??
LETTERS TO DBPR AND GOVERNOR
??
                                          SCANNED VERSION OF ORIGINAL DOCUMENT
CYBER CITIZENS FOR JUSTICE, INC.
Jan W. Bergemann 
President CCFJ, Inc.
3345 Kings Rd. S.
Saint Augustine, Fl. 32086
Phone: (904) 794-0888 
E-Mail: [email protected] 
Saint Augustine, 3-26-2001 

Honorable Secretary Kim Binkley-Seyer
Department of Business and Professional Regulation

Re: PETITION FOR ARBITRATION      Case No. 00-1960
MANUEL BLANCO v. THE VILLAGE OF KINGS CREEK CONDOMINIUM ASSOCIATION, INC.

Dear Secretary Kim Binkley-Seyer,

I have read the above case with great interest. As you may be aware our organization is, among other issues, interested in legislative Reforms regarding F.S. 718 and the enforcement of the laws in question.
In my opinion and that of many other interested parties who reviewed the above case, it is very clear cut:
Unit owner requires copy of written minutes, according to FS 718.111 (12) 15(c).
Board refuses to comply, excuse, records are lost! Board offers listening to existing tapes – there is no such provision in the Statutes – unit owner refuses as is his obvious right under above Statutes. Listening to a tape doesn’t replace a written document!
After long arguments and much time expired the case goes to arbitration as required. More time expires. Finally, after unit owner proves that minutes exist,
Board admits mistake, claims the minutes were “misplaced”.
Ruling of Arbitrator in favor of Association! Leaving unit owner not only with lots of wasted time, effort and aggravation, but be forced to pay the Association's legal fees and costs in addition to his own costs.
                 Please see details in attached PETITIONER’S MOTION FOR REHEARING.

If this ruling stands, which it obviously should not, it leaves the door open for every association to refuse unit owners access to written minutes if so desired under the cover of misplaced documents. 
In accordance to the Statutes, as I read it, the ruling should have been clearly in favor of the unit owner incl. a $ 500.00 penalty plus reimbursement of costs.
I feel that this ruling is definitely not what our Florida legislators intended when creating these Statutes. The enforcement was laid in the hands of DBPR in order to save high court costs for involved parties.

The remaining question in this case: is this ruling by DBPR arbitrator Patricia A. Draper backed by the Department and are you agreeing with her decision?

I would like to ask you for your comment on this case and the impact of this decision on future cases like this, before we will approach legislators and media with this case for further review.
Your comments would be highly appreciated in order to avoid further misunderstandings.

With best regards

Jan Bergemann
President
Cyber Citizens for Justice, Inc.

Attachment: PETITIONER’S MOTION FOR REHEARING

CC: Honorable Governor Jeb Bush
        Patricia A.Draper, Arbitrator


 
CYBER CITIZENS FOR JUSTICE, INC.
Robert Janauskas
5395 SW 81 Street
Ocala, FL 34476
Vice President 
Cyber Citizens For Justice, Inc.,
http://www.ccfj.net/
Tuesday, April 03, 2001 12:20 PM

To: My Florida

Subject: Fw: Petitioner's Motion for Rehearing and Addendum.

Honorable Governor Jeb Bush,

Sir, with all due respect,

We'd appreciate your attention to the matter of a simple request by a resident of this community to review the meeting minutes of his CONDO association. Can we impose upon your valueable time to request a review of this matter by your staff?

As you and your staff will learn from these attachments, a rehearing was requested on 13 March 2001 but neither the arbitrator, the associations attorney or the Department of Business and Professional Regulation have responded within the timeframe alotted.

Our president, Jan Bergemann, has corresponded with the department relative to this matter and sent a copy of his letter to your office, also.

Incidentally, this ongoing dispute is partially documented at our Web site and that of the petitoner, Manuel Blanco. He can furnish information and access to same upon request.

What should have been a simple matter to resolve has emanated into a form of 'stonewalling,' abuse of power by a CONDO association and an inappropriate decision from the arbitrator with no end in sight except an attempt to 'wear down' the resolve of the petitioner.

We have purposely decided to refrain from dispatching the events leading up to and the current status of this petition to our News Media friends. We believe, at this time, it's the fairest approach while your office is reviewing this matter.

Please do what you can to assist our friend and member, Manuel Blanco, toward a sensible resolution and conclusion in this matter. While this might seem to be an isolated incident we're sure, Division of CONDO records would prove otherwise.

We've included recent comments from Manuel about this matter.

* SEE BELOW *

Thank you very much for your consideration. We look forward to your reply.

Gratefully,

Robert Janauskas


Attachments included: 
Petitioners Motion For Rehearing
Petitoners Addendum To Motion For Rehearing


Hi Bob:

I agree; I have spent so much time -- and so far over $200 -- on what I thought would be a simple dispute to resolve.

There has been no response at all from either the Arbitrator nor the Respondent's attorney regarding my Motion for Rehearing and its Addendum, which was filed pursuant to the Florida Administrative Code Rule 61B-45.044 that reads in pertinent part: "Any response to the motion must be filed
within 10 days of service of the motion."

I don't expect a direct response from the DBPR because I have not contacted them. I am waiting for the response from the Arbitrator or Jan regarding his letter to the DBPR, or both.

Feel free to send the documents to Gov. Bush. This is an excellent opportunity to bring to his attention how an arbitration case has been mishandled by the DBPR.

I wonder how many more arbitration cases have been disposed of similarly but the Petitioners don't take the time to pursue justice and give up -- so the DBPR continues with this kind of abuse.

Ciao,
Manuel


 
 CYBER CITIZENS FOR JUSTICE, INC.
Jan W. Bergemann 
President CCFJ, Inc.
3345 Kings Rd. S.
Saint Augustine, Fl. 32086
Phone: (904) 794-0888 
E-Mail: [email protected] 
April 10 - 2001

Honorable Secretary Kim Binkley-Seyer
Department of Business and Professional Regulation

Re:  FRIENDLY REMINDER
PETITION FOR ARBITRATION      Case No. 00 -1960
MANUEL BLANCO v. THE VILLAGE OF KINGS CREEK CONDOMINIUM ASSOCIATION, INC.

Dear Secretary Kim Binkley-Seyer,
as of today we haven't received a response from your Department regarding our letter dated 3-25-2001 - attached below! Neither has the petitioner received a response regarding  his MOTION FOR REHEARING from the arbitrator. The time frame, set by our Florida Statutes, has long run out.
Since our organization is planning on going public with this obvious case of bending the existing Statutes, we would very much appreciate a statement from yourDepartment.
If this case stands as ruled by the arbitrator, home- and condo-owners have lost their last possibility to gain access to official association records as required in Florida Statutes 718.111.
When this case will be discussed in public a statement like "DBPR declined comment!" will definitely not paint a favorable picture of your Department.
We will wait another week for your comments. Otherwise we have to assume that your Department is unwilling to comment on this case.
Your immediate response would be appreciated!

With best regards

Jan Bergemann
President
Cyber Citizens for Justice, Inc.

CC: Honorable Governor Jeb Bush


Attachments