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Regulator's Admin Complaint Against Kier
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This website was registered and developed in 2002 by Charles Turnbaugh [RESUME]. Charles lead the effort, as President of the Banyan, to successfully remove the former management company and was a Member of the Board of Directors for six years. This web site provides honest information about the Banyan Resort so that the Owners may protect their investment and the Banyan Resort. THE WEBSITE IS MAINTAINED AT NO COST TO THE BANYAN RESORT AND IS NOT AN OFFICIAL BANYAN RESORT WEBSITE CONTACT CHARLES TURNBAUGH AT: cpturnbaugh@comcast.net or 410 342 1988 -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
NEWS FROM THE BANYAN I was at the Tiki Bar at the Banyan during week 25 when David Lucas was removed as the operator of the Tiki Bar. I have been an owner since 1998, currently own four units, and have known David for over 10 years. I consider him a friend. It was David's day off and there was a substitute at the Bar. David appeared at the Bar, very hot under the collar. I heard him tell the substitute that he had been called at home and told to come in and send the substitute home. David walked toward the Banyan Office and met the General Manager half way. There was a loud and angry discussion. I heard David say "don't touch the supplies...they belong to me". Later I saw the General Manager emptying the Tiki Bar and supply shed and putting the supplies in the Banyan Pickup Truck. She then restocked the Tiki Bar and it opened the next day being operated by someone other than David. David was extremely angry. Perry Dickinson, prd@fulair.com Another Witness I was at the Banyan in unit 102 during week 25 when David Lucas was thrown out of the Banyan. I have known David many years and knew how poorly he viewed the General Manager and some of the Members of the Board of Directors. Several years ago the Board of Directors added a provision to his contract to prevent him from discussing the management of the Banyan with owners. On the day he was removed, David stopped to speak with me on the porch of my unit about three times. He was extremely upset. One comment was "the B_____ won't pay me for the rest of the month". It is clear to me that if the Banyan had a better General Manager and Board of Directors, David Lucas and his Partner Richard Tidd would still be working at the Banyan. John Kuntz, banyan202@gmail.com I, Charles Turnbaugh, have known David Lucas and his domestic partner, Richard Tidd, for over 10 years. When he was thrown out of the Banyan by the former Management Company, my wife and I sent a check to help them in their transition. David said it allowed them to make their rent payment. My wife and I would meet them for dinner or drinks during visits to the Banyan. These meetings had to be far away from the Banyan to avoid meeting the General Manager. David had warned me about Jerry Myers after I supported his appointment to the Board of Directors after the removal of the management company. He rubbed it in when my relationship with Myers became antagonistic. I have no explanation about why David Lucas has forgotten his call telling me that he had given notice at the Banyan and asking if I would publish a letter on this website if he wrote one. I do not hear from David very often. I remember him saying he would have preferred to stay at the Banyan but a good position came up in Puerto Rico and he was tired of the situation at the Banyan. When he mentioned the name of the bar, guest house and restaurant I remembered visiting it when I was last on Vieques. But for that telephone call, I would not have run for a position on the Board of Directors. To me, the situation with both David Lucas and his partner Richard Tidd (statement to the left) underscores the need to improve management and the quality of the Board of Directors at the Banyan. November 19, 2010 I am running for election to the Banyan Board of Directors. The Treasurer's letter in the election package begins to discuss the financial mess that this Board has created. My election letter is below: Dear Banyan Owners; David Lucas leaving his longtime position as Tiki Bar manager was the last straw. He called me shortly after he gave 30 day notice that he was leaving the Banyan. He said he was totally fed up with what was going on at the Banyan and he simply could not take it any longer. He asked if I would post a letter that he desired to write to the Banyan Owners on my website: www.Banyanowners.com. Shortly after our conversation, his service were terminated by the resort manager. He signed a "confidentiality agreement" in order to receive the remainder of his compensation and is prevented from saying anything derogatory about the Banyan. I never received his letter. However, David joins a large number of other very fine Banyan employees who were fired for reasons other than performance (my opinion) or got fed up and left the Banyan. The statements of Marsha Hendren, Richard Tidd, Kevin Tobin and Ken Thulin are on the website: www.banyanowners.com and provide excellent insight into management at the Banyan. David provided great service at the Banyan and set the tone of the resort as a great place to vacation. His leaving caused me to seek another term on the Board of Directors in order to do everything feasible to dramatically improve management and reduce the outrageously high fees. I have been an attorney for over forty years and have served as the General Counsel for several multibillion dollar financial institutions. I also spent four years as the Commissioner of Financial Regulation for the State of Maryland. Most recently I was Managing Director at a New York Investment Banking firm, seeking to expand their advisory activities to financial institutions. To do so I passed the Series 7 and 63 Securities exams and was licensed as a securities agent. I have completed that work and am semi retired but remain a consultant to the Investment Banking firm and am a Board Member of a Trust Company that manages in excess of $30 billion. I purchased week 41 in Unit 104 in 1996 and now own seven (7) weeks at the Banyan. I am a former President of the Banyan Board and was a Board Member for six years. I spent thousands of hours working to make governance at the Banyan Resort responsive to the interests of the owners, in part by removing the former Management Company. I now feel that time and effort was in vain. Instead of the well managed and low cost timeshare resort I envisioned, we have a very high cost resort that is in chaos. I have been told by persons who know, that the financial records are in total disarray. Delinquencies are at or near record levels and it has been reported to me that the Banyan does not even know which owners have paid their maintenance fees and which have not. Rental payments to owners can be extremely late. Current financial statements cannot be prepared. I am told by knowledgeable persons that it is unclear that the Banyan will have enough operating funds to complete the year and that unless collections pick up, a special assessment may be required in the coming year. A lot has been said about the former conflict among Board Members. There was a strong division between Board Members who believed management of the Banyan should be replaced and those who sought to do nothing. Those who wanted to do nothing prevailed, whether it was seeking better management, or defending against frivolous litigation. The result is sky high maintenance fees, inadequate management, high delinquencies and a threat to the existence of the Banyan. Bad decisions from lazy board members have consequences for Banyan owners.. All records of the Banyan, whether for the tax exempt owners association or the for profit realty subsidiary should be available for inspection by interested owners. If an owner has the time and interest to review Banyan records, the attention should be welcomed, not refused. Instead, many thousands of dollars have been spent in legal fees to prevent financial records from review by owners and directors. It is in the financial records of Banyan Resort Realty where any payments to Char Abercrombie are likely to be found. Char was voted out of office after receiving over $100,000 for what I feel amounted to book keeping services. I personally interviewed one former Banyan bookkeeper who worked successfully for years for Martha Steward in New York but was let go at the Banyan. He was instructed to call Char Abercrombie every day. Financial records of the Banyan Owners Association that were refused to owners and directors until the Timeshare Regulator stepped in revealed questionable expenses for personal clothing, bar and restaurant tabs. In obtaining approval from owners to approve the payment of $800,000 to the former management company to settle litigation, the Board owed the owners a fair and balanced discussion of the merits of the issue. Instead, the owners received a grossly slanted plea to settle the case with $800,000 of owner money. The owners were never informed that there was a very viable counterclaim against the owner of the management company for misappropriation of Banyan trademarks and service marks. The owners were never told that the Banyan attorney refused to make a recommendation to the Board concerning whether or not the case should be settled? The owners were never told that no depositions had been taken in the case. In my forty years as an attorney and manager of litigation I have never heard of litigation being settled for hundreds of thousands of dollars where no depositions had been taken. When I was managing this litigation, all of the attorneys working for the Banyan were very positive about the strength of the Banyan's counterclaims and the weakness of Kier's case. Please see the Complaint filed against former General Manager Kier by the Florida regulator after their own independent investigation. It is on the www.banyanowners.com website. The misleading settlement material is an example of the failure of the current Board of Directors to diligently work in the interests of the owners. They were too lazy to manage the litigation. The used your money to remove the burden of doing their job. Banyan owners must pay close attention to whom they elect to the Board of Directors or the value of Banyan Units will continue to decline. It is already almost impossible for an owner to rent a unit through the resort and recover the cost of the yearly fees. I understand that Joe Cimini, the only Board Member to vote against the litigation settlement is running for reelection along with Jerry Walters who has experience in the hospitality industry. Please vote for Cimini, Walters and me. I hope you will allow me to work with them and President Harry Brull to fix the mess at the Banyan. We need lower fees and better management at the Banyan. There are hundreds of seasoned time share managers in South Florida who would love to manage the Banyan. Please do not vote for Bruce Lacy. He is one of the directors that caused this mess. Please feel free to call Charles Turnbaugh at 401 342 1988 if you wish to discuss.
Charles W. Turnbaugh 960 Fell Street, Unit 101 Baltimore, MD21231d Email: cpturnbaugh@comcast.net
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