Recall allowed for 3 board members of Condo 

 
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.

See as well: Condo board, residents await decision on validity of recall vote