Jackson Jambalaya

We got an email this morning from palisades HOA. “Significant funds” missing. They didn’t tell us dollar amount but I’m sure it’s a lot.

Lots of us tried to ask questions at our last meeting in March and were shouted down by old man lane and the board, who’s been in place for many many years.

Hate to say it but this doesn’t surprise me at all.

I second previous commenter. The same board members have been in place for 20 years at Palisades. Four people ran this summer who wanted to see change brought to make the neighborhood more attractive to families with children. The current board took it as an attack and were visibly offended anyone would question them. David Lane along with the HOA board talked to a room of 40 and 50 somethings who are all community leaders as errant children. The board gathered enough support via proxy vote as well as asking their friends to continue to support them and not the younger neighbors. As a result, the board consisting of Palisades founders remains intact and they were joyous in keeping younger families off the board. This is no surprise regarding the board or Ridgway Lane. I can only hope the DA and the AG investigate not only RL but the boards involved as well as the vendors and Community Bank. There is much coverup here and millions of dollars embezzled. Many neighbors have complained that the fees are high and the maintenance is non-existent. We were chastised as just not understanding how hard of a job it is to be a member of the HOA board and that we should show more appreciation. Give me a break.

Look- David Lane and his company are done.
Finally!

I was in a Meeting with him about 2 1/2 years ago at his office and he was the most sketchy, unprofessional , naïve acting business person I have ever sat in the same room with.
I hate it for any employees or individuals depending on their job but this guy is done.
Best of luck to those who need to recover $$$.

I use to deal with the older David Lane and he was a smug asshole. Sounds like chickens are coming home to roost.

http://www.thehoaprimer.org/index.htm

Hopefully this prompts some HOA legislation in the state the next session (/not holding breath)

All the debt collection/HOA attorney/management company scumbags that take advantage of the too much free time idiots on HOA boards need to find someone else’s teet to suck on.

David is always at river hills tennis club with his northeast Jackson elite friends with kids off at new England boarding schools or prep and JA while they all live in eastover and discuss vacations to 30a and seaside. Smugs!

Are you serious, 2:34? You actually think the state legislature needs to come into play to keep enclaves of wealthy people for shitting away their money and letting the wrong people manage it?

Using your parallel, if you offer your teet, somebody will take hold and suck it dry. Get Real!

Checkout all the 30a stickers in Dinsmor, Palisades, and Bridgewater to see more smug a$$holes. Birds of a feather

Have these people never heard of an annual audit by a disinterested 3rd party?

The people of eastover, Meadowbrook highlands and eastparke as well as woodland hills there are NE Jackson cake eaters some have places in pebble beach and Martha's vineyard. They're a lot like the people listed above. They look down on the rest of society and hate to tell people out of state that they live in Mississippi. My wife worked for a family a few years back that lives in eastover and they were rude to her had a cook a lady clean and a woman keep there 2 kidscans a lady stay at night to keep the baby. What kind of mother does this?

John Carona is the man in charge of the nation’s largest HOA company.
He was also a Texas State Senator that passed laws to help you guessed it HOAs.
He prides himself on his Italian heritage and even left a toy horse head on the desk of lt gov. Dan Patrick- allegedly.
He also owns many of the companies that do the maintenance work. His influence on courts and legislative bodies across the country is legendary. He lives in a $10 million mansion in Old Preston Hollow in Dallas which of course is not under an HOA.

3:52 is correct. A standard CPA audit each year the best oversight.Also have one review this audit that know how to read one. Pretty simple.

All y'all HOAs had better contact your banks stat and secure your funds, or the bleeding will continue.

Next...

@ 3:20

Being smug, or and asshole does not imply that one is a thief.

Some of the nicest people in this world are the biggest crooks.

Palisades homeowners that dared question the board and asked to see bank statements were screamed and yelled at and told to shut up at the last annual hoa meeting. Someone was asked if they wanted to “take it outside”. I kid you not. It was insane.

Everyone on the board should resign immediately and get fresh eyes on the board.

We are being told now that the board still doesn’t have bank statements.......

Hell, I’m glad someone mentioned 30A. I’ve been think for years it was some kind of race. Thanks, that’s all.

One hasn't hit the peak of success unless they have 30A, Yeti, AND Salt Life stickers on their pair of Mercedes AMGs.

Whether HOAs, government representatives, or church governments... all need to be rotated every so often. None of these should be a 20 plusyear position!!!

This week's events should be a wakeup call to all homeowner associations using property managers. Washing your hands of YOUR RESPONSIBILITIES does not cut it. Being on an HOA board should be taken seriously. It's not something for weak sisters or to feed an ego. Do your job!

HOA board members have a fiduciary responsibility to safeguard the respective HOA's funds, and it would appear that may not be the case.

Y'all board members better check the status of your E&O coverage.

I hope that y'all are able to recover any missing funds. If they went up someone's nose or fed a casino, or left the country, you won't be in a good position to do that.

There is no reason at all for anyone to stay on a board that long. Unless, of course, they are skimming money.

The residents should sue each individual board member for negligence. They better hope that they have insurance that covers the board members/officers.

Sounds like this HOA is not the last...expect another Rankin County HOA to announce soon.

If you are on these HOA boards (Palisades looking at you) you made it ABUNDANTLY clear you did not want anyone on the board but those of you who have been there for years. Four families were completely excluded from serving earlier this year. At the time we wondered why. Why was there such angst and defensiveness? Why were things so heated? This is a formal call for all of these boards to resign. As a previous poster stated, outsourcing your duties does not absolve any of you from liability. Embezzlement happened on your watch and all the while you talked down to us and explained how we should appreciate you more. D and O paid up? Sure hope so.

Money and/or IQ will never mean a damn thing when it comes to survival of the fittest. I don’t care how nice or bad ass you may portray yourself. It will NOT matter when someone gets hungry and wants the necessities you own. Pebble Beach and Martha’s Vineyard do not matter either. The HOA’s better start holding these folks accountable. The previous owner of Homeland Management squirreled his ass out once the world figured out his law firm was representing his management company. Shady dude! Homeland better be checked if you live one of their hoods.

There will be more HOA bank accounts dropping like panties on prom night.

Hopefully these boards are contacting the appropriate law enforcement agencies and/or district attorney for Rankin/Madison.

If there is probable cause found, the sooner the suspect or suspects are arrested the better, because with this kind of money, fleeing the U.S. or the jurisdiction is highly likely.

Nothing worse than a bunch of phonies who prance around their church acting like their stuff don’t stink and they are entitled to be church leaders. Crooks take different forms: the Jackson Stanford Financial crooks, Lamar Adams, Butler Snow, ect. They all will have to eventually answer one day for their sins as they are all phony Pharisees. I hope they enjoy the gold tables in this life. Cause where they’re going gold melts.

“How did you get busted?”

“Two ways. Gradually, then suddenly.”

@3:18...well, the legislature has been more than willing to craft laws to establish various “districts” that have no accountability whatsoever to the public while being granted tax authority. Not to mention the various utility authorities that have 0 accountability and issue debt for the public to pick up the bill.

Now you listen here @Cynical Sam! Let’s get something straight! THERE ISNT A SINGLE PERSON with an AMG who would use a Salt Life sticker! Maybe a C-Class but NOT an AMG! Get your brands straight! This isn’t a Mazda Miata!

1. I'm on 30A right now, and I live in Jackson, not Madison county. No, not NE Jackson.
2. So many supposedly smart people in these developments, but allow themselves to "get tooken" by such a simple and easy scam.
3. Where should I go to get my 30A sticker?
4. Seafood dinner at Stinky's set me back well over $100 bucks!

@ 8:51 PM - hehe.

Why does anyone need to pay an outside property manager?

King, when will the Clarion-Ledger pick up this story?

So because I live in Eastover I must be an ass or a schmuck? Does it matter that I bought my house with my own money? Does it matter that my parents are middle class and everything I have is because I paid for it? If my kids go to Prep or JAmdoes that make an ass as well?

People need to realize that as our small towns go to hell younger people want to move away and sometimes that includes Jackson or the metro area. Many of the people moving into Eastover aren’t generational Jackson families with wealth. But I know that wouldn’t fit your ignorant narrative.

@8:52 PM - there are a large selection of 30A stickers available through Amazon.

David Lane should be in jail. Right now. Not tomorrow. I will remember this during the next judicial election.

9:27 raises an excellent point. What if we had to rely on the Clarion Ledger for news? How often, in the last 50 years, have things like this been swept under the rug by our "state newspaper," allowing more people to get hurt?

Pitt Panther resides in Presidential Hills, on the west side. He now accepts payments and pays his dealers through PayPal.

9:36, Hate for you just now learn of the stigma that comes with living in Eastover. The rest of Mississippi has no idea what we offer the next generation. My children go to JA and it’s paid for with money I earned and I’m not alumni. They hear about the knuckleheads in Madison that want to be in the Fraternities of the educated citizens between Lakeland, Old Canton, and the Pearl River. It’s not our children’s fault. At least we know where they are on Friday night. ;)

Most of my neighbors seem to raise their nose around me. Maybe it’s because they believe that being a trust fund recipient left them with entitlement. Or, maybe they are jealous that they live in the shadows of the generations that required they keep their snooty ass around here. “Junior, its my money, so you live where I tell you so you don’t make me and mother look bad.” Damn terrible way to live, but I’m not sure I blame them. There are times when I wish I had some old money to spend or expect in my account before the end of each calendar year. I would be honored to accept whatever they could give me.

Why hasn’t anyone brought up Richard Ridgway? Scared he will yell at you?

8:52, enjoy your time on 30A, because when you return most of your stuff will likely be stolen.

Someone needs to move for injunctive relief to stay the movement of Ridgway’s assets....no matter how they are held.

4:18 pm I'm sorry you are so resentful of people who have worked hard to get where they are and who become financially successful.
While it's true a few inherited wealth, most of us didn't. We were living on the cheap while working our way through college and graduate school or starting a business. Some had the GI Bill and were wounded serving their country or served in the National Guard to make ends meet. We were working 60 hour weeks to establish our careers. We made sure our children got a good education and traveled.
And, frankly, most of my peers who inherited money or businesses or trust funds ran through the inheritance by the time they were 40 if they didn't work hard and learn. Didn't you read about two of those types on this very website?
Lots of us do have vacation homes that are good investments as we rent them enough days a year to pay for them. Now that the places are paid for, the "snowbird" money is nice income...more than our jobs paid in early years.
I'm sorry you didn't have the skills, ambition, or creativity to start your own business or get promoted to a high enough level or save and invest wisely or be professionally successful. Success takes effort and is time consuming.
We don't look down on you. We don't feel sorry for you. Your life , your decisions. Whatever your lot in life that you can either aspire to rise above or decide you are content to remain. You can see setbacks as a challenge to overcome or give in to defeat.
Life isn't fair. None of us can control what our parents did for us that helped or hurt nor the way we look or the abilities God gave us. What we can do is the do the best with what we have.
But, I strongly suspect it's your attitude that has held you back. Nobody likes being around negative, angry people. Nobody want to help or encourage the resentful and unpleasant except other resentful and unpleasant people and they either want to con you or enable. Self-pity, envy and anger waste energy that could be used productively.

When you uncover a theft, you call the police. You don't just ask for the money back. You don't give them the chance to repay an interest-free loan and go rob someone else. You call the police and get them put in jail.

Update:

1. Presidential Hills sucks! Another Jackson neighborhood that the old civil rights crowd swears is nice. Maybe 30 years ago...
2. Buying my 30A sticker from Amazon feels kind of, inauthentic...
3. My alarm is set, so I'm ok. Besides, I have everything I want with me. I don't care much about the "stuff."
3a. Also, I don't have criminals as friends on Facebook, so I can go out of town without fear of being robbed because someone saw a Facebook post. You guys might consider trimming your friends, and tightening your Facebook security.

11:18 Lane in jail right now? Remember this the next judicial election?

You just made a great case for having judges appointed rather than elected.

Lane may be a crook. He may have absconded with a lot of money (with the help of HOA Board members not doing their job. But that's another story unrelated to this comment.)

As of right now, Lane has not been to court. He has been accused of stealing money, but the only judicial actions filed against him are civil charges, and as of yet he hasn't even been accorded the time for a response, much less a trial (before an elected judge) and a conviction by a jury. And that would be for a civil charge where the worst penalty available to the judge would be monetary - nothing to do with jail time.

Nobody has filed any criminal charges against him with the local DAs - who cannot do anything until such charges are lodged.

And at that time there could be a criminal trial that could result in jail time if the jury found him guilty.

Your understanding of justice, and the judicial system appears to be as flawed as theseen HOA board members understanding of their fiduciary responsibilities while sitting in their royal palaces, and as flawed as it appears that Lane et.al.'s honesty in managing these funds appears to be.

Lane may very well be a crook - but thank God we have a judicial system that provides a process for convicting crooks, and not your Napolianic concepts - hell, I'm surprised you didn't suggest he should be brought to the public square where he would be drawn and quartered as an imposition of your decision.

I cannot comprehend the vitriol of some of the commenters. Because a person or family has enough money to live in Bridgewater or Palisades or anywhere else, they somehow deserve to be the victim of a crime? What is the World coming to that people can take such a ridiculous position and others will agree? One entity and 2 people (and maybe the John Does) are allegedly at fault. Should the HOAs have required 2 party signatures? Definitely. Should the HOAs have had more oversight? Yes. Does there need to be complete overhaul of the Boards? Probably. But to insinuate that "rich" people who are full of themselves or who live in big houses in communities with HOAs had it coming, is asinine. Ridgeway Lane has apparently stolen from folks in Hinds County, Madison County, and Rankin County equally. There is wealth in all the counties. There are HOAs in all the counties. There are people who vacation at 30A or Martha's Vineyard or Europe, who live in all the counties!!! I am very interested in seeing where this leads, and whether criminal charges will follow. I am not interested in blaming the victims. And, no, I do not live in any of the neighborhoods at issue or a neighborhood with an HOA.

7:55AM. I would be interested to know how old you are. I am willing to say that I envy a whole lot of you. But, the envy of people who came before you, simply drove me and others like me to be successful. There have been days that I can completely understand why some people feel like 4:18. However, we all know that we are in control of our own destiny.

Just because you are envied does not mean you are disliked. I have been on a couple ends of the wealth spectrum. And, I can admit that most folks who are able to be successful and wealthy, have a more adversity than people who seem to be just getting by. The difference is the one's who can maintain success through adversity, are just wired different and are able to see through the issues. The fair only comes once a year. Sucks, but true.

One can always be respected, no matter what they actually own. It really is the individual who is respected and not their assets. Through my years, simple people are always more pleasurable to be around. And they are usually the one's who won't feel bothered to carry a friend's casket. Maybe 4:18 had a bad week. A bad week is still better than pushin up daisies.

To the Lane family, I sure hope this is not what it seems. Whitney Houston just came on and said "Didn't we almost have it all"

Is there a good CPA/Law firm that... can audit our HOA? I'm the incoming President of our HOA...and want a clear picture of our finances for my protection as well as the neighbors. Just looking for a recommendation.TIA!

The vitriol on here comes from a few trolls

Nobody speaks like that in public

Anonymous blogs are about it

Types of HOA's

Well Managed
Under Managed
Over Managed
Outsourced Managed

The last 3 speak volumes.

Vermont and Virginia's State Supreme Courts overruled HOA ability to levy fines. Both courts ruled it takes a tax authority to set and collect fines. HOA don't qualify. Ruling expected to spread across USA.

There is another prestige Rankin county HOA that will be thrown into this in the coming weeks. The neighborhood called for an emergency meeting and the HOA told them all to leave and would not answer any questions about the financials that were not being reported correctly and was full of gaps. Things got really out of hand and the HOA was even threatening families of the homeowners that participated in the petition for the financials.

Lots of 30A stickers in Madison. And plenty of so called Ole Miss fans also. Just band wagoners trying to fit in with the crowd that moved to Madison 30 years ago. The money is already leaving. The money folks don't have stickers on their cars trying to impress people.

@9:19AM - Yep, an Amazon 30A sticker is kind of like a wet dream. Not the real thing.

1:55
Just come out and say which

3:21
Too many legal logistics involved to say which one at this time. Several of the homeowners have hired independent legal council and the HOA still refuses to acknowledge any of the financial disputes on misappropriated funds that. At one meeting the homeowners were told that if they have any questions for the board they should just read the "By Laws", the board would not be answering any. To which another homeowner replied "then what is the purpose of the board if you will not answer our questions or hear what we have to say?" Needless to say, all the homeowners were asked to leave the meeting... The financials have been recently posted to the neighborhood website but there are large gaps and obvious cover ups of missing funds.

"asked to leave the meeting..." Bull pucky. What are they going to do, arrest you? Grow a pair and don't put up with that crap. Your HOA sounds like the one with the crazy lady in charge.

I usually sit back and listen at the meetings. I’d leave if they asked me to, but I’d like to see them try to make my wife leave. She’s a pretty big gal and that would be some funny stuff. By the way, we live off her inheritance. Our grandchildren will be able to eat off of it. That is, unless my kids join LBTQR+- and do not reproduce. Take it all Mr. Hardin, it belongs to you. I meant, Mr. Lane.

10:15 - CPA here. I don’t do audits any more, but they can get costly. Probably thousands. Depending on the size of the HOA, you may be able to sit down with the checkbook and bank statements and find out what you want to know. If something looks out of whack, then you can pursue it to the extent you need to. A good control for the future would be to have the monthly bank statements sent to someone other than the one who writes the checks to review and reconcile.

30-A stickers? Thought those were for the good craft beer?🤔🍺

“A good control for the future would be to have the monthly bank statements sent to someone other than the one who writes the checks to review and reconcile.”

Exactly what we do in the club I am treasurer of. Me and 2 other board members get monthly copies.

It seems like y'all could monitor your bank account activities online, daily or weekly, whatever.

A transaction for $10,000 should get your attention.

I get alerts on my phone along with an email for every transaction, instantly.

"monthly bank statements sent to someone."

Or simply sign up for internet banking.

“Or simply sign up for internet banking.”

Nope, we want others to have the ability to review, but not the ability to access the funds.

A manager who allows someone to write checks and also audit expenses is a fool. Reconciling statements, reviewing expenditures of subordinates, writing checks and auditing himself is a prescription for corruption, and hopefully, for prison.

@9:08 Exactly. Paying a management company to do the job one signed up for does not erase the fiduciary duty.

Our HOA contacted Ridgeway-Lane about being our managers. David Lane was a quite the jerk when we asked what they could do for us. Said see what is in writing that is what we do. We decided against them. Looks like we kept from being looted.

I know I am late to the game, but why hasn't anyone asked about filing against bonding companies. I would assume both the HOA management companies have to be bonded as do the Directors and Board Members of an HOA. If there is over $1,000,000 missing from various HOAs, I would be concerned that the HOA Boards have neglected their fiduciary duties to the homeowners.

I have taken on an HOA Board and will let you know it isn't an easy task. There are legalities that if you and your attorneys are not aware of, you can really screw up and loose the battle before it gets started. All to often I read cases that were lost because the homeowner failed to have proof that they gave the Board the ability to correct the issue. A demand must be made to the Board before legal action is taken against them. Also, the American Rule has each party paying their own legal fees unless damages can be proven. Punitive damages have a better chance of getting legal fees. When asking for damages, punitive damages must be specifically asked for (at least that is what I was told). Do not just request blanket damages

If you plan on going after your Board for failing their fiduciary duties and want to go after the bonding company, you must send them a letter (Return Receipt Requested for Proof) of request asking them for corrective action. Consider asking them to go to bonding company to replace the funds that have gone missing under their watch. The Boards had a duty to conduct checks and balances. I would be very interested in the bank accounts of the Board that has been in place for over 20 years who was belligerent with the property owners and refused to produce documents.

There are state laws pertaining to individuals being able to get access to documents of an incorporation. The Board typically has a responsibility to produce the documents. Read your By-laws, Association's Covenants, Additional Covenants, etc. it may specify how to gain access to the Association's documents.