By Patty Pensa
Article Courtesy of Sun Sentinel
Posted August 16, 2003
WEST DELRAY · A state arbitrator
has validated an effort to remove three members of a condominium community
association near Delray Beach.
The decision this week certified the trio's
recall from the Palm Greens Recreation Condominium Association, a board
made up of three members from each of the two condominium buildings in
the 1,401-home community.
The arbitrator next will decide if two
of the three members from Condo 2 must give up their office as well.
Sol Bleiweiss, 81, one of the replacement
board members, said the arbitrator's decision will put power back into
residents' hands. Most contentious, he said, was the recreation association's
March decision to change its bylaws.
The recreation association removed a bylaw
that limited the board's spending on improvements to 10 percent of the
previous year's budget. It also deleted a provision that gave the individual
condominium boards a vote in proposed improvements that cost residents
more than $50 each.
The recreation association oversees the
community's common areas.
"By changing their amendments, they disenfranchised
every resident in Palm Greens," Bleiweiss said. "Our aim is to bring it
back to what it was -- to take away the amendments that they changed so
the unit owners have a say."
About 400 residents voted for the recall.
About 100 residents voted to retain the three board members.
Bleiweiss said he plans to work with the
other new board members to resurrect the bylaws deleted in the spring.
"Clearly the arbitrator discounted every
argument raised by the recreation association," said attorney Ed Dicker,
representing Condo 1.
In his 11-page decision, arbitrator Karl
Scheuerman said he did not agree with the recreation association's argument
that the residents did not have the power to remove recreation board members.
According to the community's articles of
incorporation, only the six-member recreation association can vote on issues
related to its business, including a recall. At the same time, the condominium
boards' bylaws establish guidelines for recalling the recreation association.
Scheuerman said residents voted to install
the recreation board and should be able to recall them.
Dicker said he advised the new board members
to hold off their takeover until the arbitrator decides the Condo 2 recall,
in which about 380 residents voted to remove two of its three members and
about 185 people voted to retain them.
The recreation association's attorney could
not be reached for comment. Dicker said the arbitrator's decision could
prompt a change in state law to clarify how recalls involving a master
community association are run.
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