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Article Courtesy of The Ledger By Tom
Palmer Published
June 19, 2015
They're in the evenings when more of the community‘s 48,000 residents can attend
rather in the mornings that were more convenient to the Association of Poinciana
Villages' administrative staff.
APV Board President Peter Jolly-Newille, who in April survived an attempt to
remove him from office by some opposed to change, is becoming active in setting
meeting
agendas.
First Residential Services, the management firm hired two years ago to run the
sprawling community's day-to-day operations, is playing a smaller role in
meetings these
days.
Last month, the board voted to fire Frank Lacquaniti, a lawyer with ties to
First Residential and hired Rayfield, Sepulveres & Wright, a Kissimmee law firm
to provide
legal advice in the interim until the board decides on a permanent replacement.
Poinciana, an unincorporated 47,000-acre community lying between Haines City and
Kissimmee in parts of Polk and Osceola counties, has been rocked by controversy
over
the past three years.
Most of it has involved disputes over how representative the homeowners
association board is and how responsive it and First Residential is to
residents.
The board is responsible for budgeting proceeds from homeowner assessments and
setting and enforcing rules for things ranging from use of common facilities to
building
standards.
The dispute led to a drive that so far has been unsuccessful to win approval by
the Florida Legislature to hold a referendum to decide whether Poinciana should
become a
city.
Residents attending the latest board meeting last week said they were happy with
the recent changes in the way board meetings are conducted.
"Before people were not allowed to speak on anything that wasn't on the agenda
and First Residential set the agenda," said Annette Brown-Best, who led the
effort to
attract a hospital to Poinciana and has been involved in a number of
community-improvement projects.
She said residents now are able to get news items printed in the Poinciana
Pioneer, the APV's community newspaper.
The latest issue of the Poinciana Pioneer contained a full-page open letter from
Mark Maldonado, First Residential's general manager for the APV, referring to
changes
that occurred last month and promising to be more open and cooperative in
dealing with residents' concerns.
During her turn on the agenda, Brown-Best presented information on park and
transit improvements underway in Poinciana, asked the staff to look into
sidewalk
improvements and finding a location for early voting on the Polk County side of
Poinciana and asked for a longer voting period than a few hours to elect board
members.
Maldonado promised to work on resolving all of her suggestions.
Others agreed with her assessment.
"The residents are now in control," said resident John Perez, who has been
working with Polk County officials to get a fire station in the south end of
Poinciana and
has organized local events to bring the community together.
Wendy Farrell, a resident who has been active in promoting economic development
in Poinciana, said the new way of conducting the meetings is "a lot more
transparent."
She also praised the law firm that is aiding the board through the transition.
"They're very approachable," she said.
Board member Victor Destremps, one of the critics of the way business was
previously conducted at the meetings, said the board has taken control of the
community's
affairs, as it is supposed to do by law.
"That's our job," he said.
Board member Don Gordon said the result has been that Poinciana has become "a
very happy and harmonious community."
Jolly said after last week's meeting that he's trying to foster a more positive
relationship among board members and between the board and the community.
"I've seen drastic change," he said. "My goal is to make sure we achieve the
maximum."
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