Condo owners sue Adams Street Lofts for financial records

Article Courtesy of The Tallahassee Democrat
By Jeffrey Schweers

Published November 25, 2017

 

It's been months since Anthony Dewees and Lynda Tiefel asked to see the financial records of their condominium association over concerns about maintenance issues, bills being paid late and the association’s reserves being depleted.

Their attempts to obtain the financial records they’re entitled to under state law have been ignored, they say, prompting them to sue the Adams Street Lofts Condominium Association run by Paige Carter-Smith and City Commissioner Scott Maddox, and the management company they hired, Lewis Association Property Management.
 

Carter-Smith and Maddox are longtime friends and political and business associates who are named in federal subpoenas delivered to City Hall over the last five months as part of a probe into the city’s Community Redevelopment Agency.

In a complaint filed in Leon County Circuit Court two weeks ago, Dewees and Tiefel claim that the association refused to let them inspect and photocopy the association’s financial records. They're demanding records going back seven years, including invoices, itemized receipts, statements of account for each unit owner, audits, reviews and accounting statements, and contracts and bids for work.

They’re also seeking damages because the association failed to provide the requested records within 10 days of their request as outlined in Florida statutes. As unit owners in the building, Dewees and Tiefel are entitled to seek actual or minimum damages of $50 per calendar day for up to 10 days beginning on the 11th day after request was received, as well as attorney fees.

In a previous report, Carter-Smith said the two are disgruntled property owners who bought their units when prices were high before the real estate bubble burst. She's also said they are politically motivated friends of city critic Erwin Jackson, a student housing developer who has filed ethics complaints and lawsuits against Maddox.

Scott Maddox conducts the annual condo owner’s meetings for the Adams Street Lofts in his law office across the street.



She did not return email seeking comment for this story. But in a previous email several weeks ago Carter-Smith said, "The association management is the custodian of records and I assume they have complied with any request from Mr. Dewees and Mrs. Tiefel."

Dewees and Tiefel are the only two owners in the 31-unit Adams Street Lofts who actually live in the building. The handful of other owners who own single units, including developer John "J.T." Burnette, rent theirs out.

Burnette's dealings are also under FBI scrutiny.

The other 26 units are owned by Governance Services, a company Carter-Smith set up in 2007 to make up for the money that Maddox’s consulting business, Governance Inc. lost in the recession. Carter-Smith took possession of the remaining 17 units she didn't already own and the condominium’s common area as the result of a 2014 bankruptcy hearing.

After Carter-Smith obtained title in February 2015, Steve Leoni, the previous owner, sent out an email announcing the new owners and that his management company, Student Housing Solutions, would be replaced by Lewis Association Property Management.

"All accounts should have been transferred on Friday by Scott or Paige. Please make sure that they are read and put into the new owners name today," Leoni said in a subsequent email.

Carter-Smith, who had served on the condo association since 2012, took over as president. Other current board members are her sister, who was Maddox's campaign treasurer, former employee Jeremy Branch, and Burnette.

Maddox holds the board's annual meetings at his law office across the street.

Dewees and Tiefel say the condo association board is doing a poor job running the place and they're concerned about their investment.

Their concerns go back to January 2017, when Dewees attended an association meeting conducted by Maddox. Dewees received financial records from Lewis Management showing that Governance Services, a consulting company owned by Carter-Smith, was close $90,000 behind on its dues.

At that meeting, Dewees told the Democrat, Maddox asked that its arrears be reduced or offset by payments for maintenance -- including $22,500 for bat removal and $17,539 to Mr. Johnson and Crew.

Governance Services also said it would no longer seek to offset its dues with maintenance costs.

Records handed over by the city to the FBI as part of its investigation show an email exchange between the property manager and Carter-Smith, and cc'd to Maddox at his city hall email address, expressing concern over Governance's unpaid dues.

Invoices obtained by the Democrat add up to more than $110,000.

"The association had the amount owed wrong," Carter-Smith said in an email to the Democrat. "My bookkeeper got with the association bookkeeper, determined the correct amount and my business wrote a check to become current."

In June, Dewees asked Lewis's manager Cheri Garbark to provide records of individual unit owner accounts, which showed Governance Services still had outstanding dues so in August he sent a certified letter asking asked for a unit-by-unit accounting.

When that went unanswered, he sent another request in September through his attorney for invoices receipts and other supporting documentation for the bat removal and Mr. Johnson expenditures. That request also went unanswered, according to the lawsuit.

Tiefel sent a letter in September also asking to examine the condo association's records, specifically a facsimile of a check for $7,817 submitted by Governance for dues, documentation of any "in-kind" offsets from dues, and receipts or other proof of a $13,750 payment for air conditioning services by "A&W Service."

Maddox has refused to answer any specific questions or discuss his involvement with Governance Services and Adams Street Lofts with the Democrat, claiming Florida Bar rules didn't allow him to disclose his clients or the nature of their business with him. He added that his "private business has never intersected with my public responsibilities."

Dewees said he met Maddox in August to discuss the financial records situation. At the time, the association was still $20,000 in arrears, Dewees said, but Maddox assured him that would soon be cleared up.

"One thing he told me is they’d be current with their dues," Dewees said. "They made some cash payments."

As of Oct. 12, Governance was current on its dues on all its units, according to an email from Garbark forwarded by Carter-Smith to the Democrat.

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