Greens Voting Member Steve Splaine kicked off audience comments to address concerns regarding a shortfall in the roadway reserves for The Greens. The concerns arose when residents Gary and Jani Stone discovered that invoices for recent sidewalk repairs had been mistakenly paid out of the Greens roadway reserves fund. Prior to the meeting, the Stones brought the error to the attention of the board, management staff, on-site staff and the WOW via email. District Manager Heather Dilley with Kai responded, confirming that three invoices in question were for sidewalk repairs in The Shires and Sturbridge. Dilley added that all three invoices —$26, 967 (Sturbridge) and two invoices for $72, 987.50 (The Shires) — a total of $172,942 would be transferred back to the Greens fund from the general fun, making the account whole. It was also explained that on-site staff had coded the repairs to the general fund correctly; however, someone at Inframark, the district’s former management company, had mistakenly re-coded the invoices to The Greens when payment was made.
Splaine acknowledged that those missing funds had been accounted for but added that he felt there was still a shortfall. He asked the board to request an audit of The Greens fund for the past fie years. Splaine also requested a detailed written description of the payment process and clarification on which costs are paid from the district’s general fund versus the individual neighborhood funds.
Supervisor Chris Barrett, who had been in contact with the Stones and Splaine regarding the incorrectly coded funds, confirmed that Kai staff is going to pull The Greens’ ledger for the last five years. He added that the financials the board receives aren’t as detailed as the ledgers, but he did look at end of year totals for the past four years and every year The Greens is decreasing its fund balance. He cited examples like salary increases for guard house staff and significant improvements completed on the guard house. He agreed that there was a need go through the ledgers for the past 5 years to restore trust and that the board needs to consider a better way to budget for guard house costs, so funds aren’t coming out of road reserves. Supervisor Reggie Gillis suggested setting up a workshop to talk about the budget process.
District Supervisor Andy Mendenhall briefly explained standard operating procedure: invoices are reviewed by on-site staff, once they have clearance that the work is done, it is coded in the system and sent to the district manager (Kai) and on to accounts payable (Kai). Accounts payable looks where it is coded to make sure funds are available and then checks are cut.
Mendenhall explained that, in the case of the miscoded sidewalk invoices, on-site staff coded them correctly and they were somehow changed at the accounts payable level under the previous company (Inframark).
Splaine asked if The Greens has its own bank account and Mendenhall, said no, the district has just one account, but Kai has accounting software that segments the neighborhoods, balance sheets and statement of revenue.
Mendenhall added that the challenge for on-site staff is that the assumption is that everything is sent out correctly.
Mendenhall said to remedy the miscoding, they simply have a journal entry that puts the money back into The Greens fund, which can be designated to road reserves at the board’s discretion. He added that he completely understands there is still a deficit and, once they review the ledgers, they will be able to identify pretty quickly what brought the funds down.
Barrett interjected that the review of the ledgers was an issue of reestablishing trust with The Greens so he wanted to move quickly. Mendenhall said he would reach out to his staff to see how readily available the Inframark records are. Splaine suggested setting up a meeting for Greens residents at 3 p.m. on July 21 (one hour prior to the workshop) to review the findings. At the time this issue went to press, communication was ongoing as to whether records would be available by July 21. WOW will offer an update from the July 21 workshop at westchasewow.com/cdd.
Moving on to ponds, Reid Conner from All Water was on hand to discuss resident concerns about the state of the ponds, particularly pond 43 in The Bridges. Conner explained that his team was re-working their strategy due to the lack of rain, excessive heat and the ongoing drought that has been an issue since the 2024 hurricanes. He said he now has his crew in the field Mon, Wed and Fri, with three additional techs. He said that spike brush starts growing in shallow ponds; when they kill that, organic material spawns decay. That, coupled with excessive heat and lack of rain, spawns algae. He added that there is a limit to how much chemical they can put in the pond over the course of 30 days, but they are reworking their chemical mix, and he expects it to turn around quickly. He said he doesn’t foresee problems a month from now.
Barrett expressed concern about the excess of plant material growing along the bank of Pond 43 on Bridgeton Drive. Bridges resident Pat Ryan requested that All Water submit a plan and add it to agenda for next month, so residents know exactly what they are going to do.
Conner said that within six weeks, the issues will be minimized to just spot treatments. He added that he offers a newsletter that can be curated to our community to show what to expect versus what is happening. Chair Matt Lewis said he liked that idea and to add in a timeline of when to expect improvements.
Marlon Santos asked about the red appearance of pond 51 next to Westchase Elementary.
Conner said it is likely due to extensive tannins in the water, but agreed to send a water sample for testing. Ryan asked for a copy of All Water’s contract and the definitive plan. He added that the real issue is if the board is satisfied with what the company is doing. Barrett said that, at this point, he wouldn’t vote to renew the contract (which is up for renewal on Aug. 1) until he saw improvement.
In the District Counsel report, Erin McCormick presented an addendum to her engagement letter from Nov. 18, 2025, to: 1) approve use of paralegal at $125/hour and 2) to include a provision related to client consent for use of AI systems that goes along with a ruling by the Florida Supreme court.
Lewis asked for clarification on the use of a paralegal. McCormick said it would be more cost-effective to have the paralegal dig up historical documents related to Pond 120 and the Right of Way, etc. Supervisor Jim Wimsatt, who is a lawyer, said it is common practice and it should help save the district money. A motion to approve the addendum passed unanimously.
Regarding the cell tower, McCormick reported that Alan Ruiz from Vertex received a determination that Verizon is not going to co-locate on the tower after all. Following a discussion of logistics, the board unanimously approved the removal of the contract clause that required Verizon’s plans to be approved prior to reassigning the lease to Vertical Bridge.
McCormick added that Red Tree, who had previously asked for an increase in their hourly irrigation fees, agreed to keep the rate the same for the remainder of the contract.
There was no substantial update on Pond 120. McCormick said they had not received a response from SWFTMD and dredging is on hold. Field Manager David Sylvanowicz said the vendor was trying to schedule the dredging for September and McCormick said that should work. Supervisor Chris High asked District Engineer Robert Dvorak to follow up with SWFTMD.
Dvorak presented a proposal to conduct and RFP for next phase of sidewalks in the amount of $11,310. The board unanimously approved.
Sylvanowicz shared a resident request to remove a tree in Greensprings that was lifting the sidewalk. Barrett said The Greens is part of the next phase of sidewalk repairs and he was not inclined to vote to remove the tree. The other supervisors agreed.
Sylvanowicz then presented proposals for structural tree pruning and/or Cambistat (a plant growth inhibitor) treatments. He said Mark Hughes with Arborist Aboard surveyed Wycliff, Kingsbridge and The Shires, which were deemed most in need of tree work. He reminded the board that structural pruning is more beneficial to the tree and keeps roots at bay, which helps protect sidewalks.
After reviewing the proposals and the results of previous tests conducted using Cambistat alone and in conjunction with pruning, Lewis made a motion to approve $24,375 for structural pruning in Wycliff and Kingsbridge and $28,230 for Cambistat treatments in all three neighborhoods (Shires trees were recently trimmed).
Anderson said he felt the Shires is getting the shaft because their trees were trimmed but not structurally pruned. Wimsatt said they’ll eventually need additional trimming, and they should be structurally pruned at that point. Barrett asked Sylvanowicz if he could put The Shires on the calendar for a structural pruning in three years. Lewis asked Sylvanowicz to discuss the best timing with Arborist Aboard. Lewis’s motion for the tree work passed unanimously.
Sylvanowicz expressed concern about the fact that he was asking for so many tree proposals. Barrett assured him that it is because he is being more proactive than reactive, as the district had been in the past. Lewis added that the community is 30-plus years old and the trees are bigger now.
The board also approved proposals for structural pruning of 50 oaks with lane closures along Linebaugh from the elementary school to Gretna Green in the amount of $24,250, and another $21,750 for trees on the south side of Linebaugh.
Sylvanowicz also presented two quotes for erosion repair on Pond 85 in Greendale, which backs up to two homes. The board approved the quote from EEL for an amount not to exceed $20,000.
In audience comments, Anderson said the base fee for the cell tower was $21,000 and there was supposed to be an increase of 3% each year, but it doesn’t look like it has been in there. Mendenhall said he would look into it.