Article Courtesy of The Sun Sentinel

By Maria Herrera

Published September 22, 2007 

West Delray - One of its members was barred from the clubhouse. So to avoid trouble, a Kings Point condo association has to conduct its meetings outside its gates.

In order to comply with state laws, the Brittany Condominium Association, one of several that make up Kings Point Community Associations, met for the first time at the West Atlantic Library Branch on Friday to accommodate a board member who was banned from the clubhouse after he tried to videotape a meeting.

Problems for the association began when Peter Cavanagh, a director of Brittany N, was asked to stop videotaping at a July meeting. He refused. He was then asked to leave.

"The right to videotape is written right on the Florida statute," Cavanagh said. "The meeting minutes are edited, and quite a bit of the business that takes place is not recorded."

According to a police report, representatives of Point Management, the company that overseas recreation areas, called police when Cavanagh refused to leave. To avoid jail, Cavanagh left, but he soon filed a formal complaint with state officials.

At Friday's meeting, several directors complained about having the meeting at the library and felt it was unfair they all had to pay for Cavanagh's actions. They called him a "troublemaker."

But Mike Cochran, director of the Florida Division of Land Sales, Condominiums and Mobile Homes, said Cavanagh has rights.

"It sounds like the board did the right thing," he said. "Unit owners can videotape meetings — they can do audio or video or a combination of both — subject to reasonable rules, but they can't ban it."

Cochran's agency investigated the complaint and advised the Brittany board to move the meeting to a place where Cavanagh could attend.

Point Management President Mike Hyman said videotaping at any of the clubhouses or recreation areas, which are still owned by the developer of the community, is not allowed unless a private party rents the facilities.

Hyman said Cavanagh could have avoided moving the meeting to the library by surrendering his Kings Point ID and respecting his 30-day ban to the recreation areas for the incident in July. Now, his recreation area privileges have been suspended indefinitely.

"I didn't turn in my ID because I didn't feel I violated the rules," he said. "They haven't been able to show me where it says that I'm not allowed to videotape."