Dear Homeowners,

It is a new day in The Forest. Your new board members, with the help of dedicated neighbors, are working tirelessly to address the many complex issues facing our community. We ask for your continued patience and collaboration as we work to right the ship and build a thriving, rule-of-law-governed community.

Below is the official timeline and financial update regarding the recent transition of leadership…

Legal Status & Board Transition Timeline

 The binding arbitration process has concluded, definitively establishing the legal leadership of our HOA. Despite multiple resistance efforts, the state-ordered mandate remains firmly upheld:

• October 8, 2026 | The Final Order: Binding arbitration officially certified the recall and immediate removal of former directors Mack and Burdon. The order mandated the immediate seating of replacement candidates Sharon McDaniel and David MacMorran.
• October 9, 2026 | The Appeal: The previous board attempted to appeal the ruling.
• October 12, 2026 | Our Response: The new board promptly filed a legal response to the appeal.
• October 13, 2026 | The Upheld Order: The motion to appeal was denied, and the original recall order was fully upheld.
• October 20, 2026 | Motion for Enforcement: We filed a motion for clarification and enforcement. The motion for clarification was technically denied because the arbitrator ruled that the prior binding decision was already completely clear: the new board is the sole legal governing body.

Current Enforcements: Because the former board, Jedi Management, and the Orlando Law Group have resisted adhering to the state’s mandate, we have petitioned the court to issue a formal injunction and court order. This action is currently pending.

As a reminder, the legal and official HOA board members are:
David MacMorran • Sharon McDaniel • Carmen Freeman

  Financial Report: Rebuilding Our Resources

Transparency regarding our finances is a core priority for this new board. Mismanagement, relentless legal battles, and skewed audits designed to support personal grievances have severely depleted our neighborhood’s funds over the last two years.

To give you an honest picture of where we stand today:

• October 31^st 2024 “Cash on Hand”: was exactly $124,468.52 total of the $51,950.52 Operating & $72,518.00 Reserve Accounts (This was the last statement available before the firing of our former office manager, Mr. Larry Bassett, and the hiring of Jed Management/Orlando Law Group).

• September 30^th 2026 “Cash on Hand”: was exactly $41,674.89.00 a total of the $6537.30 Operating & $35,137.59 Reserve Accounts.

• Our Reserve account has $6,537.30 balance as of 9/30. This is the account we pay the regular monthly expenses out of. Each month, $1,500.00 is transferred from the operating account into the reserve account. So $4,500.00 of the $6,537.30 is already spent. That leaves a balance of $2,037.30 left or $679 per month to pay the monthly expenses each of the 3 months!  The previous BOD have spent an average of $10,141.57 per month since January 1^st of this year!

Most of our community capital was spent on legal and management fees plus exhaustive accounting audits attempting to prove allegations that the former directors knew—or should have known—were entirely untrue.

Many of us are deeply saddened and outraged by the character assassination brought against Larry Bassett and his family. If any of the accusations circulated over the last two years carried factual weight, law enforcement would have acted long ago. It is time to put an end to the half-truths and move forward.

The email sent to homeowners around October 23rd was abhorrent, and we are putting a definitive stop to that era of division.

Community Focus & Upcoming Meetings

For too long, past HOA boards have operated like an exclusive club rather than a representative body. We are changing that. We want every homeowner to feel included, heard, and respected.

• Establishing Leadership: The board held two productive meetings this past month to align our procedures strictly with Florida state laws and rules.
• Accessible Schedules: For the time being, we will be meeting more frequently than required to tackle our community’s immediate challenges. To ensure working residents can attend, we are planning future meetings for Saturday afternoons and will provide significantly more advance notice.

A New Vision for The Forest

As an 8+ year resident of The Forest, I know our history with HOA operations has been flawed. But no past board has room to talk about performance. This is our community “do-over.” We have a beautiful opportunity to follow the rule of law, protect our shared assets, hold regular open meetings, and host fun community activities where we can actually get to know our neighbors.

In the words of the famous Broadway musical Hamilton: “I am not throwing away my shot.” Let’s not throw away our collective shot to make The Forest the thriving, peaceful community it was always meant to be.

We are already on our way. We welcomed 58 wonderful, polite, and respectful trick-or-treaters to our home last night. The kids showed us exactly how well a community can get along—now it’s the adults’ turn.

Hello, November!

Warm regards,

Leticia Walker
on behalf of
The Forest Board of Directors
David MacMorran, Sharon McDaniel, Carmen Freeman