Developer is trying to maintain control of HOA

Hi,
Is anyone familiar with Tennessee laws for HOA'S? We are 28 single family homes.
HOA was started in 2005 by developer. Over 75% of lots are sold and have homes on them. Deveolper exempted himself when HOA was started in 2005. He is not to be copied on any HOA business, pay dues or attend meetings and he agreed to this with no hard feelings. Now he has sent a proposal to our president(elected by the members)
for us to mow all of his vacant lots. There is absolutely no common property conveyed to the HOA at all but we are paying for the sign, lights and insurance for the sign at our front entrance. All of this is in the developer's name.

An attorney's letter did not scare anyone--they are ignoring it. Attorney agrees we must have front entrance sign and property deeded to HOA in order to be responsible for all the bills. This has not been done.

Can a person who is not a member of the association ask to have his property mowed by us(legally?) Attorney and Mayor agree if we don't own it, we should not mow it.

In the by-laws, it is stated that the developer shall not be subject to the terms and conditions of the declaration.
Our attorney letter says the developer is not a member of our HOA.
The developer's house does not meet the architectural design of our homes so therefore, he does not want to modify his house and become a member of our HOA.
He also will not convey the front entrance to the HOA either. He still owns it and pays taxes on it. Now he wants more money to mow all of his other lots that are vacant, even though he is not a member. Our president in 2009 asked if he wanted to amend the by-laws and become a member and the developer said no, he did not want to be a member. This letter was sent to the whole association.

His house does not meet the requirement for size --his is too small.
In other words, he wants us to pay the bills but does not want to be a member.
We(the homeowner's)have elected our own president, treasurer and secretary since the inception of the HOA in 2005.
He makes donations of (small amounts) and calls them "homeowner's dues" which we all agreed he is not allowed to do. He is not a member so he is not allowed to call the donation "dues".

We really just want to know if there is any law(Tennessee) that says the developer has to relinquish control at a certain point because we will be under his thumb forever if not.

Horizontal Property Act does not apply to single family homes.
Mayor suggested Title 66, chapter 27 Tennessee Annotated. That seems like it is the Horizontal Property Act also which then does not apply.

Thanks, Brad.
It does not spell it out anywhere. It does say the board has to be comprised of
homeowner's.
Our attorney stated that the developer is not a member. The attorney also said the developer must convey the front entrance to us in order to charge the HOA for maintenance of the sign and insurance on the sign.
The developer has not conveyed property to us at all.

Does a developer HAVE to give up control? If anyone knows, that would help.
He is trying to hold us hostage and come up with all kinds of ways to spend our money--even after 6 years!