TCMA, Transition to Trinity Neighborhood Associations Controlled

     

On Dec 21st 2021, Trinity Communities Master Association (TCMA) Developer (Adam Smith Enterprises, Inc.) began the transitioning process by turning over its control of the TCMA Association's Board responsibility to the representative membership of the Neighborhood Associations' owners.  A new three member TCMA Board of Directors were introduced at the TCMA Board Meeting.  The initial three Board of Directors that were no longer under the control of the Developer were: James Lavero (President) from Heritage Springs HOA, Shane Dietzler (Vice President) from Foxwood HOA, and Tony Salvati (Secretary/Treasurer) from Peachtree HOA.  
 

What Turnover (transition) means is that TCMA Board of Directors are no longer under the control of the Developer. By law, as the various Trinity communities become fully built and developed, the Developers are required to transition (turnover) their control over the TCMA to a new Board of Directors that are wholly elected by the Trinity Neighborhood Associations' designated representatives. The representatives and the Transition process for this election is covered and defined in the Florida HOA Statute, TCMA's Declaration of Covenants, Conditions and Restrictions (DCC&R), and TCMA's Corporate Bylaws.

 

The Developer began using the Champions Club HOA Turnover as a trial run of how to turnover that HOA to its homeowners starting on Dec 15, 2020. Immediately after starting that transition, the Developer began an exploration of how to turnover TCMA. As the Developer was organizing its plans and expectations, as many as possible of the 14 Trinity Neighborhood HOA's Presidents started meeting and discussing their expectations and how to assume the control and responsibility for the Trinity Master Association. As a result of these meetings, TCMA acquired the services of an Association Attorney to advise on the transition and independently protect the legal interests of the Association. The purpose was to have a seamless transition, to ensure that the Developer had met its obligations under Florida statute and the TCMA governing documents, that the Developer had provided all the TCMA required records, and that TCMA  financial records were in proper order. Of course, per Florida law, accepting the Turnover was procedurally required. Therefore, in January 2021 TCMA Developer began to plan and strategize for Developer controlled turnover of TCMA to be Homeowner owned and controlled Board of Directors. 

 

As part of the Developer to TCMA turnover process, many of the TCMA Budget and Financial documents going back to 2013 were made available and provided to a CPA firm to review for TCMA. In the late Summer 2022, the CPA firm provided a draft report to the TCMA Board. The CPA draft report questioned some of the payments made by the Developer that did not procedurally follow the TCMA's DCC&R with respect to the TCMA Budget formulation process.  Based on the CPA's 2020 draft report, in the Spring of 2023, the TCMA Board of Directors consisting of Edward L. Williamson, LCAM (President), Shane Dietzler (Vice President), and Tony Salvati (Secretary/Treasurer) authorized the President of the TCMA Board to engage on behalf of TCMA in settlement negotiations with the Developer. With the assistances of the TCMA Attorney and the Developer's Attorney, a written settlement agreement was reached in June of 2023 by the parties, that resulted in a substantial settlement of funds paid to TCMA.