Article Courtesy of The Sun Sentinel

By Paola Iuspa-Abbott
Published July 21, 2006

Tired of constantly increasing maintenance fees and a power-hungry board of directors, residents at a Boca Raton condominium found a solution.

In a four-year process, Heatherwood at Boca Del Mar made its board more efficient, adopted term limits and restricted the directors' access to the association's coffers for personal gain.

  
Traditionally, boards don't change their bylaws to curtail their control, said condo activist Jan Bergemann, president of the Deland-based Cyber Citizens For Justice.

"Many boards want to keep things as they are because they like the power," he said.

Paul Wallace helped 81-unit Heatherwood amend its bylaws.

Soon after he bought a unit in 2002, he learned the board levied special assessments to cover budget deficits almost quarterly.

At that time, the board president was keeping the association's books, paying himself a salary -- as board documents show -- and running up huge legal bills, said Wallace, an attorney who successfully ran for the board in 2002.

"There was such a problem with the [past] board making bad decisions and overspending," said Wallace, now off the board because of term limits.

When he joined, the new five-member board wanted to run the association as a business, he said. It prohibited officers from managing the association themselves and receiving compensation. Part-time residents were allowed to run for board seats, and the new board established term limits.

Directors now serve three two-year terms with two-year breaks in between, "So you don't get a regime in place," said Heatherwood President John Kyle.

But term limits may not be a panacea.

Robert Crouse, president of the 408-unit Whitehall Condominium at Boca Del Mar, said term limits didn't work for Whitehall. After a couple of years of trying it, they abandoned the idea because of a lack of volunteers.

"A lot of people like to complain, but they don't want to run" for the board, Crouse said.

Now, he tells members: "If you don't like who is on the board, don't vote for them when they are up for re-election."

Heatherwood hopes to achieve what state legislators tried to do several times, which is better protect owners against irresponsible and unresponsive boards.

For the past few years, grassroots groups and the state condo ombudsman have been lobbying the Legislature to increase board members' accountability and fiscal responsibility and implement term limits, said Bill Raphan, assistant state condo ombudsman.

But most bills died in committee or were diluted by service providers, including law firms that specialize in condo law, and property management companies, Bergemann said. Attorneys often benefit from disputes between owners and condo boards, he said.

Becker & Poliakoff attorney Donna Berger said the condo laws are clear and that owners often complain because they haven't read the statutes. She is the executive director of the Community Association Leadership Lobby, which monitors legislative proposals affecting community associations.

"Rather than more tinkering [with the statute,] condo owners need to understand what their responsibilities are," she said.

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