Powhatan Annual Meeting Saturday 2Dec06

[Spence Super Moderator Find all posts View Profile Close Spence]

Anyone else go to the PP Meeting

98 other owners.

Spence, Any notes on the meeting today?

I'm not good with note taking but here goes....
The Powhatan Annual Meeting was typical of past years and had the following agenda:

Call to Order
Verification of Notice and Quorum
Introductions
Approval of 2005 Annual Meeting Minutes
Regional Directors Report
Financial Report
Manager’s Report
New Business
Questions and Answers
Adjournment

The Board of Directors BOD was introduced

President, Laurie Radney*
Vice President, William Brammer
Secretary/Treasure, Deborah Lee*
Director, Thomas Fiory
Director, Amie Doetzer*
*Sunterra Employee (Other two handpicked/appointed by Sunterra)

of note, and as usual, multiple BOD members were not present for this once a year meeting, Lee and Doetzer.

Prior to the meeting, on Friday night and Saturday morning I approached the two non-Sunterra employee BOD members with my concerns about the ‘Trust.’ At Powhatan, when fully built out, whenever that happens, the Trust will have voting ownership of probably 20-25% of total Powhatan ownership. How? New construction is all being sold as the new product the Trust, this will be about 10-12% of total. In addition Sunterra is taking all foreclosures, deed-backs, and many Club conversions and folding those deeds back into the Trust. My projection, by the supposed 2010 turnover of the HOA to ‘owners,’ may be conservative. The Trustee (in Sunterra’s pocket) will have an unbeatable block vote. Amazingly (or not) these two BOD members professed to having no idea that this was happening.

The Powhatan Advisory Committee was introduced:

WILLIAM H. BRAMMER (BILL) Chairman
50 Avalon Drive Rocky Mount, VA 24151
w.brammer@charter.net
All Owners outside of the United States

WHIT MAYES
215 Talley Place Newport News, VA 23608
whitmayes@cox.net
New York, Maryland

CAROL FEDELE
175 John Rolfe Lane Williamsburg, VA 23185
carolt1221@msn.com
Everything west of the Mississippi River, New Jersey

ALEXANDER KURAS, Vice-Chairman
112 Pasbhegh Drive Williamsburg, VA 23185
akuras424@aol.com
Virginia, West Virginia

BRIAN LANCASTER
1255 Pelham Street Norfolk, VA 23505
imani_98@yahoo.com
DC, DE, ME, MA, NH, VT, RI, CT

VIRGINIA RUSSELL
2212 Rocky Point Parkway Richmond, VA 23233
varussell@webtv.net
Virginia, West Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia

JAMES SIZEMORE
704 Spring Valley Dr. Fredericksburg, VA 22405
jasizemore1@cox.net
WI, IL, TN, MS, IN, KY, AL, OH, MI

RICHARD VELZY
11918 W. Briarpatch Dr. Midlothian, VA 23113
velzy11111@hotmail.com
Virginia, West Virginia, Pennsylvania, Florida

This incestuous body of Sunterra yes-men and yes-women have, over the past two years voted themselves back on to the committee for seven of eight expiring terms, the only one not ‘re-elected’ by themselves did not want to run. There is one sane member of the committee who was not at a Friday night dinner engagement and he was the topic of conversation. Members insinuated that his ideas such as bringing in a new management company like VRI and doing things like selling Timesharing Today in the General Store, were suggested purely due to potential monetary gain by this individual. Why he was voted back on last year, I don’t comprehend, they don't like him because they can't understand all the concerns he has which are all legitimate.

PLEASE bombard them with your questions and comments.


Did you see that the Chairman of the Advisory Committee is also VP of BOD, very incestuous.

Laurie Radney, Regional Director, her report consisted of:

Developer Contribution Program (Interval Recovery)
Real Estate Tax
Insurance
2006 Year End Projection
RCI Letter
Management Fee (8.1%)
Construction Report

Developer Contribution Program (Interval Recovery) – Anyone care to guess what this is about, Laurie casts it as, out of the goodness of their heart, Sunterra is paying all back fees for delinquent accounts and paying for foreclosures. She DOES NOT go on to say that all these intervals are being folded back into the Trust and probably sold as ‘new.’ What a sweet deal, an estimated 1000% return on investment AND adding to the Trust to build that unbeatable block vote.

Real Estate Tax, going up. Insurance, going up, and cause for 30% of the MF increase, partial due to claims such as Bldg84.

RCI Letter - Laurie read a wishy-washy letter from RCI that said something to the effect that RCI was ‘working with’ Powhatan to regain their RCI ranking. RCI is the only un-ranked resort in Williamsburg, really a shame since it probably has the most beautiful physical plant and grounds.

Management Fee – Sunterra, out of the goodness of there hearts, has not increased their ‘take.’

Construction Report – Phase 9 Bldg 90-91 are months and months behind, rebuilding of 84 with plans already approved for 90-91 hasn’t even started. New maintenance building way behind, too. NO DISCUSSION of Phase 10.

Other stuff –
Amenities – Sunterra is ‘giving’ $50K worth of shampoo, soap, etc. to Powhatan WOW
Lobby – Sunterra is giving $175K to redo lobby of Registration Building adding to check-in desk area and adding a lounge area. (lounge area had existed in past years but had been taken over by maintenance and/or housekeeping as a storage/staging area.) Of note when I checked in on Friday evening there are two counters across the lobby from each other. One manned by SRM Sunterra Resort Management for check-in where they give you your room keys, info, and a pass to get your parking pass. So then what do you do… march across the lobby to the other counter with your pass to get your parking pass. This is the handoff to Sunterra Sales staff. This counter has significantly more personnel than the check-in counter, imagine that. They give you your parking pass and depending on your ‘status’ (Owner, RCI or II exchanger, Club Sunterra member, Trust member) try to sign you up for a tour or OWNER UPDATE with incentives such as $50 Visa card, $100 Visa card, $200 Visa card, 1000 SunOptions, $200 off MFs; all depending on your ‘status.’
Linens – Sunterra is giving $175K to buy TWO PAR (whatever that means, it was never explained, I expect it is two complete change-outs of linen and towels) of ‘quality’ linens and towels. It was stated that by Sunday of a weekend check-out/in cycle, Powhatan did not have enough linens to make up new rooms without running a wash first, unbelievable!
Housekeeping Services – Sunterra is giving $150K to pay for ‘extra’ housekeeping services between Memorial Day and Labor Day.

Fire – Laurie went over Sunterra/Powhatan’s ‘excellent’ immediate response to the fire victims.

Spas – interesting comments were made by Laurie, but I won’t post here because of Marti’s snide and self serving posts in this thread.


Financial Report – Blah, Blah, Blah

Manager’s Report – New Manager Randy Gritts, a much more personable individual than previous manager who was fired because of drug use among other things, or so I have heard. Randy has years in Williamsburg at Fairfield, then ONE year at HGVC in Orlando. I hope he works out.

Changes in Grille (restaurant) and General Store hours to be 7am-11pm 7days a week. Tickets moved from Activities Center to General Store to try to increase traffic through store (increase sales). Free internet WiFi provided in Grille to try to increase traffic (sales). Grill and The Kitchen continue to lose money. (I ate at The Kitchen for the first time Friday and thought it was great. Service in both the Grill and The Kitchen was very good).

Indoor pool filter problem has been ‘fixed’….. New exterminator and new chemicals ‘guaranteed’ to take care of Lucky’s ant problems.

Club Sunterra Report by Monica Sedeno VP of Club Sunterra
With only ~20% of Powhatan owners presently in Club you’d think that the presentation should have had a sales/conversion slant to it but all that was covered was SkyMed Services, Chase Sunterra Credit Card, Package Tours, Sunterra Website, cursory member benefits.

Questions and Answers
Held my hand up for most of the Q&A period (Laurie Radney knows who I am) I was never called on. Most Qs had to do with poor housekeeping, RCI rating, etc. No answers of substance were forthcoming. Early on in the Annual Meeting when 2005 minutes were discussed someone asked where the answers to last years questions were… the answer was if they weren’t answered in the presentation you could ask them again (and wait another year?)

[Spence Super Moderator Find all posts View Profile Close Spence]

'Owner Update"

So, I go for my Owner Update. I get a salesperson with 2years of TS experience and 14days with Sunterra, you can see where this is going. It was more like a 'Salesperson Update' and they stated that I was taking bread off their table by coming for my Owner Update! I was finally told that if I wanted information I should have made an appointment with the 'new' Customer Service onsite instead of just following along and taking their Owner Update. This 'new' position is held by Arlene Coffey 757-220-9300 x24020.

Very hard to get straight answers about additional conversions... but,
If a week was bought retail from the developer it could be converted to Club for $1495. (I spoke to a couple at the Annual Meeting who had just recently converted a developer purchased week for $1200 and change).
If a week was bought resale... the going rate was free conversion with the purchase of 2000 extra SunOptions at a price of $6160.

What's the retail price for a new buyer?
10000 SunOptions for $32450 -or- 15000 SunOptions for $39,200
with, of course, first day incentives of
Trust Ownership with Charter
$2000 Marketing Discount Today
$330 Closing Cost paid with 5 referrals

[Jimbo Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close Jimbo]

For not being much of a note taker, you sure covered the meeting comprehensively.

Thanxxx for your response. So, do you think Powhatan will ever get back their GC rating?

[Spence Super Moderator Find all posts View Profile Close Spence]

For not being much of a note taker, you sure covered the meeting comprehensively. Thanxxx for your response. So, do you think Powhatan will ever get back their GC rating?

It's quite possible, Powhatan is a lovely place, and there's no reason, with competent management that it couldn't. When I first bought my first unit there in 1997-8 my 4BR MF was ~$420ish, way too low and held there artificially by Sunterra to help sales. The place went down because there were no reserves and nothing being spent to refurb. MFs are now $835 on that unit and that's not out of reason, does it cut into my 'profits,' certainly, am I unhappy, only if they don't continue to show improvements.

I stayed the night in an upstairs 2BR newly refurbished unit. My note on the unit:

• Screen door to deck off tracks, bent out of shape and laying horizontal on deck
• Masking tape used to mask off fitting in shower when the floor was re-texturized during refurbishment still on fixture
• Re-texturized surface already peeling up
• Spackle spots on wall not repainted
• Black marks on wall in dining room where chairs hit it not cleaned
• Several 3way bulbs not working on all wattages
• Missing two glass tumblers in kitchen
• No Marti, door was locked and I couldn't check the filters

When I went out the door to the annual meeting I called the 'new' hot line and reported the screen door and the tumblers. When I returned there was a brand new screen door installed and replacement glasses were on the counter. Should this unit have looked like this, no, was it bad, no, was it an effective response, yes.

[Spence Super Moderator Find all posts View Profile Close Spence]

Third Annual Owner Reception

There was a wonderful reception in the Grill Restaurant at Powhatan after the annual meeting. The hors d'ouerves were terrific, the service was outstanding, two free beer/wine (I had coffeee, I was driving home).

My only question is, did I pay for that with my MFs... the past two years it was clearly indicated that Sales was footing the bill, this year nothing was said?

[Marti Super Moderator Find all posts View Profile Close Marti]

.....

[Spence Super Moderator Find all posts View Profile Close Spence]

What's your problem Marti, why don't you come out and say something instead of posting repititions? What do you care? I'll tell you what bugs me. You said OY in posts vehemently against Powhatan that you would never go back. So why do you post questions here, you don't care? You had a problem with filters and insinuated all sorts of other things, but when asked directly what any other problems were you refused to answer any questions. I now understand why you needed that 4BR unit for you and Bill, because Lucky was there and you needed room for all his friends, I didn't understand that back then.

I don't sensor your posts but you have sensored mine that you didn't like on this BBS.

[Spence Super Moderator Find all posts View Profile Close Spence]

This is Marti's (Marty's) post blasting Powhatan earlier this year OY, there as right here she refuses to answer direct questions.

[sb1070 Member Find all posts View Profile Close sb1070]

Indoor Pool

Spence

In your run down of the annual meeting I feel your recount of the indoor pool and the installation of a 2nd sand filter is misleading. Although Sunterra said they installed a 2nd filter the indoor pool is clearly still disgusting and not fit for use.


Scott

[Spence Super Moderator Find all posts View Profile Close Spence]

Indoor Pool. Spence, In your run down of the annual meeting I feel your recount of the indoor pool and the installation of a 2nd sand filter is misleading. Although Sunterra said they installed a 2nd filter the indoor pool is clearly still disgusting and not fit for use. Scott

Well, you know, you can feel anything you want. Indoor pool filter problem has been ‘fixed’…..'fixed' in quotations means I don't think they know what they are talking about. If you wanted to let everyone know what your exact concerns were you would post more than what you did above.

[Spence Super Moderator Find all posts View Profile Close Spence]

What's your problem Marti, why don't you come out and say something instead of posting repititions? What do you care? I'll tell you what bugs me. You said OY in posts vehemently against Powhatan that you would never go back. So why do you post questions here, you don't care? You had a problem with filters and insinuated all sorts of other things, but when asked directly what any other problems were you refused to answer any questions. I now understand why you needed that 4BR unit for you and Bill, because Lucky was there and you needed room for all his friends, I didn't understand that back then.

I don't sensor your posts but you have sensored mine that you didn't like on this BBS.

Marti, in her usual 'style' has gone back and deleted most of her posts in this thread (ones that weren't quoted so cannot still be seen) instead of answering direct questions.

[sb1070 Member Find all posts View Profile Close sb1070]

and you could have commented further stating although the sand filter was installed the pool still has issues

[Spence Super Moderator Find all posts View Profile Close Spence]

and you could have commented further stating although the sand filter was installed the pool still has issues

I didn't give a detailed account of anything, you obviously have a thing for the indoor pool as discussed in person, I don't think it is satisfactory but I'm not commenting beyond what I posted. If you want to post about the pool in more detail, then you should post about the pool in more detail. I don't understand where you're coming from. Your's is not to say what I should have posted about the meeting. You want it, you post it, black marks on the walls and all.

[Spence Super Moderator Find all posts View Profile Close Spence]

and you could have commented further stating although the sand filter was installed the pool still has issues

I don't even pretend to know what a sand filter is?

[sb1070 Member Find all posts View Profile Close sb1070]

Spence

Don't get bent out...... Originally I only meant that your comment makes it sound like they fixed something and they didn't..... I only wanted to point that out.
At this time I have no desire to post anything further about the pool or the black marks on the walls, but thanks for the idea