Transition from Developer to Homeowners with a deficit?

Hello all,

I live a small neighborhood of about 30 homes in NW Georgia. There are 3 lots currently not built on.
Our HOA is developer controlled. (Story within itself) Several of my neighbors have been requesting to see the financials from the developer, for at least 3 years now. He has never offered them. They have been requesting an HOA meeting with no luck.
I have been informed that in the 9 years that the HOA has existed there has never been a meeting of any kind. All requests for one have been either ignored and told no. He states that he doesn't have to hold one.
About a month ago one of our neighbors received a call from someone saying that she works for the HOA and will be preparing the release of the financials. This release has been rescheduled by a week four times now.

I am hearing that a few of the neighbors have been in direct contact with the developer this past week, and he has stated "The HOA owes him $30,000.00".

As a fairly new owner in an HOA neighborhood, this concerns me.
How is this possible and what can we expect, moving forward?

We are getting close to a transition, at least that is what we are all hearing.

The community association institute (CAI) has several good HOA board education materials, including some on transitions from developer to homeowners. They're not very expensive and if you do establish a turnover committee, this is one resource everyone will want to read - hopefully deficits and/or developer debt is addressed and you'll get some ideas on how to protect yourselves.