Funds Mismanagement
?
What is it going to take for a person to realize a mistake was made?
When Anthem Opinions disclosed that
$2,600 was paid for the Hillary buses with association funds, authorized by an association president
without the approval of fellow Sun City Anthem board members, a storm of
opposition began that has subsequently taken on a life of its
own.
We cannot reprint the nature and tone
of the comments we received as a result of that disclosure...they were that
intense !
You might see attempts elsewhere to
"sugarcoat" this situation...but no excuse can ever justify MISMANAGING
ASSOCIATION FUNDS...and we are of the belief that this cannot be denied in this
particular matter.
And so...we wish to send this statement to
President Bella Meese and hope you, our readers, do so as well, in this matter.
Mrs.
Meese...
1. You overstepped your authority and betrayed the
confidence bestowed on you as the President of Sun City
Anthem.
2. You owe the residents of Sun City Anthem a full apology
for doing so.
and...
3. YOU should personally reimburse the Sun City Anthem
treasury in the amount of $2,600 as a sign of your unsanctioned action.
and...most importantly... as a result of this embarrassment to the entire community...
We urge the remaining board
members to protect the honor and pride of the Sun City Anthem community by taking this matter seriously as do the overwhelming number of residents, and IMMEDIATELY
REPLACING HER AS THE PRESIDENT of Sun
City Anthem.
Any board
members who in any way sanction the actions of this individual for this UNAUTHORIZED ACT, should be condemned for their
lack of responsibility in neglecting their duties to protect the assets of our
association.
This can no longer be
tolerated by any individual.
It is THAT SERIOUS and sets a precedence of acceptance for any future president if not acted upon.
It is THAT SERIOUS and sets a precedence of acceptance for any future president if not acted upon.
So, to all of our readers, we ask
you...
Has Bella
Meese exceeded her authority as the Sun City Anthem Association President?
Should Bella Meese make a Public Apology?
Should Bella Meese PERSONALLY reimburse Sun City Anthem?
Should the remaining board members choose a new President of our association?
Let us know how you
feel...
...as well as each and every member of
the Sun City Board of Directors.
Here they
are:
Anthem Opinions Administration
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From Langs3...to...Anthem Opinons
Belle has way over stepped and become a "bully" to the board and its members.
Why do they let her get away with it and why has the community not banned together for her removal??
She is stealing our money!! -
From Lawrence Peterson...to...Anthem Opinions
An email sent to each member of the Sun City Anthem Board of Directors:
Mrs. Meese and Anthem Board of Directors,
Mrs. Meese has overstepped her authority and betrayed the position of the President of Sun City Anthem.
Mrs. Meese, at the very least, owes the residents of Sun City Anthem a full apology for doing so.
Mrs. Meese should, again at the very least, reimburse the Sun City Anthem treasury in the amount of $2,600 as a result of the unsanctioned action and the embarrassment to the entire community.
We urge the remaining board members to protect the Sun City Anthem Community by taking this matter seriously, as do the overwhelming number of residents, and immediately replacing Mrs. Meese as the president of Sun City Anthem.
Any board members who in any way sanctioned the actions of this individual for this illegal act, should be condemned for their lack of responsibility in neglecting their duties to protect the assets of our association.
This cannot be tolerated.
I would suspect that the fiduciary responsibility of the position on the Board of Directors would make any participants in such allocation of funds, illegally, libel for a significant lawsuit.
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From Laura...to...Anthem Opinions
Hell, yeah to all four of your questions relating to the exit of Bella Meese.
What nerve spending money that doesn't belong to her.
She should be prosecuted. -
From Edward Vandervelde...to...Anthem Opinions
Yes! This action is unacceptable!
If I did this I would be in jail ! -
From R.D. Wood...to...Anthem Opinions
I wholeheartedly agree with all the steps recommended in Anthem Opinions concerning Bella Meese's unauthorized actions, especially that she should personally reimburse the Sun City treasury the $2600 she unilaterally and illegally authorized. -
From Josette Brink...to...Anthem Opinions
GET RID OF ALL THE BOARD MEMBERS. -
From Randy Rutkin...to...Anthem Opinions
I just sent a scathing email to "she who would be Queen".
The sheer arrogance of this woman is mind- boggling. Just where does she get off spending MY money to help support someone I wouldn't vote for if she were the last person on earth?
Meese needs to make a public apology, reimburse the association with her own money and RESIGN!
If not, the proper steps need to be taken with the Board of Real Estate to see that she is prosecuted. -
From Irvin Prail...to...Anthem Opinions
While I agree completely with the suggested plan of action, I feel it falls short.
Ms. Meese should be REMOVED FROM THE BOARD IMMEDIATELY, not merely “reduced in rank”!
Ms. Meese will predictably try to excuse her action as “an effort to assuage members’ concerns regarding parking congestion” or some such sniveling weak window dressing.
We all know it was a blatant, coldly calculated theft of association funds, which funds were then used to aid an outside partisan political campaign which our board cannot legally support, and which many members strongly oppose.
Additionally, I feel strongly that, should Ms. Meese refuse or hesitate to make restitutions of funds for this theft, we must mount an effort to file a civil lawsuit to force this restitution, plus punitive damages plus legal fees, followed by her forced removal from the board.
We should also investigate the procedure required to bring criminal charges. -
From Celia Krom...to...Anthem Opinions
I absolutely agree that Bella Meese should immediately resign and repay the SCA association the $2,600 for the bus.
She had absolutely no right to act as she did and not even consult the board members.
If it were deemed to be necessary, then the political party should have paid for the bus.
They would only have needed a little shuttle bus in any case.
I enjoy reading your blog, and usually agree with your opinions. -
From Ron & Amy Levine...to...Anthem Opinions
Absolutely irresponsible action, which must result in a recall of Bella Meese.
In the near term, the board should make a vote of no confidence, and oust her from the board.
If she had any common decency, she would pay the $2,600 back AND resign, but I doubt she will.
Meese is so egotistical, she assumes her positions are shared by the entire community, and they are NOT! -
From M. Wilkins...to...Anthem Opinions
The board had no right to order buses for Hillary with our money. -
From Virginia Regua...to...Anthem Opinions
This is an expense that should be paid by the campaign or the democrat club who organized this event.
All SCA members should not be obliged to pay for something they did not request and was not of their choosing.
The board and especially the president should not take it upon themselves to pay out “our” money for these buses.
It was a day of inconvenience and many had to cancel their activity.
It was difficult trying to pick up prescriptions at Walgreens since their parking lot was also overrun.
The venue was not well thought out. -
From Douglas West...to...Anthem Opinions
The bus expenditure authorized by our board president is just one of many examples of the lack of accountability and transparency that is prevalent with certain members of this board.
There are no professionally acceptable purchasing policies or guidelines governing expenditures or procurement of services and supplies.
We must demand that all expenditures and purchases see the light of day by publishing a budget, creating a purchasing policy, allowing anyone to ask about this at any public meeting, and publish each payment monthly made by our association.
If this information was revealed the general members would be astonished by what is going on in the darkness created by and supported by this board. -
From Douglas West...to...Anthem Opinions
Thanx Dick for what you provide to our members.
As you know the information printed in the spirit is so doctored and slanted one can not get any valuable information, especially, if it is contrary to board opinion.
Keep up your good work and keep the light shinning -
From Patti Glod...to...Anthem Opinions
Bella Meese has no business spending our money as she sees fit.
If people want to see Hillary Clinton, getting there is their problem, not ours! -
It appears that our alternative blogger has had to come up with something to degrade Anthem Opinions and Anthem Today's Marcia Kosterka.
In his own words:
"What the two don’t seem willing to acknowledge, as it is missing from their words of praise, is that our SCA Board of Directors are the ones who put Sandy through the process of being vetted for her new position and then hired her."
Of course, that particular publication always seems to somehow "skip" the details that allow him to "twist" his "half-truths".
What he seemed to have forgotten was my comment at the Special Board Meeting that commended the Board for "getting it right" in the choice of Sandy Seddon.
Perhaps his newest advertising gimmick, a hat he wears with "David's Anthem Journal" embroidered on it, must have covered his ears when my statement was made.
(Can you believe he actually spent money on that silly looking thing that looks like a highway billboard?)
Either that, or perhaps his ears were impaired as a result of calling a number of residents trying to "busy body" himself asking people "Did you know he called Sandy Seddon"?
I've lost count of how many people have called me and told me of this laughable little man's obsession for power.
Then again, after witnessing it for 10 years, and the many failures experienced by those he "endorsed" for election, it certainly doesn't surprise me.
And...as usual...regarding his "successful" recommendations, when the past year is taken in its entirety, one only has to look the voting records of those individuals and see how "successful" they were...and for some reason that "reporter" somehow REFUSES TO PUBLISH their voting records despite my publicly challenging him to do so...
...saying the community is LAZY for not checking it for themselves on that easy to navigate Sun City Anthem website.
Incidentally the subject is Bella Meese, not Sandy Seddon, and the heat and 100% condemnation of the unauthorized use of association funds is THE TOPIC AT HAND...
...not me...not Marcia Kosterka, and not Sandy Seddon.
So perhaps he can stop the sidestepping and address the issue that COUNTS....not a conversation with a new GM..or my not giving a compliment.
This time...the Meese problem ISN'T GOING AWAY, no matter how hard he tries to "stonewall it" or look for excuses to sidestep the issue.
He knows it...and he and his cronies are worried sick that they've run out of excuses to cover up what so many residents have finally realized is the truth....
CORRUPTION is alive and well...and living in Sun City Anthem.
And Anthem Opinions will do EVERYTHING POSSIBLE TO STOP IT. -
From Barbara Bogdan...to...Anthem Opinions
After reading your article of the bus situation I agree that the board should do something about the Hillary bus situation. Also the most ridiculous thing was that the email about the shuttle buses was sent only the night before and not everyone was aware that the buses were available.
I would be interested to know if they were even used. This is truly a misuse of funds and the board President overstepping her authority to spend our funds. -
From Howard & Janet Peck...to...Anthem Opinions
Dear Dick:
Thanks very much for keeping us informed about what's happening with our Board Members. We really do appreciate your tenacity and fairness in reporting the things we should know about, and we sure know who we're NOT going to vote for in the upcoming Board elections.
We're forwarding this email to you regarding the "Hilary Bus" outrage, to let you know that you're definitely reaching "The Silent Majority" out here. And even though it took a lot of restraint, we kept the language professional so the Members wouldn't delete it before reading the whole text.
You definitely lit a fire under us with this latest incident of insanity, and that's what we need sometimes to get us off our backsides and get more involved with the inner workings of our great community.
Keep up the great work!
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Dear Board Members:
While we truly appreciate the time and effort you devote to the Board, this "Hilary Bus" matter seems to indicate that Ms. Meese overstepped her bounds and unilaterally spent Association money without any due notice to and/or approval of the entire Board.
Unless Ms. Meese acted legally under a rule or law that gives her unilateral authority to allocate such an expense, we think she should personally reimburse the Association $2600.
We have never contacted any Board member in the past, and we know it can be a tough job for you folks to sort out all these issues to the benefit of the residents of Sun City Anthhem. However, this does seem to be an obvious case where funds were spent in an extralegal manner and we'd like to understand Ms. Meese's rationale for the decision she made.
Thank you for your responses, and we look forward to hearing from each of you. -
From Diane Cox...to...Anthem Opinions
She should immediately reimburse the HOA and resign.
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Thanks sharing this ugly fact with us.
There is no way we should allow any thing as such this to happen in this community!
It is a shame having an elected homeowners association board member choosing as the president of this community taking a position of complete authority doing anything she/he wants as a queen or king!!!
Why do we have a BOARD WITH SEVEN MEMBERS?
No doubt she needs to reimburse to our association, apologize what she has done, and removed as president from our board!!!
Thanks for sharing!
This is a copy of an email sent to each member of the Sun City Anthem Board of Directors:
We are deeply disappointed in the recent misuse of our SCA funds in paying for the buses used at the Hillary Clinton appearance.
When the number of RSVPs for the event was given, the next call should have been to the Clinton campaign to ask them what they were going to do about it--not making a call to the charter bus company.
Any and all expenses relating to that appearance should have been covered by the campaign and not by the SCA community association.
If whoever authorized this expense cannot get the campaign to reimburse the association for it, then he/she should reimburse the association from his/her own funds.
If that doesn't happen then we seriously think this person is not fit to hold office and should be immediately replaced.
This action of authorizing our community funds for unconscionable expenses such as paying for these buses shows a serious lack of judgement and a dereliction of his/her fiduciary duty as a guardian of our community funds.
We would appreciate a response as to how this is going to be handled.
This event was also open to the whole valley.
The campaign advertised it, even making phone calls to individual registered Democrats across the valley to invite them.
This is something that is hardly ever done.
Strange
It would seem that Ms. Meese has assumed that all SCA residents are Democrats.
I am not and therefore do not appreciate "our" funds being used in this manner.
I am sure Ms. Clinton's campaign could have afforded this expenditure!
This email was sent to each member of the Sun City Anthem Board of Directors:
Dear Board Members,
We are very disturbed that the Board President unilaterally chose to pay for the cost of the shuttle buses for the Clinton rally from Association funds.
In our opinion, this is overstepping her authority and shouldn't have been done without consulting any other board members.
We definitely agree that Mrs. Meese should offer a full public apology, reimburse the Association for the fees and resign from the position of President.
We urge the Board to support these proposed actions.
Her continued lack of regard to make the best choices for the SCA RESIDENTS is very disturbing.
If Mrs.Meese is unwilling to resign, we believe the Board should remove her.
No, I don't think Bella should resign over the bus, maybe over the restaurant deals, but not the bus.
The mistake with the bus was made much earlier is allowing Anthem Center to be used for political rallies for both parties.
The Republicans had at least three events there, Cruz, Rubio, and Fiorina, before the Democrats brought Hillary.
Anthem Center should not be used for any political rallies.
As long as the candidates are minor, like Fiorina or O'malley, it is not disruptive, but if major candidates like Trump or Clinton come here, with all their secret service protection, and their huge crowds of supporters, then it is very disruptive and special assistance, like buses, may be needed.
Avoid the problem by banning all political rallies in the Center.
Bella is a well known Republican, she did not do this to help Clinton.
She did it to make the best of a bad situation that was started when we opened Anthem Center to political campaigns of both parties.
Thank you.