Liens on condos bring recall drive

Group blames board mismanagement

Article Courtesy of Sun-herald.com

By GREG MARTIN

Published December 28, 2005

Residents of the 200-unit Lakes Edge condominium complex in east Port Charlotte each received a white envelope in the mail last month that has virtually imprisoned them in their units.

The envelopes contained a lien for $522,700, levied against each unit owner.

The liens were from a contractor, Roberto Loiacona of Port Charlotte, president of Emergency Restoration Service.

Loiacona was contracted for $2.5 million to clean up debris and repair damage from Hurricane Charley, which struck in August 2004. The Lakes Edge Condominium Association is about six months delinquent in paying him for some of the work, according to Loiacona.

"They ran out of money," he said. "I can't continue to front the job."

Bill Withington, president of the association's board, said the association will pay the bill once its insurance company, Allstate, pays off the association's claim.

In the meantime, owners can't sell their condos until the liens are lifted. And some residents question whether the board mismanaged the repair job.

Anger over the liens became so intense at the association's last board meeting in December that Withington abruptly adjourned it.

"It turned into a shouting match," he said.

With the association's next meeting tonight, some of the residents are launching a drive to recall two of the condo association's board members, according to Gertrude Osborne, one of the association board members not targeted for recall.

The recall effort targets Withington and association treasurer Frank Odesso, Osborne said.

The unit owners would get to vote to remove them from office if 10 percent sign a petition, she said.

"This was a heck of a Christmas card," said Osborne of the lien notice. "We're trapped here right now. That's the biggest rub that the people have."

Osborne cited several legal concerns about the board's actions in a complaint last May to the Florida Department of Business and Professional Regulation.

The concerns included the fact that several members of the board met in September 2004 without notifying other board members or residents. During the meeting, the board levied a $2,000 special assessment against each unit owner.

The assessment raised some $400,000 that was supposed to be spent on cleaning up hurricane debris but was instead used to pay the deductible on the association's insurance policy, Osborne said.

Also, the board hired ERS for a second phase of work without going out for competitive bids.

The state's Condominium Act, Chapter 718, requires condominium associations to go out for bids for any contract that exceeds 5 percent of the association's annual budget.

The law also requires association boards to use speaker phones when members are not available for special meetings.

"There is evidence that the violations appear to have occurred," wrote DBPR Investigator Cheryl Carson, in a letter to Withington dated June 28, 2005.

In response, Withington said the decision to hire ERS was made by two board members in the confusion caused in Charley's wake. The other three board members were in Connecticut, Michigan and Minnesota, he said.

"We had to make decisions to protect our property and to eliminate any further damage," he wrote to the DBPR.

"After Hurricane Charley, there was such devastation in our community, time was of the essence," Withington explained. "Contractors willing to take on a project of our size were not to be found. We were fortunate in finding a licensed general contractor who was known to us for approximately 10 years."

Withington also said that the special assessment was necessary because two years prior to the hurricanes of 2004, Lakes Edge replaced the roofs on its 25 buildings. That depleted the association's roofing reserves, Withington said.

Former board member Boyd Willison said he still questions whether some of the work performed by ERS was ever authorized by the association. He also said residents voiced numerous complaints about either shoddy work or damage caused by clumsy workers.

"It's a mess," said Lee Jamison, a resident. "I had no damage to my condo at all from the storm. When I left here last spring, there was no damage, but when I came back, I had some $4,000 damage to my lanai. The tiles were broken, some of the windows destroyed. The walls needed to be painted.

"Now, I don't understand why I have a lien on my property," he added.

The association hired the Tampa firm Delta Engineering to oversee the repairs.

Delta's principle engineer Steve Mainardi said in a recent interview he had approved all of ERS's invoices except one for about $100,000 in drywall work. The amount was in dispute because ERS had not supplied sufficient documents to verify the cost of the work, Mainardi said.

 

However, Mainardi said ERS's work "is satisfactory."

 

Accidental damage caused by subcontractors "happens every day," he added.

Mainardi said he has advised the association to pay ERS or the matter will turn into "a legal matter."

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