THE CITY OF AURORA HAS ACCEPTED A SHAM REPORT “BENEFIT/IMPACT ANALYSIS” IT IS A LIE TO BRING IN $5,000,000 IN TAXES FOR A WALL OF 4,000 FEET ON YALE AND PEORIA FOR THE DAM EAST HOMEOWNER ASSOCIATION.
A Report called Benefit/Impact Analysis Falsely claims all homeowners properties will benefit by the construction of a new Masonry Wall that borders only 65 homes in a subdivision of 425 homes.
The petition submitted by the Fence Committee of the Dam East HOA with 160 signatures is void by the following errors.
1. Signatures were signed in blue ink by homeowners and dates were later penned in with green ink. (How dumb can anyone be to try this?) This makes the entire petition void and can’t be used in this Special District Project. Which signatures are true and which are altered? No one can tell which signatures are valid. If you can alter the dates with green ink how many signatures were also altered with blue ink.
2. There is evidence whiteout was used in places of the petition. You can’t do correction to a petition with whiteout and claim it is still legal.
But in the City of Aurora these errors are OKed by the Clerk of Court. The City is fighting for additional taxes and this is what it takes to get those taxes. Its called a Made As Instructed (or MAI report) ordered by City of Aurora with their payment of $5,200 for 17 pages. (That’s $304 per page.)
This Report in question was prepared by:
Mr. Raymond C. Hart, Shelton Associates Inc., 230 South Holland St. Lakewood, CO 80226
This same company “Shelton Associates did the Benefit/Impact Analysis” for the wall built at Ptarmigan Subdivision located on the North east corner of Yale and Peoria. It’s across the street from the Dam East Homeowner Association which wants a similar wall built located on the South East corner of Yale and Peoria. These reports can’t be considered arms length and the staff person who approved these reports are Lyman Ho and Joani Cravens, Managers of Real Property Services City of Aurora.
Under an Open Records Act the City of Aurora was asked to provide the background information on the qualifications of these two staff persons as to what their real estate experience is to be able to approve either Benefit/Impact Analysis which involves a $5,000,000 wall project. To date the City of Aurora has refused to provide what background Ly Mo or Joani Cravens has to qualify holding the position of manager of Real Property Services. It is a disgrace to continue this project after the petition was rigged and a sham report fails to prove any home owner benefits from a new wall other than 65 properties that abut the fence improvement on their property line. None of the interior properties will benefited a projected increase in property value of 4 to 8 percent by the construction of this fence as claimed in the B/I Analysis. The Tax Assessor of Arapahoe County recently mailed new appraised values for the homes in the Dam East Homeowner Association which dropped the values by 20 percent. This new appraisal does not indicate a drop in value due to the existing wooden fence. The Tax Assessor of Arapahoe County staff appraisers will not give any increased value to the interior properties due to the construction of a masonry wall. The main issue is the claim Circle 4 does not increase in value by this fence. Properties in Circle 4 can’t be taxed for an improvement costing maybe over $5,000,000 for any annual charge of over a one time charge of $200.00 per home paid over 20 years
Everyone needs to read the report to understand how wrong the value is as stated and how much out of line any of the noted property comparisons are out of date to try and give a Sham report to support a tax increase of over $11,000 per home over 20 years in taxes.
This disgrace of promoting a sham by the City of Aurora, the Board of Directors of the Dam East Homeowner Association and the members of the Fence Committee after it has been proven to be a sham will not stand up in court if pursued as stated herein.
The Benefit/Impact Analysis Report has been edited by Jim Burneson and his comments are printed in red type.
DOWNLOAD THE BENEFIT/IMPACT ANALYSIS edited by Jim Burneson.
SEE AN UPDATE TO THIS FENCE ISSUE FOLLOWING THIS OPEN LETTER BELOW.
OPEN LETTER TO AURORA MAYOR TAUER, CITY MANAGER MILLER
AND CITY COUNCIL MEMBERS.
June 20, 2009
Published on the Internet at www.court-house.com Chapter 27.
City of Aurora, Mayor Tauer and City Manager, Miller and City Council
Re: Running a Sham Wall Project to shaft the taxpayers of the Dam East Homeowner Association.
The Dam East Newsletter was received today with no facts or information on the Wall Project. The City of Aurora likes to work in a verbal mode and not print any facts about a project the City wants that has no benefit to the interior homeowners of the Dam East Homeowner Association. The fence will benefit 65 homeowners whose property boarders the new fence. That’s it and no report can prove any interior homeowner or the owners in circle 4.
The facts of this project is kept secret from the owners and will be verbalized for the first time at a June 30 meeting by the City of Aurora. A meeting during the summer months while owners out of town on vacation. With the facts hidden the homeowners will not have time to discuss the cost and lack of benefits among themselves all on purpose. Mayor Tauer and City Manager Miller don’t want the taxpayers to have too much information for fear the taxpayers might object to the terms.
Where does the City and Fence Committee get the authority to set a three tier charge against property owners depending on where the property is located? Who set the price at $6,000 for the properties on the fence line and $5,000 for all interior homes and $4,000 for all homes in circle 4? Was this ever discussed with the homeowners of the Dam East? Answer NO. Mayor Tauer or City Manager Miller did you issue these values for the Dam East Homeowner to base the taxes paid to the City?
The Fence Committee of the HOA has intentionally refused to explain what the true monthly costs will be if a homeowner pays his share over a 10 or 20 year term. Lets spring this bad news verbally on the few owners who attend the meeting and it will have a better chance of getting passed. (DON’T PUT THE FACTS IN WRITING DO IT VERBALLY) This action is dirty politics by a City Government who needs to dismiss all city employees who are part of this scam. This includes the City Attorney who allowed the scam to continue after the Benefit/Impact Analysis was proven to be totally fraud. An edited copy of this report is published on the Internet at www.court-house.com Chapter 27.
The scheduled meeting on June 30 has to be cancelled since it is 10 days from today with no written facts for the entire HOA membership to review. All costs must be published in writing 30 days before any meeting is held at City of Aurora. How can anyone consider voting for or against this project without a complete explanation of all the facts? The HOA also hides the Benefit/Impact Analysis from the membership knowing it is a complete sham of misinformation that was written to favor the wall project and was not objective in its opinion. How many owners received copies of this report not counting the Fence Committee? (Answer TWO) The facts claimed in this sham report are inaccurate and misleading on purpose. The price of $5,200 paid for this report is $5000 over priced. This repost is fraud and intentionally bias for building the fence.
Continuing this Fence Project will end all future fence projects managed by the City. No taxpayer will trust the City of Aurora on any tax proposal in the future. That’s a hell of a price to pay for this sham.
Why does the City of Aurora own the fence after we the taxpayers paid for it with interest? We the taxpayers who paid for a fence will own the fence when completed. That means the City has to title the fences built for the Dam West and Ptarmigan back to the HOAs. The City has no right to ownership of a project paid for directly by taxpayers. If ownership is demanded for this Special District then it must be canceled now.
Mayor Tauer and City Manager Miller you both are a disgrace to your office for allowing this sham to get his far. Council person Sue Sandatrom needs to resign now for failing to protect her neighbors in the Dam East Homeowner Association.
This project can’t be voted on by anyone because of the sham committed by the City of Aurora staff all the way to the Mayor’s office and City Manager’s Office.
Lets see how crooked the City of Aurora is by how they allow this scam to continue. The meeting on June 30th must be canceled by the City of Aurora and rescheduled for an extended time to allow all the facts to be published for the owner’s review 30 days before any meeting..
Jim Burneson
12641 E Bates Cir
Aurora, CO 80014
OCTOBER 4, 2009 UPDATE ON THE SHAM FENCE EFFORT
BY THE CITY OF AURORA AND THE FENCE COMMITTEE OF THE DAM EAST HOA.
The following is a copy of a speech I gave to City of Aurora Council and never received answers to my questions. Homeowners in the Dam East also need the answers to this speech.
Meeting July 27, 2009
City Council Meeting
My Name is Jim Burneson 12641 E Bates Cir Aurora 80014
- I have the following questions to ask under the Open Public Records Act that has been illegally denied by Mr. Richardson City Attorney. I have copies for each of you for your record. I sent you an email this morning and if you didn’t get it you mail is being censored by Mr. Richardson.
- Is Freedom Of Speech allowed in the City of Aurora Building?
- How many Fence Programs are under way in the City Of Aurora? This means being considered without a petition started or ones with a filed petition for either a SID or GID financing.
- I want a meeting rescheduled with the City Manager Miller to replace the one cancelled by Mr. Richardson
- I want everyone on this council to visit the Clerk of Records and inspect the petition that was submitted by the Dam East Homeowner Association for whiteout marks and different color ink used for signatures and dates of signatures. This makes the petition void and Mr. Richardson lied when he passed his approval of the Petition.
- I want a meeting rescheduled with Mayor Tauer and Sue Sandstrom for Me and my witness to discuss the violations committed by the staff of Aurora and Fence Committee of this HOA.
- I want a new PAR Officer assigned to the Dam East Homeowner Association. Muldoon has been there too long and was involved with false claims against Me by Attorneys Jeffrey Lane and Jake Hummel. See Chapter 29 on my website at www.court-house.com
- The Homeowners of the Dam East have not been told that the signatures on the petition will be counted with a weighted average given to the homes on the fence line counting for 1 a half vote (app.) and the interior homes count 1 and ¼ and the votes from the 4th circle for less than one vote. This is but one of the intentionally omitted facts hidden by the Staff of Aurora and the Fence Committee. That’s how dirty this City plays with its citizens. Don’t tell then voters the whole story.
- No matter what the number of signatures are on the Petition if this fence Proposal if submitted to City Council it can’t be approved by your vote with the list of wrongful acts committed by this City Government. For that reason it is best you stop the process now to prevent the continuation of a miscarriage of justice being knowingly committed by you the City of Aurora
- I want a hearing before this Council on the wrongful acts of City Attorney Richardson in his involvement in trying to hide everyone from being involved in telling the truth about the fence program at the Dam East Homeowner Association. Efforts to have me arrested for asking to set a meeting with Mayor Tauer.
- If this fence program isn’t stopped and the City Attorney Richardson isn’t immediately suspended from his office this mess will make it to the court to get justice for the citizens of Aurora.
- Who runs this City? The Mayor, City Attorney Richardson, or City Council? I want a written answer to these questions and charges made tonight? I will not be stopped by intimidation and it will just keep getting bigger and louder until the newspapers pick it up.
Jim Burneson
Email: burnesonj@msn.com
303-750-1500
_____________________________________________________________________________
The following is a copy of answers by City Attorney Richardson. If you have questions about the answers Richardson gave ask your council member Sue Sandstrom who lives in Circle 4 of the Dam East. Mr. Burneson inserted his comments in red print.
Dear Mr. Burneson,
Please let this serve as a response to the written questions you submitted to me during our meeting last week. I must say at the outset because of your profound objection to the concept of the City’s fence program, I seriously doubt that my responses will serve to enhance your acceptance of the program and its benefits. Nevertheless, because I promised I would respond, here are my answers:
1.
Q. Benefit/Impact Analysis must be published in the Dam East Homeowner Association Newsletter before any signatures requested on Petition to build the Masonry wall now proposed.
A. The Benefit Study is a public record and is available for inspection and copying at the City offices during normal business hours. In fact, you have acknowledged that you have obtained a copy. Publication in the HOA newsletter is up to the HOA Board. If the board does not publish the entire study that was paid for and accepted by the City of Aurora as suppose to indicate what benefit is assigned three tier charges against homes on the fence line homes interior and circle 4 then it is fraud on the tax payers committed by the board of directors of the Dam East Homeowners Association and the City of Aurora.
2.
Q. All petitions signed to begin this project and any petitions signed before the meeting on March 30, 2009 are void.
A. This represents an opinion of yours and I cannot respond to such. The Clerk of the Court is responsible to accept and approval all petitions as being correct. The subject petition was incorrectly signed and dated and whiteout was used all three issues are proven not an opinion. The Clerk of the Court must now recertify the petition challenged by Mr. Burneson as being void and must be withdrawn from the project. This will be proven in court. Without a valued approved petition by the Clerk of Courts of City of Aurora the petition is throw out and this entire project is void right now.
3.
Q. Who set the three tiered taxes $6,000, $5,000 and $4,000 for Fourth Circle?
A. For a point of clarification, this is a special assessment driven by petition of the property owners of the proposed district and not a tax. The three tiers were suggested by the petition Representatives as an equitable means of assessing the costs of the fence project. Fraud again. The Fence Committee are not appointed to have the authority to decide three tiers when the Benefit/Impact Analysis states all properties receive equal benefit from the projected fence. If anyone with this authority would be the City of Aurora and the Board of Directors who can’t approve something that was not approved by the Benefit/Impact Analysis.
4.
Q. Our CC R’s state the membership must vote on any changes in our properties and 61 percent must vote in favor of the change. We can’t remove a wooden fence and change to a masonry fence without this vote occurring.
A. The City has not and cannot be placed in a position to interpret and/or enforce the private/neighborhood covenants. The fence project is a public improvement and will be built on City property. When a City government received notice that a partner in a project has not completed the requirements to authorize project it is required that notice be given to the HOA for them to certify to the City they are in compliance with the Covenants and Bylaws to be a partner in this project. At this point the City of Aurora does not own any fence property and it can’t be built if the board of directors are committing fraud by failure to abide by the recorded Article of Incorporation, Covenants and Bylaws as required by law. This is not just opinion.
5.
Q. All facts about the fence has been withheld from the membership and only provided the homeowners who attended the March 30, 2009 meeting. Don’t put the facts in writing keep all facts verbal.
A. The City has not and cannot be placed in a position to interpret and/or enforce the private/neighborhood covenants. Wrong I am not placing the City of Aurora in any position to interpret anything. The law in a court lawsuit will determine an illegal act by your refusal to require all terms of the HOA recorded documents to be completed before any petition is accepted from a fence committee who has no authority to rule on three tier values. The board of directors will be be able to vote on the three tier since the crooked Benefit/Impact Analysis study denies this fact. The three tier suggestion came from Dick Palmer Chairman of the Fence Committee who has stated publicly the Benefit study is worthless.
Q. Fence Committee has refused any suggestions of a difference fence construction. Three members of the committee are employees of the City of Aurora. This is a conflict of interest.
A. The fact that the fence committee may be composed in part by City employees does not constitute a conflict of interest. These employees would clearly be acting in their capacity as property owners. Sorry but they can’t have an independent opinion when their paycheck comes from City of Aurora. In a Court of law will prove this. The City, as I explained to you during our meeting has chosen to facilitate the construction of masonry walls but does not receive a benefit. The City of Aurora does receive a benefit when the financing is audited for a $2,000,000 construction turned into $5,000,000 fence. Because the new masonry wall will be on public property, owned by the City, and maintained by the City we have put restrictions on the type of wall and its materials. Where is there any written statement by the City this wall is restricted by the City of Aurora when in the public meeting the state said other fences could be built not just this wall? Its hell when you try to cover for staff when you were not in the meeting.
7.
Q. Why does the City insist on owning the fence when completed?
A. The law does not allow the City to use City money to build private improvements. The continuing maintenance obligation is to ensure that the wall stays perpetually in good shape. The membership of this HOA have been denied information on how much a private financed wall will cost without the involvement by the City of Aurora. This can and will be proven in a court of law.
8.
Q. 75% of owners at the Dam East are over 50 years old. Many are widows and easily intimidated. You are not being a good neighbor if you don’t sign this petition. The membership doesn’t understand there will not be a vote for or against the fence. The only way to express no is not vote on the petition.
A. Because this is not a tax, it is not subject to a voting requirement – rather the District can be formed and assessments can be levied upon a petition signed by property owners responsible for paying no less than two-thirds of the estimated assessment and approval by the City Council after a public hearing. Therefore, I agree with you that a refusal to sign the petition is the way to say “no” to the District. City Council watch out for this double talk. The petitions signed to date were done without complete transparency of all information censored by the City of Aurora. You as members of council need to read a copy of this report before any part of this project continues right now not when it is tried to be brought before you later. Richardson didn’t answer my question above. This entire report is an example of a shifty Tort Twister trying to hide the City’s involvement is a fraud project.
9.
Q. What is [sic] Joani Cravens qualifications to approve the Benefit/Impact Analysis?
A. Joani Cravens is the Manager of Real Property Services and part of her job is to retain experts for the purposes of preparing benefit studies for special improvement districts. I can speak based upon my tenure in the City Attorney’s Office that Ms. Cravens is very well qualified based upon her experience and credentials. Benefit studies are not appraisals, however, Mr. Hart who performed the study is State certified. Also, the benefit study is not approved by staff, rather it is used as evidence at a public hearing to support a finding that property within the District is specially benefited by the proposed improvement. So Name the public hearing where this Benefit/Impact Analysis was used as evidence to support the finding that the property within the District will specifically benefit by the proposed fence improvement? There has not been any public meeting where the study was published. On Ms. Craven’s credentials I received a specific description of what she must have to be the Manager of the Property Services Office. You did not answer my question because she doesn’t qualify. Again your double talk doesn’t answer anything. The Mayor and City Council need to fire Richardson as his 33 years is an over stay of his position as City Attorney. This written document is evidence the City of Attorney seems to believe its 20 years in the past when his answer would cover an illegal act by the City. It doesn’t work now with the Internet publishing everything for the world to read. This entire joke will be publish on the Internet at www.court-house.com/ Chapter 27. All emails to the City will also be published.
Mr. Burneson, the purpose of my responses is not to trigger a continuing dialogue between the two of us or my client. As I stated in my introduction above, it is clear to me beyond a reasonable doubt that no matter what our responses are, you will remain adamantly opposed to this process. I would again urge you to try to convey your opposition to your neighbors, City staff, and City Council in a cogent, non-accusatory, and civil manner, which would be much more effective. This is a plea by Richardson to let him hide from any response to my questions and to dance around this subject. Sorry but your answer is proof it’s not the crime but the cover up that catches the criminal.
________________________________________
Charles H. Richardson, City Attorney
City of Aurora, City Attorney’s Office
15151 East Alameda Parkway, 5th Floor
Aurora, Colorado 80012
Phone: 303.739.7030
Facsimile: 303.739.7042
crichard@auroragov.org
CITY ATTORNEY RICHARDSON HAS ORDER THE MUSSED ENTIRE STAFF OF CITY OF AURORA FROM TALKING TO CITIZEN JIM BURNESON. THAT’S ILLEGAL FOR A CITY OF ATTORNEY TO STOP A TAX PAYER FROM COMMUNICATING WITH CITY EMPLOYEES. THAT’S HOW SCARE CITY MANAGEMENT IS INCLUDING MAYOR TAUER. UNDER THE OPEN PUBLIC ACT JAMES W BURNESON HAS ASKED FOR RECORDS AND HAS BEEN DENIED BY THE MAYOR AND COUNCIL OF AURORA. THATS HOW CROOKED THE CITY OF AURORA IS. WAKE UP CITIZENS YOU ARE BEING HAD BY COUNCIL OF AURORA.
80% OF CITY COUNCIL ARE TERM LIMITED AS OF 2012. LAME DUCK ADMINISTRATIONS TEND TO SET BACK AND DO NOTHING DURING THEIR LAST TERM IN OFFICE. I BELIEVE THESE COUNCIL LAME DUCKS ARE HANGING ON FOR SOME BENEFITS IF THE RACE TRACK IS APPROVED EAST OF OUR CITY. WONDER WHAT THOSE BENEFITS WILL BE?
JIM BURNESON
