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An
Opinion By Jan Bergemann
President, Cyber Citizens For Justice, Inc.
Published
August 24, 2009
On August 14, 2009,
"ONLY"
284 DAYS after the second recall petition was served upon the board of the
QUAIL
HOLLOW CONDOMINIUM ASSOCIATION, INC., arbitrator James Earl finally
decided to issue a FINAL
RULING in this recall that actually lasted exactly ONE YEAR -- and
he actually got it right! Miracles still happen!
Previously
on August 15, 2008 the owner Claudia Richard-Towson, as a
representative for the owners voting for recall of the small community (36
town homes regulated by FS 718), filed for recall arbitration, because the
so-called board had failed to react to a recall petition that was served
according to Florida law. But arbitrator Glenn Lang fell for the
shenanigans of "President" Andres Villegas, who according to a letter
he mailed to his neighbors on July 29,
2008 receives his great wisdom from God, and two attorneys who helped
Villegas twist the facts. Arbitrator Lang rendered his FINAL
ORDER OF DISMISSAL AS MOOT on October 13, 2008. His arguments for
the DISMISSAL are funny in themselves. [For more details please read: SHOULD
LAW FIRMS BE RESPONSIBLE FOR DAMAGES?]
The
next recall was served on the board on November 2, 2008. 23 recall
petitions were served to the board. And the board again didn't follow
Florida
statutes, forcing the homeowners again to file for recall arbitration. The
arbitration section of the Division of Florida Condominiums, Timeshares,
and Mobile Homes received this arbitration filing on December 1, 2009.
It's obvious that the board ignored
Florida
statutes, because they had been already once rewarded for violating the
laws.
You
would ask: How long can it take to verify 23 recall petitions (19
valid recall petitions were needed to certify the recall!)? It actually
took Chief Arbitrator James Earl 257 DAYS to certify the recall --
an average of about 11 days for each recall petition form submitted. It is
just amazing!
And
all the cost, frustration and anger could have been avoided if the two
arbitrators, Glenn Lang and James Earl, had bothered to follow the exact
wording of
Florida
statutes 718.112(2)(j).
Paragraph 4 says it in clear terms: If the board fails to hold the
recall meeting and/or fails to file for recall arbitration if they don't
certify the recall (quote): " ... the recall shall be
deemed effective and the board members so recalled shall immediately turn
over to the board any and all records and property of the
association."
In
this case the board failed to do anything as required by statutes, but
they successfully played games with the arbitrators, who made a mockery
out of the Recall Provisions in the Florida statutes!
The
unwillingness of the arbitrators to follow the wording of the statutes has
cost the homeowners of QUAIL
HOLLOW CONDOMINIUM ASSOCIATION, INC. a whole year, in which a
self-appointed president wasted their money, violated the Florida statutes
and the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act -- not even counting the
verbal abuses. All courtesy of these arbitrators who took it upon
themselves to make up their own rules.
Since
Secretary Charles Drago took over the leadership of the DBPR, the service
of this department has deteriorated even further. The
DBPR has never been a model for a well-functioning state agency, but in
the last two years it's totally falling apart, causing a lot of serious
financial losses for
Florida
's citizens.
I
imagine Secretary Charles Drago gave out some kind of directive to the
employees of the DBPR that was worded similar to this (my best guess):
"As the Secretary of the DBPR I would like to advise you that you
should consider the
Florida
statutes just as general guidelines. Please feel free to interpret them as
you like -- and don't even consider legislative intent. These statutes
were created by elected officials who don't know what they are doing.
Government workers are the backbone of society and really need to help
these legislators out if they pass useless bills with wording that doesn't
make sense. It is our job to find interpretations that we like, even if
these interpretations contradict the wording of the statutes.
Please
don't be afraid if the complaints against our Department are piling up --
we have the full backing of Governor Charlie Crist, whose mind is anyway
already in Washington. As you can see, the Governor's office is already
forwarding the many complaints about our "services" to us for
response, showing clearly that the Governor's office is clearly not
interested in all the bad stuff
Florida's citizens have to say about us and our dedicated work. We just send
these "disgruntled customers" a form letter explaining that they
just don't understand how difficult it is to find excuses for all the
violators and scam artists in Florida. Don't worry about your jobs; our budget is safe, paid for by all these
unhappy customers. I will continue to spread my propaganda,
explaining to everybody who wants to listen what wonderful dedicated
employees the DBPR has. And I'm proud to be the Secretary of this
wonderful department -- even if my office gets flooded with complaints
from taxpaying citizens that pay our salaries."
Even
if Secretary Drago may not have really said it this way, the Department
employees act as if he did! Otherwise there would be no reasonable
explanation for the actions of the people who work for the DBPR!
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(j) Recall
of board members.-- Subject to the provisions of s.
718.301, any member of the board of administration may be recalled
and removed from office with or without cause by the vote or
agreement in writing by a majority of all the voting interests. A
special meeting of the unit owners to recall a member or members
of the board of administration may be called by 10 percent of the
voting interests giving notice of the meeting as required for a
meeting of unit owners, and the notice shall state the purpose of
the meeting. Electronic transmission may not be used as a method
of giving notice of a meeting called in whole or in part for this
purpose.
1. If
the recall is approved by a majority of all voting interests by a
vote at a meeting, the recall will be effective as provided
herein. The board shall duly notice and hold a board meeting
within 5 full business days of the adjournment of the unit owner
meeting to recall one or more board members. At the meeting, the
board shall either certify the recall, in which case such member
or members shall be recalled effective immediately and shall turn
over to the board within 5 full business days any and all records
and property of the association in their possession, or shall
proceed as set forth in subparagraph 3.
2. If the proposed
recall is by an agreement in writing by a majority of all voting
interests, the agreement in writing or a copy thereof shall be
served on the association by certified mail or by personal service
in the manner authorized by chapter 48 and the Florida Rules of
Civil Procedure. The board of administration shall duly notice and
hold a meeting of the board within 5 full business days after
receipt of the agreement in writing. At the meeting, the board
shall either certify the written agreement to recall a member or
members of the board, in which case such member or members shall
be recalled effective immediately and shall turn over to the board
within 5 full business days any and all records and property of
the association in their possession, or proceed as described in
subparagraph 3.
3. If the board
determines not to certify the written agreement to recall a member
or members of the board, or does not certify the recall by a vote
at a meeting, the board shall, within 5 full business days
after the meeting, file with the division a petition for
arbitration pursuant to the procedures in s. 718.1255. For the
purposes of this section, the unit owners who voted at the meeting
or who executed the agreement in writing shall constitute one
party under the petition for arbitration. If the arbitrator
certifies the recall as to any member or members of the board, the
recall will be effective upon mailing of the final order of
arbitration to the association. If the association fails to comply
with the order of the arbitrator, the division may take action
pursuant to s. 718.501. Any member or members so recalled shall
deliver to the board any and all records of the association in
their possession within 5 full business days of the effective date
of the recall.
4. If the board fails
to duly notice and hold a board meeting within 5 full business
days of service of an agreement in writing or within 5 full
business days of the adjournment of the unit owner recall meeting,
the recall shall be deemed effective and the board members so
recalled shall immediately turn over to the board any and all
records and property of the association. |
See:
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