HOT SPRINGS -- Safety concerns led the Diamondhead Property Owners Association Board of Directors to cancel its regularly scheduled meeting Thursday.
Residents of the gated community that straddles Garland and Hot Spring counties were informed of the cancellation by email.
"Threats involved gathering in mass for the purpose of intimidation at the meeting," the board said in the email. "Apparently, there was a mention of guns being brought to the meeting. Based on the threats, the board has voted and resolved to cancel the January meeting.
" ... No member of the board, nor any fellow community member, should be exposed to this type of verbal, if not physical abuse. Unfortunately, the actions of a few can spoil things for the majority."
Property owners association President Dan Dickerson said Thursday that the board voted 6-0 to adopt a resolution allowing it to cancel a meeting if convening posed a threat to the safety of its members and residents of the community. He said the board then voted 6-0 to cancel the meeting.
Neither vote was done in public, but Dickerson said the board's rules of procedure allow it to do business without convening at its regular meeting place. He said the board asked the Garland County sheriff's office to provide security, but no deputies were available. The sheriff's office confirmed it was contacted, but that it didn't plan to assign a deputy to the meeting.
The board disbanded the community's police department last January.
Dickerson is one of the board members Omni Home Builders appointed after the property owners association and Omni settled their lawsuit in 2022. The Colorado developer's acquisition of more than 1,600 lots in 2018 made it Diamondhead's largest landowner.
Court-ordered settlement talks led to the current board structure, with four members appointed by Omni CEO Mark Lane, four by property owners association members and a ninth by majority vote of the board.
"We met by phone call and email," Lane, who's also a board member, said Thursday. "The vote was 6-0 to cancel the meeting and proper procedures were taken."
Association members told The Sentinel-Record Thursday's meeting was their opportunity to question the board about its recent hiring of Chris Brenner as general manager. The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission alleged Brenner and an associate embezzled funds from an escrow account they managed.
"Between September 2011 and July 2012, Brenner diverted to himself at least $105,000 of his escrow client funds to himself, and at least an additional $490,000 of those funds to [Atlantic Rim Funding Corp.] and its associates," the SEC alleged in the 2017 order accepting Brenner's settlement offer.