“I want to make the people of Polk County proud of everything we have accomplished and will accomplish for the area,” said Lou Lentine, a partner in Ocoee Mountain Club, during a recent interview. Lentine talked about a wide range of issues, from liens on homeowners to road bonds and plans for the future. “We’re not going bankrupt,” he said. He pointed out that Ocoee Mountain Club is still selling lots and trying to work through problems while other developers have gone out of business.

Lentine said Paul Fetzner resigned and he has come up from Florida “to clean up these matters that the builder placed us in.” Lentine blamed contractor Scott Kessler, who was in charge of Ocoee Mountain Homes, for the problem with liens. He said Kessler left suddenly and nobody has been able to get in contact with him. “Ocoee Mountain Homes was mismanaged by a person we trusted,” he said. Lentine said he did not know if Kessler underbid some of the homes, adding that upgrades were made without written change orders. In those cases, he said, homeowners were unhappy when they were billed for the upgrades but the contracts state that the homeowner is responsible for the cost of upgrades. Lentine said Mike Crittenden is now the builder for homes in Ocoee Mountain Club, adding Ocoee Mountain Homes is no longer involved and Crittenden is working independently, working directly for the homeowners.

Lentine said he felt many of the vendors may have taken advantage of the organization “because they felt we had deep pockets and were out-of-towners.” He added, “we had deep pockets when we had support of the banks.” He said he recently received notice that Southern Heritage Bank was not willing to do any refinancing – for Ocoee Mountain Club or other developments.

He noted that many banks in the past few years would not finance lot purchases, so owner financing was necessary. The company is carrying close to $1 million in notes, Lentine said.

In the past few months, construction vendors have placed nearly $140,000 in liens against seven lots in the development due to non-payment for goods or services. Lentine said some of them are legitimate while others are due to overbilling. He said accountants have been going through the records to get a true picture and plan to meet with vendors over the next two weeks in hopes of resolving the situation for the homeowners. He added he had received word that two liens will be released.

Lentine said he has been working with vendors all along, including those who have not filed liens, to work out a payment plan. Most of them, he said, have been understanding and did not really want to file liens but some felt that was the only way to protect their interest. He said he has unsuccessfully tried to work out an agreement with Greg Hampton Builders, the first to file liens.

Lentine added his lawyer sent letters to the businesses advising them that a remote vendor does not have the right to file a lien again a homeowner. The customer should not be involved, he said. Money that was released from construction loans went to Ocoee Mountain Homes, which made payments to vendors. A lot of banks require a dual check, he said, to make sure the vendor is paid but that was not required here. In some cases, he said, the vendor may have applied the payment to the oldest invoice. Normally, he said, that’s not a problem and it all works out. Once the liens were filed, however, the banks would not release additional funds, Lentine said, noting there is $240,000 due to Ocoee Mountain Homes, more than enough to cover the liens.

Lentine complained about the lien laws in Tennessee, which allow anyone to file a lien without notification or supporting documents.

Regarding the Barretts, the focus of a recent article about a dream home that turned into a nightmare because of liens, Lentine said they should never have moved in before the house was completed and the finals bills were paid. He added they had not contacted him to ask for a meeting or an accounting, adding they cancelled a meeting he had set up. He said there were upgrades to their home that were not covered.

“I’m trying to fix things. She has a bad issue and we’ve got to work through it,” he said, adding he has lost two deals because of bad press. “How is that helping the Barretts?” he asked. Lentine said the problems didn’t happen overnight and now there are lots of different parties and attorneys involved. He asked, “Why don’t you write about all the people that want to come here? We’re blessed with a great area.” He noted the developers have spent several million dollars on land purchases and vendors and ran miles of sewer lines, adding he never understood why the hookup cost for Benton is $6,500 per home. He acknowledged there are a few people upset but said 200 others all understand it’s a tough time. The problems came from the builder, who has been replaced, he said.

Lentine said they have sold 216 lots in the first five phases of the development. Phase 6 is currently under development and will add another 200 acres. When times were good, he said, they invested in acreage for additional phases.

Early on, he said, there were a lot of speculators but now people are buying lots so they can begin building right away. There are currently 20 homes built, with five full-time residences.

During a tour of the development, Lentine pointed out that the county road is worse than the new ones that have been built. He said they have 22-foot paved roads, underground water and sewer, and fiberoptic from AT&T. He noted they were not required to put in curbs but wanted to make it as nice as possible.

Regarding the planned club house, Lentine said there are many propertyowners who do not want it to be built yet because that will add insurance, maintenance and upkeep costs to their annual Homeowner’s Association dues. Propertyowners are allowed to use the sales office/model home on Hwy. 64 for gatherings until the club house is built. He said the $350 annual dues now are used to cover maintenance and upkeep on the property and roads, noting there is a full-time person working for the Homeowner’s Association. He said there has not been a meeting but they hope to have one in September, adding one of the partners is working up a compilation. He said they are open for homeowners to have their say but noted they will not have the final say until the development is complete and the association is turned over. In the meantime, he said, they are looking at having a separate firm to manage it.

The Planning Commission last month voted to call the bond on the Phase 5 road if the work is not completed within 30 days. Lentine said he just received the letter and wondered why the funds won’t be released once the curbs are installed. Jeff Johnson with Johnson Paving said he has been told that all roads must be backfilled in addition to the curbing for Phase 5 before the bond will be released. He said the bonds for earlier phases were released without the backfill being done. Johnson told Lentine he will need to find the dirt for the backfill, adding he would do the work if he knows the bond will be released. Lentine said it looks like the county is changing the rules.

County Executive Mike Stinnett said the money was released for earlier phases before the backfilling was done, so the Planning Commission and Road Superintendent Harold Hood are requiring that all work be completed before the final bond is released. He said there was a partial release after the road was paved. He noted bonds are not supposed to be released until all work is completed but it was done to try to help the developer. He said the decisions are made by the Planning Commission and Road Superintendent, not the County Executive.

Looking to the future, Lentine spoke of plans for a condominium resort project to be developed by a separate group of investors. With the shareholder changes and new ventures in the works, he said, unsold property has been quitclaimed to Land Discoveries LLC, a corporation chartered in Florida. He also said this will protect the property from being tied up by invalid liens.

Lentine said he is excited about the condo project, adding it is his second priority after the resolving the past issues.