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An
Opinion By Jan Bergemann
President, Cyber Citizens For Justice, Inc.
Published
February 23, 2009
How far will a Community
Association Manager go to hide her salary and
benefits from the folks who are paying her wages?
In the case
of Julie Marr (
CAM
30369), licensed community association manager of the OAK
HOLLOW PROPERTY OWNERS' ASSOCIATION, INC., the answer is very easy:
MUCH TOO FAR!
·
She knowingly gives board members of the
association false information by quoting sources who never said what she
claims.
·
She is not even afraid to use names of
organizations to claim that they are backing her opinion.
·
She convinces board members that
Florida
laws allow associations to withhold information about salaries and
benefits of employees from association members who are filing an official
public record request!
It's
one thing to spread false information for personal gain, but it's another
thing to falsely use names claiming these folks gave her certain
information in regards to
Florida
statutes supporting her claim. In fact, the real information she
was given upset her, because it did not support her claim and pointed
out that she was required to disclose the very information she was trying
to keep hidden.
More
than 50% of the operating budget of Oak Hollow POA pays for employee
salaries, which is severely disproportional to the normal ratio of other
associations of the same size. Maybe she tries to avoid people realizing
that her salary and the size of the community -- meaning workload -- don't
really go together?
As a
licensed
CAM
, Julie Marr should know better, because she is most likely causing this
community to be at the losing end of a lawsuit that will be filed for
violation of Florida Statutes 720.303. Her actions might cost these
homeowners quite some money for legal fees. If she risks complaints
against her license, that's her personal business -- but risking the money
of owners for her personal gain is definitely another matter. It looks
like the board members believe the statements of Julie Marr, relying on
the fact that she is a licensed
CAM
and should know the facts!
Read below
the letter that was mailed by CCFJ, Inc. to all board members, the
association attorney Ernest W. Sturges, and community association manager
Julie Marr.
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CYBER
CITIZENS FOR JUSTICE, INC.
“From
Justice As A Foundation All Rights Flow”
February 9, 2009
Ernest
W. Sturges, Jr., Esq.
Goldman
Tiseo Sturges P.A.
701 JC Center Court
Port Charlotte
,
FL
33954
OAK HOLLOW PROPERTY OWNERS' ASSOCIATION, INC.
BOARD OF DIRECTORS
1111
FOREST NELSON BLVD
PORT CHARLOTTE, FL
33952
Re:
DEMAND FOR RETRACTION
Dear Board Directors,
In your published board minutes:
OAK
HOLLOW PROPERTY OWNERS' ASSOCIATION MINUTES
BOARD
OF DIRECTORS MEETING
Thursday,
December 18, 2008 -- 7:00 pm
you misquoted the position of our organization:
-
Access to Detailed
Employee Records:
In a letter from our attorney, we were advised that we are not
required to give out personnel information to members who
request it. Director Coverdill has continually requested
personnel information including salaries and benefits for more
than a year. Besides this advice from our attorney, we learned
from the Cyber Citizens for Justice attorney and
from the investigator of the Department for Business and
Professional Regulations that the data should not be
given out.
No
“Cyber Citizens for Justice attorney” or representative of
CCFJ has made the statement claimed above.
It is not the position of CCFJ.
According to individuals present
at the board meeting this “information” was supplied to the
board by Community Association Manager Julie Marr.
At best, your publication or re-publication of this claim
without verification evidences a reckless disregard for the truth.
The
position of CCFJ, based on our reading of Florida Statutes
720.303(4), has been consistent and clear:
-
All contracts and financial records (FS 720.303(4)(i) +
(j), including salaries, bonuses, benefits etc. of association
employees are Official Records of the association and can be
requested by all homeowners according to FS 720.303(5).
-
All personal data – like Social Security numbers,
health records, driver’s license numbers, credit card
numbers, and other personal identifying information in
possession of the association are not subject to record
requests according to FS 720.303(5).
As
President of CCFJ, I demand a retraction and correction as to the
position of CCFJ. We
ask that you enter this letter into the record, as part of your
minutes, so anyone who requests a copy of the minutes may be
accurately informed as to CCFJ’s position. We also request that
you distribute this letter in the same manner and to the same
recipients as you distributed the original minutes.
Finally, we are surprised
that any investigator of The Division of
Florida Land Sales, Condominiums, and Mobile Home (DBPR) would
comment about Chapter 720, since the DBPR has repeatedly stated
that it lacks jurisdiction over homeowners’ associations.
Warm
Regards,
Jan
Bergemann, President
Cyber Citizens For Justice, Inc.
CC:
Board members John Wellington, John Robinson, Judith Falk, Nancy
Morris, Elaine Stewart, Edith Wood and CAM Julie Marr
Letter to BoD OAK HOLLOW
POA --
Demand For Retraction
-- February
9, 2009
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In
her attempt to hide her salary and benefits from the people who are paying
for it, Julie Marr already had the help of association attorney Ernest W.
Sturges, who has his own opinion about interpreting Florida laws.
See: LOGIC
-- OBVIOUSLY NOT PART OF THE BAR EXAM?
He just
recently sent out financial records on request of owners with all the
names of employees blacked out! There is no provision in the
Florida
statutes that allows anything but personal ID info (Social security
number, driver's license number, etc.) to be blacked out. And it's
especially disturbing if the records show that the person creating these
records is not very experienced in doing accounting. Hopefully, the
association members don't have to pay for the person doing the accounting!
And despite
the fact that our letter was received by the recipients, it was not
discussed at last week's board meeting. Some people obviously believe that
ignoring a problem makes it go away. Not so!
We are still waiting for any kind of response!
And we would be really
interested to see a response, especially with an explanation how come we
were quoted on something we never said?
Board
members have to understand that they and their neighbors will pay for the
cost of a possible lawsuit, even if they rely on the
"interpretations" of an attorney and/or a licensed
CAM
.
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