During the July 7 meeting of the Westchase CDD Board of Directors, Greens Voting Member Steve Splaine addressed 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.
This inquiry led to a deeper dive into the Greens reserve fund. Splaine, on behalf of Greens residents, requested an audit of The Greens fund for the past five 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.
In the following weeks, Mendenhall was able to produce ledgers for the Greens dating back to 2020 for review. On July 21, CDD Supervisor Chris Barrett, District Supervisor Andy Mendenhall, District Manager Heather Dilley and Office Manager Sherida Cook sat down with Splaine and Greens resident Gary Stone. The meeting was held prior to the CDD’s regularly scheduled board meeting and was open to the public.
Barrett kicked off the meeting by saying that, after his review of the ledgers, he found nothing that is inconsistent with the way the CDD has coded work in the neighborhood for past 25 years. He added that payments were consistent with the way the CDD codes work in gated neighborhoods.
Barrett continued that, should the CDD change the way they code work in gated neighborhoods, it could lead to inconsistencies and open a can of worms. Using the Village Green park as an example, he said that if that cost was spread across all neighborhoods, that park would have to be open to all residents and added that the goal is to protect the sanctity of the Greens Gates.
Splaine countered that anyone can access that park now and the cost of the security gates doesn’t ripple into all of the other charges to the Greens.
Stone asked what assets are charged to the Greens. Barrett said that they are charged for everything behind gates with the following exceptions: general landscaping that falls under the Red Tree contract; general pond maintenance that falls under the All Water contract; and, more recently, sidewalk repair, which was a change made when the CDD decided to take on sidewalk repair in non-gated communities (that typically falls to the County). Stone interjected that Greens residents are paying for those services in their general fund assessments.
Splaine said that he wanted, in writing, the philosophy used to determine which invoices are charged to gated communities versus the general fund.
Mendenhall added that the philosophy could change hypothetically, but that would not impact the past ledgers.
Barrett said they were not in this session to debate the philosophy; they were there to look through ledgers to make sure there is nothing egregious. Mendenhall said he didn’t see anything in the ledgers other than the invoices previously flagged for sidewalks.
Splaine then pointed to a charge in 2024 for roughly $27,000 to paint a section of fence along Gretna Green and he didn’t recall any fence painting. Sherida Cook looked back at the invoices and determined that the work had been done on the Fords side of Gretna Green and it was noted that the error would also be corrected.
Conversation turned to the cameras on the bridge leading into the Village Green. Splaine said that there are 32 cameras in Westchase and all but those two were charged the general fund, while the bridge cameras were charged to The Greens. Splaine said they are requesting the two bridge cameras be charged to the general fund. A debate ensued as to who requested those bridge cameras and why. It was pointed out that Securitas (the company that staffs the guard gate) is now monitoring those cameras specifically for The Greens.
Stone also asked when the board decided to start charging sidewalk repairs to the general fund because there is a charge for $16,800 for sidewalk repairs that was charged to The Greens in April 10 of 2025. Barrett said he would have to look up the timeline.
Stone also raised concerns about a fraud charge and Mendenhall said that had been submitted to insurance and re-payment is forthcoming. He added that the Kai team will now require verbal confirmation from a vendor before issuing payment to prevent further incidences. Stone asked about a couple of duplicate payments to vendors and subsequent stop payment charges and what the protocol is to prevent this. Mendenhall explained that when a bill comes in, there is a systemic process that catches duplicates 90% of the time and then it goes through 3 to 4 people. He added that it boils down to everyone in the chain being aware of what payments have gone out. He said that in his 20 years in the industry, there are going to be duplicates, but they are typically caught and a stop payment is issued.
Splaine reiterated that The Greens is asking for:
- A Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) in writing that documents the controls put in place to avoid errors.
- Documentation of the philosophy on how things are coded behind gates to avoid inconsistencies
- A review of all charged to The Greens once the guidelines are in writing
Barrett said the takeaway is that the district has done a bad job budgeting for The Greens in the past. He said the goal is to look at the road reserves this fall to make changes for next year’s budget (the 2028 budget). He added that they had not accurately budgeted for repairs like those made to the park gazebo and guard house and that, ideally, the neighborhood should have a regular reserve and a road reserve.
The conversation then turned back to how equitable the current fund allocation is. Mendenhall said that a gate is seen as a difference maker in a majority of CDD communities.
Greens resident Jani Stone, who was in the audience, asked about payment for the recent sump cleanout in The Vineyards, which is also a gated community. Barrett said he would need to look into that.
Prior to the meeting, Splaine had sent an email to all board members and the district management team, that contained a letter on behalf of Greens residents. The letter began by thanking Kai staff for promptly confirming that the miscoded sidewalk invoices would be corrected and for providing ledgers for FY 2020-2025. The letter reiterated that residents are not alleging fraud or intentional wrongdoing. It stated, “The District acknowledged the central error, its new management company is engaged, and a supervisor took the time to review the ledgers personally. That is good governance, and we are grateful. We ask only that these efforts be completed and made durable: an accurate ledger, records secured, independent verification, an even-handed written policy, and controls that outlast any management transition.”
It was stated that the letter should be treated as written comments and objections for the August 4, 2026 public hearings on the FY2027 budget and assessments, submitted within the twenty-day period stated in the July 10 notice.
Splaine hand-distributed the letter to all supervisors at the beginning of the July 21 workshop. At the start of the official workshop, Barrett updated the board on what was discussed during the meeting with Greens representatives. He informed the board that he saw nothing saw in ledgers, other than the incorrect bookings discussed during the meeting (sidewalks and fence painting) that goes against the current philosophy for gated communities. He added that poor budgeting over last 5 years has depleted The Greens road reserves and they will set up new process to protect road reserves. He concluded by saying that the disagreement lies in what should be charged to the gated communities.
CDD Chair Matt Lewis said the board was going to take a deeper dive into all of the communities and they would take the letter from The Greens into consideration. He added that it will take a series of conversations over several meetings.