoming storm season.
We held a Zoom meeting last night (5/6/2024) where I was able to share this good news openly. The draft of the meeting minutes will be posted on the website when our Secretary has them prepared for review. There were two agenda items to approve bids for a replacement commercial washer/dryer and the seating tables and chairs for all of the units. Both were approved. There was also a lengthy discussion on the ‘Bonus weeks’ that were approved by the Board as a courtesy to owners for paying the Special Assessment. To add clarification of the intent to soften the burden of the Special Assessment, owners will be notified via email that the Special Assessment is already past due and needs to be paid by July 1, 2024 to receive the bonus week. After that date, the assessment is still due but the bonus week will not be gifted to the account.
The severity of the delinquency percentage is a problem. There is no reason that owners should not be frustrated and have had concern. That’s understood; however, now that we can all breathe a sigh of relief that the Maverick is not going under, or bankrupt, or insolvent we need our owners to bring their accounts current. The Maverick website has been updated to provide a direct link to our newest online payment platform. You can follow the link below. If it is your first time using this new system we have a unique code for each owner that was assigned by the vendor. You only need this once to setup your access. If you do not have it, please contact the Resort by phone (855) 573-7457 or email the GM Keith Lashley (klashley@maverickormondbeach.com).
Owner Information – Maverick Ormond Beach
As always, we thank you for your continued patience and support of the Maverick. I’ve enjoyed sharing stories with other owners that are also missing cherished time and just as eager to come back to their home away from home.
Please use the Board of Directors email address to communicate with us directly. bod@maverickormondbeach.com
Sincerely,
Lance Douglas
Maverick BOD President
A Message from the Maverick Board President:
04/07/2024
Maverick April 2024 Update
We have whisked through the month of March without deviating from our primary focus to re-open the Maverick. On March 29th, we held an in-person Board meeting here in Ormond. This was mainly to discuss work items and put forth to the Board for a vote. The draft or ‘unapproved’ minutes from this meeting will be posted to the Maverick’s website once they are completed. We do this for all Board meetings since approval of the minutes cannot be formally done until a following Board meeting. Posting the unapproved minutes gives owners an earlier opportunity to see what was discussed.
A couple of items that I would like to highlight and of utmost importance to owners are that we have not received any additional payouts from insurance. Terms of mediation have not been fully executed.
Unfortunately, due to health reasons, Jerry Cutter has resigned from the Board. I have spoken with Jerry and he is still an avid fan of the Resort and will continue to be an active owner. Jerry is an experienced advocate for withstanding the grind of attorneys vs contractors vs insurance. We wish Jerry the very best as he steps down from the Maverick and other area Boards that he serves on. Our by-laws provide guidance on handling a resignation. We will discuss those options at the next Board meeting, which is not scheduled at this time.
We have also contacted our CPA firm regarding the audited financial statement for 2023. According to them, this will be available sometime in May 2024.
On an improvement note, Volusia County (City of Ormond) has completed the road work spanning A1A in front of the Resort. It is freshly paved with the installation of additional crosswalks and speed tables to improve safety along this road.
I also mentioned in an update that we were moving the items stored in PODS, in their climate-controlled warehouse to a warehouse space we rented that is also climate-controlled. We were renting a total of 77 PODS. To date, approximately 75% of those PODS have been unloaded. The remainder will be emptied by the end of the month.
We are working with timelines and available resources. Our delinquency is still too high and limits what we can do ahead of any money recovered from insurance. Therefore, we cannot project a re-opening date at this time. I will be incredibly happy when we can.
I am very proud of how this Board and Maverick staff are handling the challenges posed daily while tuning out the noise of distractors. They are a great team to work with as we plan and respond accordingly to each unique situation. We are locked in on how we can best serve owners and get the Resort back open.
Thank you to all our loyal owners for your patience and understanding. We are moving forward as quickly as possible.
Sincerely,
Lance Douglas
Maverick BOD President
A Message from the Maverick Board President:
03/06/2024
Hello Maverick Owners,
Mediation did take place on that day. Due to the confidential nature, we are not able to disclose any additional information at this time even with fellow Board members. When appropriate, we will be able to discuss more details of the mediation with Owners.
We will continue to provide at least a monthly update while using our email notification system when needed.
Thank you all for your patience and continued support of the Maverick.
Lance Douglas
Maverick BOD President
A Message from the Maverick Board President:
2/8/2024
Message from the President:
Hello again, Maverick Owners and I hope you are all weathering the colder temperatures this February. We have seen some nice days here in Volusia County but still chillier than what I prefer. I took this picture at the Resort the other morning. It was a spectacular sight from the Maverick’s pool deck that I couldn’t decide if it signified light at the end of the tunnel or rays of hope breaking through the barriers we have been facing. After a brief moment of inspiration, we were back to work inside.
For this update, I wanted to provide you all with some statuses on what has been going on with the Resort during the month of January and into the first week of February.
The biggest item that is on everyone’s mind is how are we coming along with getting work started again. In my last update, I mentioned that we were actively looking at options for outside financing and had in-person meetings with three potential candidates. We had a fourth express interest also. Three of the four were completely unique in how they thought they could structure the financial support we needed to fund the remaining repairs to re-open the Resort. Each one had its positives and negatives to consider. I asked each of the three to send us a proposal of terms. After more than a week passed, I had received one and it was going to take a lot more digging and fact finding. At this point, I asked the Board if it was best that we pause the financing efforts until after the February 22nd mediation meeting with our Insurance carrier that is responsible for the Hurricane Ian and Nicole claims. Although, it is painful to place these efforts on hold and possibly lose a month in the negotiations, the Board agreed that waiting for mediation was preferable. Even if we do walk away unsatisfied, we may be in a different position for what we need. The mediation preparation meeting with our attorney was scheduled for Feb 7th. This has been rescheduled for Feb 13th at the request of our attorney. Mediation with the carrier is still scheduled for February 22nd. Our participants will be our Attorney Mike Ciocchetti, Freddie Stephens, myself and Keith Lashley. Each person’s role was discussed in the January 2024 update. I cannot say the results will be immediately shared because there will most likely need to be some legal drafting, review and formal acceptance. I know everyone is waiting in great anticipation so I will share as much as I can as soon as possible.
I’m also happy to share some additional noteworthy items over the past month.
- The final concrete repair has been completed and paid for to our Contractor (GC Contractors).
- The new Viewpoint online payment portal is LIVE through our website. Email notifications were sent out on January 22nd. We had a manageable number of calls from owners that had a problem or question on the new system, but overall it was a smooth rollout. We did see an upward spike in payments from owners that were awaiting that option, which is greatly appreciated. Delinquency is still too high and that makes financial decisions tougher so please continue to submit payment and encourage others to do so as well. The deadline for 2024 Maintenance fees was February 1st. That deadline has not been extended; however, late fees will not be assessed until February 15th given the delay in bringing the system online.
- We took advantage of an opportunity to save the Association monthly storage fees by temporarily leasing a commercial space to use for storage instead of individual PODS rentals. The space has been leased by us and the items are being moved to the new location. We needed to move quickly since these commercial warehouse spaces are not abundant, in the area. We were able to secure one that meet our needs and coordinating the transfer of items is underway.
We have a busy few weeks ahead of mediation. Please send prayers and positive energy our way. Thank you for your continued patience and support. It is very much noted and appreciated.
Please email the Board at bod@maverickormondbeach.com if you need to reach us. This is the preferred email address.
Sincerely.
Lance Douglas
Maverick Board President
12/26/2023
Message from the President:
We analyze every scenario for the best way to get owners and guests back into the Resort. Whether this happens as a partial or fully completed renovation will be determined based on the timing of material, supplies, labor and most importantly…money. Every week, every day we hope and pray that something will break in our favor to kick the renovation work back into high gear. So far, that has not happened, but we are seeing momentum.
We are currently in discussions with 2 outside lending sources that have shown promise. I had hoped to have this wrapped up by the end of the year, but these are not traditional loans and take some creativity and some convincing to get the green light. Timeshares are unique in their structure which does not allow the Association to use the building or the land it is on as collateral, even though there is no outstanding mortgage on the property.
We are seeking 4 million dollars, which is our estimate to cover the remainder of what needs to be done. It is also the amount we have been told by our insurance carrier has been put in a reserve account for our claim. We have filed a lawsuit against the carrier for not dispersing these funds or even providing a reason for the delay. This is typical behavior that we have seen before. We have seen movement on this lawsuit recently as the carrier has requested mediation sometime around the middle of February. This sounds good on the surface but we have to be prepared and willing to stand up for what is fair to the Association and not agree to anything less. Our Attorney Mike Ciochetti, Freddie Stephens and I sat through an 8 hour mediation after the Hurricane Matthew debacle with the Public Adjuster that claimed they were entitled to 1.2 million dollars of the insurance proceeds. Unfortunately, we were fighting an uphill battle since the laws (which have now been revised) were not in our favor and the PA had a signed contract from a previous Board President. Still, we were so infuriated by the attempt to extort that amount of money, we refused to pay and ended up in mediation. They hardly waivered on their demands and after that long day, we walked away empty handed. Disappointed and frustrated by the greed of this company. Our favor turned a few weeks later when rumors of the law changing to limit PA’s on what they can charge started circulating and they reached out to negotiate. Now we had some leverage and settled on a much more reasonable figure that got us what we needed to free up funds to finish that renovation and re-open. Jerry Cutter was the point guard with these same players at the Ormond Heritage Condominiums where he is an owner and was a great asset for us to lean on and follow their footprint. We are lucky enough to now have Jerry with us on our Board. He understands the stall tactics insurance companies deploy and is resolute on taking a stand with us.
We also ran into problems with our initial contractor. KBCat6 has done quality work at the Resort and submitted a competitive bid for the renovation. Deadlines and target dates started slipping without reasonable explanations, so we moved to legally terminate through a ‘breach of contract’ that was not contested. Following their departure, we had a third party evaluate the work done. This is subjective but there was enough of a discrepancy as to the work that was paid for that we have filed suit against KBCat6, as well. We then brought in our backup ‘GC Contractors’ that is well known in the local Resort Industry to finish the work needed. They have remained on schedule and continue to work with us as funds become available.
At this time, I can confidently say that it is not a matter of IF but WHEN we will receive the necessary funds and the above-mentioned scenarios are our path to get there. I am scheduling meetings with both potential investment groups this week.
In the meantime, we are stretching what we can. We have been fortunate to have enough funds coming in to move ahead with some smaller items. For example, the go ahead was given to our contractor to finish out the flooring and trim work on some units so that we can start unloading some of the PODS that are storing our furniture. They are being stored in a climate-controlled facility and that is quite costly. Unloading some of those will actually pay for itself by the time we re-open. We have a rough estimate to be fully re-opened in 5-6 months after we get the contractor back up to full crews on our property. We all want that to be sooner and every effort will be made to re-open as soon as possible.
At the November Owner’s meeting we did not make a quorum which would have been reached, this year, by receiving a total of 851 proxies or votes from those in attendance. Even with the assistance of a very passionate group of owners pleading for proxies, we only received 459 in total. This underscores the importance of sending in your proxy, even if you just want it counted for quorum and have no preference for voting on the Board of Directors. Without quorum, we cannot hold an election, and as a result the current Board will remain in place. The Organizational meeting that directly followed established the following Officers:
Lance Douglas – President
Freddie Stephens – Vice-President
Amy Kolis – Treasurer
Gretchen Venn – Secretary
Denise Mentzer – Board Member
Jerry Cutter – Board Member
Donnie Casey – Board Member
It is to our advantage to have a Board that has already been this through this scenario of being closed and fighting with contractors, insurance companies and using Attorneys that specialize in these cases.
Our Communication from the Board to Owners has been less than effective. That is a major concern from the Board’s point-of-view. Although a lot of effort went into communicating, it was either missed, located in different areas or lost in translation. Either way, owners were getting upset so at the Annual meeting, a 3-person Communications team was established composed of Amy Kolis, Gretchen Venn and myself. We are currently meeting every week, give or take holiday conflicts. An immediate change following the Owners meeting was implemented for the Association to use Zoom video conferencing for Board meetings. I think this will be a terrific tool for us to make Board meetings more accessible to owners.
One thing that was clear is that Facebook is not the proper channel for the Board to communicate to owners. It is unrealistic to have a single Board Member (or a few of them) try to answer hundreds of owners and frequently answering the same questions multiple times. If Facebook is a social media platform where we would want our owners and guests to check out what is going on and showcase what the Resort offers, it does not make sense to have derogatory comments and accusatory statements made on that platform. Currently, we are restricting comments until Rules of Conduct are posted. We are also looking into adding an owner forum onto our website. In the meantime, we encourage emails be sent to the bod@maverickormond.com. These go to the entire Board and GM. Frequently Asked Questions and Answers are also being drafted to cover some of the more common questions. We appreciate your patience.
Another item for you to be aware of is the Communication team has agreed there will be at least one update posted on the website within the first week of every month, starting in January at least until the Resort is re-opened. A notification for the update will be sent via our email list to owners. If you are not receiving them, please check with us to make sure we have the correct information.
We also have a big upgrade to our Resort Management system coming. Our previous system was outdated and we were notified that it would no longer be supported. We are now using Viewpoint which has some significant advantages that will be rolled out in phases. One of the first things you will be notified of is a new owner portal where payments can be processed. We are planning to utilize this portal for additional owner services since access requires an account.
I hope you find this update reassuring as to some of the measures that are being undertaken to get us reopened and informing you of our current status and direction moving forward. It is an especially heavy weight this time of the year knowing that the 30-40 people that it takes to make your vacation memorable are without employment with us. With that I’ll remind everyone that paying your dues does help us shave time off the renovations and gets us closer to reopening.
I am looking forward to seeing us open for business and welcoming everyone back. We’ll have another update posted within the first week of January 2024.
Sincerely.
Lance Douglas
Maverick Board President
A Message from the Maverick Board President:
1/9/2024
Message from the President:
Happy New Year, Maverick Owners! I, for one, am happy to have the Holiday Season in the rearview mirror. I love spending time with friends and families but synching schedules around that time of year when we are so busy is a challenge for me. Well, I know what my New Year’s Resolution was and that is to get this Resort re-opened.
In my last message, I said two meetings were being scheduled with potential lending sources. Since that time, we have had meetings with three lending sources. Another player came to the table, through our connections. Each group is different in how we could collateralize a loan, whether it is a longer- or shorter-term relationship, and does it make sense for both parties. I cannot stress enough these were preliminary, fact-finding discussions. No decision on one or the other or if ANY of them are plausible has been made. I am waiting for written (emailed) proposals. I just received one this morning. The entire Board will review the proposals and procure outside guidance from legal counsel. We will not be emailing the proposals to owners prior to determining if there are actionable avenues to pursue. Board discussion and voting, on this item if it progresses beyond analysis, would be done in a formal Board meeting, noticed to Owners through our email database, posted on our website, and posted on the building to be held via Zoom. I do not have a date or timeframe yet. I’m still waiting on 2 of the 3 to be submitted.
That brings me to the next item that will also have to be considered in the above scenario. We have locked down a firm date for mediation with our Insurance Carrier. It is scheduled for February 22nd, 2024. This will most likely be an all-day Zoom event. Our team will consist of our Insurance Attorney Mike Ciocchetti, myself, Freddie Stephens, our GM Keith Lashley and one other Board Member that is being worked out internally. Keith is not able to make Association decisions but is a valuable adversary with close knowledge and awareness of the facts. Our attorney can provide recommendations to the Association. Mike is recognized as a Top Attorney in Florida by The Wall Street Journal and Miami Magazine, a Florida Super Lawyers Rising Star and is AV-Rated by Martindale-Hubbell. If (big IF) an agreement can be reached, the decision on how to accept it hasn’t been discussed. I’ll have to get back with you on that.
Another noteworthy item is that the Beach Cam is now streaming. It can be accessed from our website under ‘Guest Services’ or through this link: Beach Camera – Maverick Ormond Beach. This camera has a wide angle lens that we didn’t have before so placement is a little tricky. If it is moved further to the left, the adjacent balcony enters the picture so that’s the best angle they could get.
We are very very close to officially launching the new owner portal with payment access. It is rolled into production. We haven’t connected the link to our website until we can test in this environment and understand the user experience. We did discover a few minor glitches that are being tightened up before we notify every one of its availability and how to access it.
The Communications Team met on Monday morning at the Resort. Our main topic was social media. We have had problems in the past getting access to the website, facebook, Instagram, etc because they were initially setup through a Board member’s or Employee’s personal email account and password. It was decided to house all of those platform under a general Association account, where it should be. This will make it easier for future board members to get the access they need. It’s a struggle when you can’t track someone down for that info. It is also important the Communications Team review all online and printed material before it is sent out. We want a consistent message. That’s another reason why FAQ’s are being drafted. I don’t have an ETA for those yet.
Closing this one out, I do want to thank owners for the positive responses we have been receiving. Incoming SA and maintenance fees are not as good as when we are open but better than anticipated. Keep them coming. Every payment helps.
Please email the Board at bod@maverickormondbeach.com if you need to reach us. This is the preferred email address. There were routing issues if ‘beach’ was left off.
I look forward to communicating with you very soon!
Sincerely.
Lance Douglas
Maverick Board President
12/26/2023
Message from the President:
We analyze every scenario for the best way to get owners and guests back into the Resort. Whether this happens as a partial or fully completed renovation will be determined based on the timing of material, supplies, labor and most importantly…money. Every week, every day we hope and pray that something will break in our favor to kick the renovation work back into high gear. So far, that has not happened, but we are seeing momentum.
We are currently in discussions with 2 outside lending sources that have shown promise. I had hoped to have this wrapped up by the end of the year, but these are not traditional loans and take some creativity and some convincing to get the green light. Timeshares are unique in their structure which does not allow the Association to use the building or the land it is on as collateral, even though there is no outstanding mortgage on the property.
We are seeking 4 million dollars, which is our estimate to cover the remainder of what needs to be done. It is also the amount we have been told by our insurance carrier has been put in a reserve account for our claim. We have filed a lawsuit against the carrier for not dispersing these funds or even providing a reason for the delay. This is typical behavior that we have seen before. We have seen movement on this lawsuit recently as the carrier has requested mediation sometime around the middle of February. This sounds good on the surface but we have to be prepared and willing to stand up for what is fair to the Association and not agree to anything less. Our Attorney Mike Ciochetti, Freddie Stephens and I sat through an 8 hour mediation after the Hurricane Matthew debacle with the Public Adjuster that claimed they were entitled to 1.2 million dollars of the insurance proceeds. Unfortunately, we were fighting an uphill battle since the laws (which have now been revised) were not in our favor and the PA had a signed contract from a previous Board President. Still, we were so infuriated by the attempt to extort that amount of money, we refused to pay and ended up in mediation. They hardly waivered on their demands and after that long day, we walked away empty handed. Disappointed and frustrated by the greed of this company. Our favor turned a few weeks later when rumors of the law changing to limit PA’s on what they can charge started circulating and they reached out to negotiate. Now we had some leverage and settled on a much more reasonable figure that got us what we needed to free up funds to finish that renovation and re-open. Jerry Cutter was the point guard with these same players at the Ormond Heritage Condominiums where he is an owner and was a great asset for us to lean on and follow their footprint. We are lucky enough to now have Jerry with us on our Board. He understands the stall tactics insurance companies deploy and is resolute on taking a stand with us.
We also ran into problems with our initial contractor. KBCat6 has done quality work at the Resort and submitted a competitive bid for the renovation. Deadlines and target dates started slipping without reasonable explanations, so we moved to legally terminate through a ‘breach of contract’ that was not contested. Following their departure, we had a third party evaluate the work done. This is subjective but there was enough of a discrepancy as to the work that was paid for that we have filed suit against KBCat6, as well. We then brought in our backup ‘GC Contractors’ that is well known in the local Resort Industry to finish the work needed. They have remained on schedule and continue to work with us as funds become available.
At this time, I can confidently say that it is not a matter of IF but WHEN we will receive the necessary funds and the above-mentioned scenarios are our path to get there. I am scheduling meetings with both potential investment groups this week.
In the meantime, we are stretching what we can. We have been fortunate to have enough funds coming in to move ahead with some smaller items. For example, the go ahead was given to our contractor to finish out the flooring and trim work on some units so that we can start unloading some of the PODS that are storing our furniture. They are being stored in a climate-controlled facility and that is quite costly. Unloading some of those will actually pay for itself by the time we re-open. We have a rough estimate to be fully re-opened in 5-6 months after we get the contractor back up to full crews on our property. We all want that to be sooner and every effort will be made to re-open as soon as possible.
At the November Owner’s meeting we did not make a quorum which would have been reached, this year, by receiving a total of 851 proxies or votes from those in attendance. Even with the assistance of a very passionate group of owners pleading for proxies, we only received 459 in total. This underscores the importance of sending in your proxy, even if you just want it counted for quorum and have no preference for voting on the Board of Directors. Without quorum, we cannot hold an election, and as a result the current Board will remain in place. The Organizational meeting that directly followed established the following Officers:
Lance Douglas – President
Freddie Stephens – Vice-President
Amy Kolis – Treasurer
Gretchen Venn – Secretary
Denise Mentzer – Board Member
Jerry Cutter – Board Member
Donnie Casey – Board Member
It is to our advantage to have a Board that has already been this through this scenario of being closed and fighting with contractors, insurance companies and using Attorneys that specialize in these cases.
Our Communication from the Board to Owners has been less than effective. That is a major concern from the Board’s point-of-view. Although a lot of effort went into communicating, it was either missed, located in different areas or lost in translation. Either way, owners were getting upset so at the Annual meeting, a 3-person Communications team was established composed of Amy Kolis, Gretchen Venn and myself. We are currently meeting every week, give or take holiday conflicts. An immediate change following the Owners meeting was implemented for the Association to use Zoom video conferencing for Board meetings. I think this will be a terrific tool for us to make Board meetings more accessible to owners.
One thing that was clear is that Facebook is not the proper channel for the Board to communicate to owners. It is unrealistic to have a single Board Member (or a few of them) try to answer hundreds of owners and frequently answering the same questions multiple times. If Facebook is a social media platform where we would want our owners and guests to check out what is going on and showcase what the Resort offers, it does not make sense to have derogatory comments and accusatory statements made on that platform. Currently, we are restricting comments until Rules of Conduct are posted. We are also looking into adding an owner forum onto our website. In the meantime, we encourage emails be sent to the bod@maverickormond.com. These go to the entire Board and GM. Frequently Asked Questions and Answers are also being drafted to cover some of the more common questions. We appreciate your patience.
Another item for you to be aware of is the Communication team has agreed there will be at least one update posted on the website within the first week of every month, starting in January at least until the Resort is re-opened. A notification for the update will be sent via our email list to owners. If you are not receiving them, please check with us to make sure we have the correct information.
We also have a big upgrade to our Resort Management system coming. Our previous system was outdated and we were notified that it would no longer be supported. We are now using Viewpoint which has some significant advantages that will be rolled out in phases. One of the first things you will be notified of is a new owner portal where payments can be processed. We are planning to utilize this portal for additional owner services since access requires an account.
I hope you find this update reassuring as to some of the measures that are being undertaken to get us reopened and informing you of our current status and direction moving forward. It is an especially heavy weight this time of the year knowing that the 30-40 people that it takes to make your vacation memorable are without employment with us. With that I’ll remind everyone that paying your dues does help us shave time off the renovations and gets us closer to reopening.
I am looking forward to seeing us open for business and welcoming everyone back. We’ll have another update posted within the first week of January 2024.
Sincerely.
Lance Douglas
Maverick Board President