Home
Transition & Elections
Updates & Events
Our History
Community Comps '08
Community Comps '07
Photos, 8-07
Signing Statement
Lawsuit
Sunrise Response
Production of Docs
Interrogatories, 3-07
New Matter Reply, 3-07
Bill Ramagosa Depo 1
Bill Ramagosa Depo 2
Bill Ramagosa Depo 3
Bob Ramagosa Depo
Sharon Snyder Depo
Richard Symonies Depo
Expert Witness Report

Join Us!
THANK YOU for your interest, involvement and support.  Remember, we are all part of a VOLUNTARY organization whose main purpose is to make our community the best it can be by making sure OUR money is spent on OUR amenities and services for OUR community as guaranteed to us in our deeds.

Please SPREAD THE WORD and encourage your neighbors to become aware of our efforts toward positive change in our community.

PLEASE CONTRIBUTE FINANCIALLY to help fund legal fees if you haven't already.  THANK YOU!

Send checks made out to:
Concerned Citizens of Sunrise Lake
 PO Box 494
Milford, PA   18337
Please note that what follows below is a continuation of the previous page's ( Updates & Events) chronicle of our communication to the residents of Sunrise Lake.  It is a documentation of previous email updates and postings to Sunrise Lake community members.

Some of the questions raised by the volunteer committee and community residents that are referenced in this chronological list of updates have now been addressed by both the owners of Sunrise Ventures and Sunnylands, Inc. and two of their employees in deposition (please see the links to download the .pdfs of these depostions on the left).  We feel these answers are inadequate and therefore continue our pursuit of a legal remedy. 


Update, November 14, 2007

On Friday night, November 9th, we met at St. Vincent's Church as the first snow of the season fell.  Some of the following was discussed.

On November 5th, 2007, Bill and Bob Ramagosa, Richard Symonies, and Sharon Snyder were deposed in the offices of our attorney Jim Fareri.

The entire transcript will be posted to the website when it becomes
available.

The following are a few of the points of information established during the
depositions:

1)  All invoices charged to the Sunrise community are marked up 25%.  When asked for an explanation, Bill Ramagosa stated that he does not keep records during the day of what time he spends on community matters and what time he spends on his real estate business.  In order to make sure Bill's time is covered he marks up all invoices, whether he did any work or not.  For one Hanson paving invoice ALONE, this mark up totaled $53,000 -- not bad wages for making a phone call to hire a subcontractor.

2)  There are several invoices on their ledger charged to the community which add up to tens of thousands of dollars.  These are marked “Annual Invoice”.  When asked what these invoices were for, Bill Ramagosa explained that they served the same purpose as the 25% mark up – just another way to pay for his time.  This is IN ADDITION to the 25% mark up!  Yikes!

We recently received a breakdown of these charges -- here are the "Annual Invoice" charges for 2005.  They appear in three (3) categories, all with the same invoice number and dates for each category (#83551):

Common Facilities:

1/26/05 $3,831.00 (Lake Treatment, Natureworks)
1/26/05 $2,500.00 (Insurance Expense)
1/26/05 $295.19 (Dam Inspection, Flood Plan)

Total:  $6,626.19

Pool:

1/26/05 $11,331.31 (Salaries, Lifeguards)
1/26/05 $1,966.75 (Electric/Met Ed)
1/26/05 $3,500.00 (Pool Insurance Expense)
1/26/05 $132.00 (Pool Water Testing)

Total:  $16,930.06

Road Repair and Maintenance:

1/26/05 $38,025 (1521 lots @ $25 = $38,025 [Postage, Printing, Secy])
1/26/05 $12,124.95 (Security)

Total:  $50,149.95

TOTAL CHARGES For "Annual Invoice" in all three ( 3) Categories:  $73,706.20

Remember this is IN ADDITION to the 25% across the board mark-up they charge us!

3)  The head of maintenance, Richard Symonies, runs his own hauling business out of the Sunrise maintenance yard.  His trucks are stored there.  Sunrise employees are also used to perform work for his private business while on our payroll.

Symonies keeps track of his own time on a "scout's honor" basis.  Sunrise Ventures/Sunnylands keeps no internal corresponding record other than the timesheets Symonies provides.  The same is true for Sunrise employees -- SV/SL relies on the employees to keep track of when they are working for our community, or the brothers' real estate business or Symonies' private hauling business.  So the "road and rec" account money is used to pay Symonies (and other Sunrise maintenance employees) with limited ability to accurately confirm how that time was spent and on what.

5)  We pay to maintain the roads in Sunrise Lake even though we don't own them.  There are no tariffs or use fees paid by private businesses using and damaging the roads in Sunrise.  Most if not all other lake communities charge a fee to businesses traveling on their roads to help offset the necessary repairs these heavy trucks cause.  Here in Sunrise, not only DON'T they pay a fee, when we pay to repair the roads from damage caused by Symonies trucking business, or by the Ramagosas’ quarry business or their real estate construction business, we ALSO pay a 25% mark up.  The Ramagosas make money from their businesses, they sometimes damage the roads, we pay to repair their roads, and on top of that, they also make an ADDITIONAL 25% -- just for billing us to repair THEIR roads.

And if any of this doesn't have you upset enough ...

On Nov. 12, SL/SV began preparing to pave the entrances to bring them up to PennDot standards in order to move forward on their new subdivision.  Remember that PennDot would not allow them to complete this new subdivision with the current entrances.
 
The expansion of the entrances serve only one purpose and that is to meet the PennDot requirements so they can further develop this
community. These improvements do not benefit the residents and so clearly we should not be responsible to pay for them.  But since SV/SL doesn't keep track of our money separate from their money, we can't know who's money is being spent to expand these entrances.  And so the entrances will be larger and improved and we don't have a swimming pool, or trash pick up, or a basketball court or a ball field or even a yellow line down the middle of our main roads.

Our attorney is sending a letter to their attorney to request documentation regarding where this money to fix the entrances is coming from.  We will let you know what we find out.

WHAT YOU CAN DO:

1)  Please contribute to the legal fund.  We are working with our attorney to move us to trial as quickly as possible and that takes money.  We only use your donations to pay for legal fees and costs and the closer we get to trial the more the costs add up.  Please support this work.  The above details are only the tip of the iceberg when it comes to how blatantly irresponsible they "manage" our money while allowing our community to decay and we watch our property values decline.  The real estate market is soft these days.  Along with our own enjoyment, we also need our community to stay viable and desirable to new buyers looking in the area.  With decaying amenities and few services, we will NOT be considered competitive with other local lake communities.

2) Please call the front office and ask for Bill or Bob and ask them the following questions:

a.)  Who is paying for this construction to the entrances?  Is the money coming from our annual dues?

b.)  Why are they doing this work rather than maintaining our amenities which we, the residents, have already paid for in our annual dues?

c.)  How can they afford to pave the front entrance but not have enough money to paint a yellow line down the center of the road for our safety?

d.)  How can they afford to do this new work and not have the resources to even pick up the trash that litters our community?

Sunrise Lake office:  570.686.2371 or 570.686.1203

3) Please spread the word.  It's easy to feel disconnected with weeks or months between community meetings and updates. And some of us are only here seasonally or on weekends.  If your neighbors or friends don't have a computer, print up these emails and circulate them.  Encourage them to visit the public library where there is FREE internet service available and have them view our website, www.concernedcitizensofsunriselake.org.  We'll have another community meeting in January with updates on what's been happening and hopefully our attorney will attend as well to answer questions.

We're all working hard to ensure that our dues monies are used to maintain our community, not for private profit for a few individuals.  Please send your checks to:

Concerned Citizens of Sunrise Lake
PO Box 494
Milford, PA  18337

MEETING, September 15, 2007
 
The following items were covered at Saturday's meeting:

1.  We summarized the past year's action and events for the many new faces in the crowd.  The growing interest in our activities was generated by the mailing we did in the first week of August.  The mailing was suggested by our attorney in order to inform the entire community of our purpose and actions in the past year.  We directed everyone once again to our website for a full history and all related documents.

2.  We discussed the upcoming depositions currently scheduled for Friday 9/28.  The previous date for depositions was canceled by Sunrise Ventures/Sunnylands at the last moment.  Our attorney has requested the court to compel depositions on the 28th, so that there will not be another last minute cancellation.  Deposition questions that will be asked of the Ramagosas and their employees include many of the inquiries made by residents regarding the maintenance of our community and the accounting of our dues monies.  After depositions, we will move as swiftly as possible toward a trial date.

3.  Our accountant, Eric Davis, was present to explain the accounting report (available on the website) and to take questions from community members regarding the expenditures and accounting of our dues monies.  Mr. Davis emphasized the huge amount of uncollected dues payments – reported by SV/SL as more than two million dollars - and the fact that, again according to SV/SL, nothing has been done to recover these assets.  He also emphasized the fact that the community is directed to pay its dues to an entity which is neither Sunnylands, Inc. (the company listed on our deeds) nor Sunrise Ventures Inc.  All work for the community is done in-house and is marked up 25%, no work goes out for competitive bidding, and it is impossible to trace what work (plowing, paving, building, etc.) is benefiting the community and what work profits the real estate company at the expense of the community. 

4.  We made the community aware that Sunrise Ventures/Sunnylands Inc. has, through their lawyer, issued a set of questions (discovery documents) to be answered by Concerned Citizens of Sunrise Lake.  Our attorney has reviewed these questions with the volunteer committee.  One of the questions requests that we name the members of our group.  The volunteer committee maintained that we did not want to give individual names to SV/SL, however, our attorney advised us that the court will compel us to give the names, since in a lawsuit, the party being sued has a right to know who is bringing the complaint.  If anyone wants their name withheld for any reason, please inform us by responding to this email with a specific request that you remain anonymous.


MEETING, May 18, 2007

At the meeting held at St. Vincent's Church the following information was discussed:

1.  Re:  Subdivision
 
Sunrise/Sunnylands has obtained a conditional use permit for their 49 house subdivision on the Wild Meadow side of Sunrise.  HOWEVER, they can NOT BUILD AT ALL until they have brought both entrances up to code according to PENNDOT specifications.  They are only required to bring the entrances up to code for the purposes of building the 49 new homes, therefore, current residents should not be obligated to pay (through their dues) for any PENNDOT required updates made to either/both of the two entrances.
 
 
2.  Re:  Dues
 
We discussed the letter accompanying the dues invoice for this year.  We reiterated that Concerned Citizens are NOT interested in starting an association OR in taking charge of the upkeep of amenities.  We are ONLY interested in compelling Sunrise Ventures/Sunnylands to meet their contractual obligations as stated in our deeds.  To this end, our complaint requests that the court order SV/SL to hire a management company ( a company with no prior relationship to the community, approved by our attorney, and paid for by SV/SL) to manage dues monies in order to be sure that our monies are spent according to the requirements of our deeds, meaning on the maintenance of our roads and common areas and the adequate upkeep of our amenities.
 
We reiterated once again that our attorney advises us to pay our dues.  Part of our complaint states that SV/SL does not make sufficient attempts to recover unpaid dues, and as a result, according to SV/SL there is $2,000,000 outstanding in accounts receivable - money that could be used for legitimate community needs.  In addition, our complaint states that SV/SL is not meeting their contractual obligations to residents, even though residents continue to pay dues.  If we were to withhold dues, we would be in breach of contract as well.  This would weaken our position in court.
 
3.  Re:  Bank Account
 
As a first step in protecting our dues monies and ensuring that our money is not being used to finance new roads and new construction that does not benefit current residents, our attorney petitioned the court to compel SV/SL to maintain a separate account solely for dues monies and monies that will be used to maintenance the community according to deed specifications.  The court order states that upon reasonable notice, Concerned Citizens of Sunrise Lake as the plaintiff, be able to examine the account. The court granted this petition.  Our attorney is now in the process of making arrangements for SV/SL to provide the monthly reconciliation statement for this account to our attorney.
 
The account number where our collected dues are to be deposited is:  2000003093766  If you have not already paid your dues, please write on the back of your check:  "For deposit only in acct 2000003093766."  If you have already paid, please do not worry about not having done this.
 
This account is only a FIRST STEP since it by no means guarantees that our money will be spent properly.  The only way to be certain that our monies are being spent as our deeds stipulate is the hiring, at SV/SL's expense, of a reputable professional management company whose actions and expenditures are completely transparent to the community.
 
4.  Re:  Lawsuit Timing
 
Our attorney is right now in the process of securing dates for depositions and securing the responses to the discovery documents (these are posted on the website).  SV/SL did not respond to requests for deposition dates and discovery documents; the final date to do so was Friday 5/18.  Therefore, another court order may be necessary.  Our attorney will be contacting us shortly with regard to the next step, and we will update the community when we have that information.
 
As is evidenced by our progress so far, we are moving along toward our end goal at a good pace.  However, it is important for everyone to realize that compelling SV/SL to meet their contractual obligations through the courts is time consuming.   We are pushing very hard to make sure we continue making progress and to achieve our goals.  But, we must all remain patient and committed and steadfast; this, like any lawsuit, is not an overnight process.
 
5.  Re:  Support
 
If you have not yet donated toward legal fees, please do so!  We are making excellent progress and a small investment of $100 per family (or whatever you feel you can afford) toward legal fees will have tremendous impact as we continue our progress.  Please consider the many benefits responsible and appropriate maintenance of our community brings to all of us.  A clean and safe place to live is what we all signed up for when we signed our deeds.  And it is reasonable to expect that with the $500,000 collected from us each year, Sunrise Ventures and Sunnylands should be able to deliver that to us.  Certainly many of our neighboring communities have figured out how to maintain their communities through modest annual dues.  Why won't Sunrise Ventures and Sunnylands do the same?  Isn't it odd that they have the funds to continually develop raw land and yet the pool remains closed and derelict just like the ball fields and the tennis courts ...


Update, April 19, 2007

Today our dues statement arrived.  Among other things, the invoice cover letter contains the following statement.  This statement is quoted directly from the letter:

"We do not plan to open the pool in 2007.  If the pool is to be a viable facility, its users must pay its costs.  Those costs run about $30,000.00 per season, while pool fees generally generate less than $5000.00 each year.  Raising the fees doesn't seem to be the answer because increased fees causes the number of pool users to decrease.  Although we don't believe there is any way to operate the pool as a self supporting facility, if an individual or group would like to make the attempt, please contact us."
 
Our response: 

Concerned Citizens of Sunrise Lake maintains that the pool is an amenity guaranteed to us contractually by our deeds.  We have a verified accounting report (developed by a well established and reputable accounting firm) based on receipts, invoices, and spread sheets provided by Sunrise Ventures/Sunnylands, that demonstrates misuse of funds.  If funds are used properly, there would be enough money to maintain the pool and provide all maintenance that we are contractually guaranteed by our deeds.  There is nothing in our deeds about being charged extra for amenities.
 
The cover letter also contains the following statement:
 
"As a side note, the roads and recreational facilities in Sunrise have always been owned and maintained by Sunrise Ventures, Inc.  We think the Sunrise roads and facilities compare favorably with those of other local communities.  We're proud of the fact that we're able to maintain them while charging approximately half of what the neighboring communities, Gold Key and Conashaugh, charge.  However, recently some Sunrise property owners have formed a group called "Concerned Citizens of Sunrise Lake" to voice their opinion that Sunrise Ventures is not effectively managing Sunrise Lake and that the yearly fees are excessive.  We take these sorts of complaints very seriously and would welcome the opportunity to hear the opinions of all home and lot owners.  Specifically, if a majority of Sunrise Property Owners share the opinions of the "Concerned Citizens," we would be happy to transfer the ownership and maintenance responsibilities of the roads and recreation facilities to a Sunrise Property Owners Association.  We'd like to know how you feel.  Should you like to make your opinion on this topic known, please write us as soon as possible."
 
Our response: 

Concerned Citizens of Sunrise Lake does not now advocate, nor have we at any time in the past advocated, a home owner's association.  We are well aware that the citizens of this community do not want an association.  And this is not the solution to the gross mismanagement of our dues monies that we are suggesting.  Our complaint before the District Court requests an independent professional management company oversee our dues monies to be sure the monies are used for maintenance, amenities, and common areas and not for new construction that privately profits Sunrise Ventures/Sunnylands at the expense of the quality of our community.  At the last meeting, we presented a comparative cost analysis of all area communities to community members.  Sunrise Lake receives the least amount of services of any area community yet our dues are not substantially less. 
 
For example:
 
Pocono Woodlands (as of 2007) charged  $619.00.  That is $84.00 more than Sunrise (in 2007).  For that $84.00 they get a new pool, full facility club house, basketball courts, tennis courts, stocked fish pond, garbage drop off, security with uniformed guards, playground, %10 discount off annual dues for residents 65 and over, gypsy moth spraying for the entire community.

Pocono Water Forest charged $616.00 (as of 2006).  That is $81.00 more than Sunrise (in 2007).  For that $81.00 they get a well maintained pool and full facility club house, a tennis court, basketball court, state of the art playground, security system, and a maintenance department. 
 
Pocono Mountain Lake Forest has all these same facilities -- security, full maintenance plus community trash pickup for $740.(as of 2006)  that's a difference of $205.00 a year including the trash pickup.
 
Conashaugh Lakes has all these facilities, security, full maintenance plus community trash compacter accessible 24 hours a day for $885.46 (as of 2006). That's $350.46 a year more.
 
All four communities have planned activities for families throughout the year paid for from community dues.  They support swim teams and sponsor annual barbeques.
 
How can they can afford so much more than Sunrise Lake?  According to this latest invoice, our common facilities fee this year is $92,845.98.  We have no amenities or well maintained common areas.  What is $92,845 being spent on? 
 
We are moving ahead with our complaint and our attorney will have a court date for a hearing within the next two weeks.  We will be in touch soon with a meeting date to update community members on the progress of our complaint and the court date.  Please check back here for a full history of our group, full attorney and accountant information, and a full history of all our updates and meetings.  Please watch for further updates and our next meeting date.  We are at a critical juncture.


MEETING, March 24th, 2007

At the meeting the following items were discussed:
 
1.  Dues:  Our attorney's advice regarding dues is as follows:
              
A)  If you have not paid last year's dues, one should pay them now.  To withhold them could be viewed as a breach of contract on one's part and that weakens our position.
 
B)  All residents should pay this year's dues in a timely manner -- noting the following:
 
IF THERE IS AN INCREASE IN THE CHARGE FOR DUES, THE ATTORNEY SUGGESTS THAT WE NOT PAY THE INCREASE.  GIVEN THAT WE HAVE NO AMENITIES LEFT, AND THERE HAS BEEN VERY LITTLE SNOW, AN INCREASE COULD BE VIEWED AS A RETALIATORY GESTURE ON THEIR PART.   THE ATTORNEY ADVISES THAT IF THE DUES ARE INCREASED , WE SHOULD ONLY PAY THE AMOUNT WE WERE CHARGED FOR 2006.
 
2.  The complaint:  We informed the community of the progress so far on the complaint.  Sunrise Ventures/Sunnylands Inc. received the complaint, replied, the reply (which was read in part at the meeting) was inadequate (no factual explanations were offered to support their denials of our claims), our attorney responded with a request for explanations by March 26th, none came.  Last week, our attorney filed discovery documents asking for complete financial information (tax returns, invoices, receipts, accounts payable and receivable for the last four calendar years).  These discovery documents were read at the meeting.  After Monday, March 26th had passed, our attorney attempted once more to reach their attorney and got no response.  Therefore, our attorney is filing a motion in court to get a court order requiring them to separate our dues money (money to be used for community maintenance and amenities) from all their other monies, and he is requesting a court date, so that a judge can see our complaint and decide on our request for a management company to get the community back in order.
 
3.  Public Meeting:  Residents of Sunrise Lake were encouraged to attend the public meeting regarding the 49 house subdivision building permits held on Tuesday, April 3, 2007 at the Dingman's Township building.  The bus stop and other safety issues have not been resolved, along with our concerns that our dues money could be being used to finance some or all of this new construction.  Until Sunrise Ventures/Sunnylands Inc. agrees to account for our dues money separately and prove there is no commingling of funds, we must stand together and insist that no new construction occur.  If they are not commingling funds it should not be difficult or an undue hardship for them to demonstrate that.  It is very important that the Town Supervisors/Planning Commission/Zoning Board knows that we are committed to the safety of our children and our community, and that we will continue to oppose any development that has not been properly planned for or that threatens the safety of our community.
 
4.  Fund Raising:  For those of you who sent checks since the meeting, thank you.  Once you've contributed, you will begin receiving the specific financial statement detailing all expenditures (issued quarterly).  Please remember, a small contribution to our legal fees ensures that we can bring this action to its completion.  And for us, completion means the return of all the amenities guaranteed in our deeds, improved maintenance, security, and upkeep of our community, and accurate and transparent accounting of our dues monies.  Remember, what we are concerned about is the quality of our community and retaining the value of our homes, especially in a tough real estate market.  For many of us, our homes and property are our biggest investments.  So if you haven't yet contributed to the legal fund, please give what you are able -- the suggested donation is $100 per family -- we welcome contributions at any level -- and please consider that $100 to ensure your home maintains its value and your community is safe and well cared for is $100 well spent. 

Update, March 4, 2007

Please note that you can now download Sunrise's response to the filed complaint here or by selecting the button to the left labeled "Sunrise Response".  Stay tuned for our next community meeting where our attorney's response(s) will be discussed.
MEETING, January 12, 2007
7:30 pm  St. Vincent's Church

A record crowd attended the January 12th meeting of Concerned Citizens of Sunrise Lake (CCSL) where the formal complaint filed in Pike County District Court by CCSL against Sunrise Ventures/Sunnylands (SV/SL) was read publicly.  Questions and discussion regarding the complaint followed.  The complaint is available in full here.

We reminded all in attendance that CCSL is a voluntary organization open to any residents of Sunrise Lake who would like to join us in our goals of ensuring that SV/SL meet their contractual and fiduciary responsibilities regarding the maintenance and upkeep of our community as specified in our deeds.

We asked that anyone who wanted to be party to the complaint, which details our grievances and contains the documents supporting the legitimacy of these grievances, sign a statement of support that was handed out at the meeting.  A copy of the statement for review and/or printing is available here. 

Please send signed statements to:
CCSL, PO Box 494, Milford, PA, 18337.

The complaint filed in District Court will be presented by the Sheriff to SV/SL shortly.  So far things have moved along very quickly and we have accomplished a great deal in a relatively short period of time.  Now that the complaint has been filed, we need to be patient. Once SV/SL receives the complaint, they have several weeks in which to respond.  Once we have this response, we will inform the community immediately so please check back here to learn of next steps.

In terms of legal fees, community members have been very giving thus far, and our lawyer and accountant have been extremely generous in the minimal fees they have been charging.  If you have not yet contributed to legal fees and you can afford to send a check in any amount (suggested contribution is $100 per family but all amounts are welcome), please contribute to Concerned Citizens of Sunrise Lake.  The money we collect is used SOLELY to pursue our legal action to a positive conclusion. 

Please send contributions to:
CCSL, PO Box 494, Milford, PA, 18337. 

A detailed accounting statement showing our accounts payable to date is forthcoming (via email within the week) to those who have contributed.  Due to attorney/client privilege, you must be a financial supporter of CCSL to receive the accounting statement.

A big thank you to all who attended the meeting.  Your continued support and enthusiasm is greatly appreciated.  Please spread the word about our efforts to your friends and neighbors!

Update, January 2, 2007
Township Building, Fischer Lane
 
As you may know, and partly due to the efforts of Concerned Citizens, SV/SL's request for permits to build 49 houses in their newest subdivision was denied.  They have since applied for
a "Conditional Use"  permit which was tabled on Tuesday,  January 2, 2007 due to an incomplete application.  They will attempt to complete the requested paperwork and re-apply.  We will keep you posted on their progress.

MEETING, November 17, 2006
Community Meeting at St. Vincent's Church

The following points were covered:

1.  Based on the volunteer committee's review of the receipts and expense ledger provided by Sunrise Ventures/Sunnylands Inc. which revealed several severe accounting discrepancies (specific examples were provided at the meeting), our attorney, Mr. Fareri advised us to get an official accountant's statement.  He advised this because nobody in the volunteer committee is a CPA, and therefore, our findings wouldn't be seen as legitimate in our court complaint.

2.  On the recommendation of the Delaware Highlands Conservancy, a well established non-profit land trust organization located in Hawley, we have secured the services of Mr. Eric Davis of Ginader, Jones, & Co., LLP CPA's in Scranton, PA.  Their website is www.GinaderJones.com. They have been in Scranton since 1910 and are a well respected firm that has done a tremendous amount of work with non-profit groups. 

3.  The volunteer committee met with Mr. Davis on November 16th to explain our situation and to give him all the materials he will need to do the accounting.  Mr. Davis will now sit down with Mr. Fareri and discuss how best to work the accounting statement into the complaint we'll file in court.

4.  Mr. Davis did not charge us for the initial meeting.  We informed him that we have an adequate and conservative budget.  He advised us that he will work with our attorney and give us the most affordable rate possible for his services.

5.  We also updated the situation with the consumer complaints filed through the Attorney General's office.  Anyone who filed a complaint received a letter from Sunrise.  Most of these letters seemed to be copies of the first letter that Sunrise sent in response to the first letter sent on behalf of Concerned Citizens by Mr. Fareri back in July.  Concerned Citizens sent a letter to the AG's office stating that this is NOT a satisfactory response, and we want them to continue their investigation into our complaints.  If you have filed a consumer complaint, and have received a response from Sunrise, please follow up with a letter to the AG stating you'd like the investigation to continue.

Update, October 21, 2006

On behalf of Concerned Citizens of Sunrise Lake, the Volunteer Committee has filed a consumer complaint with the Bureau of Consumer Protection in the PA Attorney General's Office.  We filed this complaint on the advise of our attorney.   We discovered that over the last year or so, many individual complaints have been filed by Sunrise Lake property owners with the Bureau independently -- long before we began our collective efforts to get some accountability from Sunnylands/Sunrise Ventures.  Our attorney, Mr. Fareri, feels that filing this complaint is a positive action on our part.  The Attorney General's office is already aware of our difficulties with Sunnylands/Sunrise Ventures and is anxious to help us resolve our situation in a positive and productive way.

All individual members of Concerned Citizens are also encouraged to file their own complaints.  It’s easy to do -- just follow this link:

http://www.attorneygeneral.gov/consumers.aspx?id=451

and complete the easy-to-fill-out form.

We also will be meeting with Mr. Fareri next week to discuss the formal complaint we will be filing in court in the very near future.

MEETING, October 6th, 2006:
 
1.  All letters from Sunrise Ventures/Sunnylands were read in chronological order to the meeting attendees.  These letters were in response to our attorney's request for a detailed accounting of expenditures of our dues monies and authorized paper work (receipts/invoices/time sheets) to verify these expenditures. 
 
2.  Because of the lack of verifiable accounting, we advised the community that our attorney is now drawing up a complaint to put before a judge to demand a more legitimate accounting of expenditures and to request that a "receiver" be appointed to oversee our dues money.  This "receiver" would be a court appointed management company WITHOUT any personal conflict of interests or personal investments in Sunrise who would govern the expenditure of our monies and who would be responsible to the court to demonstrate that our monies are being spent for the legitimate benefit of Sunrise Lake property owners - in other words, to be sure our monies are being spent in the ways contractually guaranteed to us through our deeds.  Sunrise Ventures/Sunnylands would be responsible for payment for this company's services.  It is important to remember that the "receiver" and the legitimate accounting is what we are requesting from the court.  We believe considering the paper work we've gathered that there is a very good chance that the court will grant this request.  HOWEVER, until we go to court, go through the proceedings, and find out how the judge will rule, we cannot say for sure that this will be the outcome.
 
3.  On Thursday, we picked up a stack of invoices and receipts from Sunrise.  The volunteer committee is in the process of labeling, cataloging and matching these receipts and invoices to the ledger of expenditures provided by Sunrise, in response to the initial request for financial documentation made to Sunrise by our attorney.   When we have completed this process, we will report back to the community on the results.  All of this paperwork will be turned over to the lawyer who will review it and incorporate its results into the complaint for the court.
 
4.  An accounting of fees paid to the lawyer thus far will be forwarded to those members who have contributed monies.
 
Update, October 4, 2006:

Last night at the Dingman Township's Board of Supervisors meeting, Sunnylands/Sunrise Ventures request to build 49 new homes without providing adequate school bus stops was denied.  Thanks to our attorney James Fareri, the testimony of DeAnna Margiore, and the great show of support from the community, it has perhaps been impressed upon Sunnylands/Sunrise Ventures that their corner-cutting to make a quick buck is coming to an end.  We would never suggest that they not continue to develop their property or that they are not entitled to earn a living -- we would only suggest that they do it with integrity and a certain respect for the quality of life for all Sunrise Lake residents, current and future.


Update, September 9, 2006:

Still no response from Sunnylands/Sunrise Ventures to our attorney's request.  We will discuss the attorney's suggestions on next steps at the meeting on October 6th. 

Update, September 15, 2006:

In our last update, we informed you that Sunnylands/Sunrise Ventures had requested $250.00 for copying the invoices/receipts that corresponded to the items on ledger they provided and which we shared and explained at the last community meeting.

Our attorney then requested of Sunnylands/Sunrise Ventures that the volunteer committee be allowed to meet at the Sunrise office to view invoices/receipts and choose specific items to copy. 

Sunnylands/Sunrise Ventures has responded to that request by stating the following:
 
"There are no original paper copies of the invoices your clients wish to examine.  These invoices were generated on computer and are stored on computer." (taken from response letter dated 9/8/06, William Ramagosa, Jr., Vice President - Sunrise Ventures, Inc.)
 
The volunteer committee will be meeting with our attorney on 9/22 to discuss how to proceed based on the most recent response from Sunrise Ventures, Inc.

MEETING 4, August 26, 2006:

We reported to the community that at the second meeting with Mr. Fareri, it was decided that a second letter be sent to Sunrise Ventures requesting verification in the form of receipts and documented time sheets of the items on the ledger which was provided by Sunrise Ventures in response to Concerned Citizens of Sunrise Lake's initial request for a detailed statement of expenditures.  We then highlighted three of the expenditures on the ledger for those attending the meeting.

These were:

1.)  The plowing for 2005 was reported as $200,126.  Why was it so expensive when we had so little snow?

2.)  The charge to bill Sunrise Lake home/land owners for annual dues was $25.00 per lot -- total lots 1,521 -- total cost to the community $38,025.  Did it really cost that much to prepare and mail a one page statement plus a cover letter?

3.)  Road maintenance and repair for 2005 was $453,517.75 - Did it cost that much to repair our roads or are we paying for new roads that we, the residents, do not own?

Sunrise Ventures responded to the request for verification of expenditures listed on the ledger by asking for $250.00 for labor and copying fees for said verification.

We met with Mr. Fareri on September 1st, regarding Sunrise Ventures request for $250.00 for copying fees and to ask his advice about the many irregularities on the ledger sheet.  Mr. Fareri is writing a letter to Sunrise Ventures, requesting that the Concerned Citizens of Sunrise Lake Volunteer Committee be allowed to come to the office and see receipts for expenditures listed on the ledger they provided.  We will inform the community when Sunrise Ventures responds to the request for the committee to review receipts.  When we receive a response from Sunrise Ventures, we will again consult with Mr. Fareri regarding the next step in holding Sunrise Ventures accountable for expenditures made with our dues monies and for our lack of amenities, and we will inform of community of Mr. Fareri's advice regarding how to proceed from this point.

MEETING 3, July 22, 2006:

Reported on the success thus far of fund raising:  We were able to raise enough funds to pay the attorney's retainer and set up a first meeting.  We decided at this meeting that we would ask the attorney to write to Sunrise Ventures and request a verifiable financial statement regarding ALL EXPENDITURES made from dues money and used on behalf of Sunrise Lake amenities, maintenance, and overall upkeep.  Through email, the community was updated on the fact that the request letter went out to Sunrise Ventures; Sunrise Ventures responded with a 17 page ledger of all expenditures.  HOWEVER, they provided no documentation, i.e. receipts, time sheets, etc., to support the items on the ledger.  We also informed the community that we had scheduled a second meeting with Mr. Fareri to discuss Sunrise Venture's response (the itemized ledger).  We informed the community that we would report the results of this second meeting with Mr. Fareri at our community meeting on August 26 at St. Vincent's Church.

MEETING 2, June 13, 2006:

Established Sunrise Lake Community Association whose name was later revised to Concerned Citizens of Sunrise Lake; agreed upon the retaining of attorney James Fareri of Newman, Williams, Mishikin, Corveleyn, Wolfe and Fareri, P.C.  [712 Monroe Street, Stroudsburgh, PA, 18360] (www.newmanwilliams.com), approved a representative committee to meet with Mr. Fareri, initiated fund raising to raise legal fees.

MEETING 1, June 2, 2006:

Established the need for an organized group to address concerns.
Copyright © 2009 Concerned Citizens of Sunrise Lake.  All content and images on these pages belong to Concerned Citizens of Sunrise Lake and may not to be copied or altered in any way without express written permission from Concerned Citizens of Sunrise Lake.  All rights reserved.