Heron
at the Hammocks Condominium Association, Inc.
August
27, 2005
BOARD
OF DIRECTORS
Gail
Sharpe
- President
Miren
Arbide
- Vice President
Expedito
Santiago -
Treasurer
Lilian
Bernal
- Secretary
Pedro
Figueroa
- Director
Septernber
24, 2005
Govemor
Jeb Bush
PL
05 The Capitol
400
South Monroe S
Tallahassee,
FL 32399
Dear
Govemor Bush,
RE:
A fair election was conducted by the Condominium Ombudsman on
8-27-05 for
Heron at the Hammocks
Condominium Association, Inc., Miami, Florida
Unit
owners at Heron at the Hammocks Condominium Association, Inc. and the
five newly elected Board members thank you for supporting the
legislation in 2004 that allowed Florida
to
have its very first Condominium Ombudsman.
We
are also grateful to Representative Julio Robaina for submitting the
legislation and for fighting so valiantly for its acceptance, last year.
As
a direct result of your appointment of Dr. Virgil Rizzo, M.D., J.D. as
Ombudsman, we were given the opportunity to have a fair election for our
Board of Directors on August 27, 2005.
We do not believe this would have been possible, without this new
2004 legislation.
There
were more than three votes cast for each new board member compared to
one vote cast for each of the old board members.
No incumbents were re-elected.
We
needed a fair election that would reflect the
will of the unit owners at the Heron, and we believe we got it on
August 27.
BRIEF
OUTLINE
Upon
being petitioned by 15% of our membership to intervene, Dr. Rizzo and
his dedicated staff set about overcoming all of the obstacles that were
delaying and preventing our election.
They did so with great determination and persistence in the face
of much resistance and non-compliance by the old Board.
The
Ombudsman very quickly established an updated Heron voter's list, as the
old Board's Roster was disenfranchising many of our 264 voters and had
proven to be outdated and inadequate regarding the address and contact
information.
The
association's Attorneys, Hyman, Kaplan, Ganguzza, Spector & Mars,
were engaged by the old Board to attend the first two election attempts
in March and April 2005 and the election held on August, 27, 2005. To many of the unit owners present on those occasions, it
appeared as if the Attorneys were focused on keeping the old board in
power, at any cost to the rest of the unit owners.
Many
of us also felt that the Attorneys gave no indication they were
interested in preserving the rights of all
the Heron unit owners. We
did not see or hear the Attorneys attempt to persuade the old Board to
cooperate fully with the Ombudsman's Office.
Many of us felt that the Attorneys should have focused on having
the old Board cooperate with
the state agency, as required by the Florida Statutes.
The
Ombudsman and his team even braved the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina,
which had passed over Miami-Dade area less than two days earlier.
The Ombudsman's party traveled long distances, at great personal
inconvenience to themselves, to conduct our election on August 27, 2005,
as planned. We applaud
their gallantry in the face of such daunting odds.
Governor
Bush, we want you to know that we believe you have an exemplary group of
dedicated and committed people working as a team in the Ombudsman's
Office. We believe they
have proven to be unrelenting in their commitment to fulfill their
mandate to all of the
condominium unit owners of Florida.
To
you, Governor Bush, we say a big “Thank You.”
To the Ombudsman and his staff
and volunteers, we say, “Lead on, Macduff .. .....
!”
Sincerely,
SIGNATURE
(Gail
Sharpe)
( + signatures of the
complete board and more unit owners)
Board
of Directors and unit owners
Heron
at the Hammocks Condominium Association, Inc.
Miami,
Florida |