COMMUNITY LEADERS -- OR JUST WANNA-BES?

An Opinion By Jan Bergemann

Published June 19, 2005

It’s about that time again. The legislative session is over; the headlines change from politics to sports and entertainment.  Legislators and so-called community leaders are making the rounds trying to impress Joe and Jane Citizen that they are “The Greatest Legislators And Community Leaders”!

A great example?

Occasion:  Board meeting of the Beacon Wood East HOA in Pasco County, FL

Date:  Tuesday, June 14, 2005

About 200 interested homeowners assembled at 7 PM to listen to State Senator Mike Fasano (R-Distr.11) and Mel Phillips, president of CONA (COUNCIL OF NEIGHBORHOOD ASSOCIATIONS, INC.).

And they were not disappointed.  Both speakers had great deeds to report. Senator Fasano claimed to have helped to defeat homeowners’ association bills (He just didn’t realize they were homeowner-friendly!) and promised future support for bills proposed by the service provider trade organization CAI (Community Associations Institute).  Senator Fasano stated that all the problems in these associations are in south Florida  -- Dade and Broward counties – but absolutely no problems exist in his district in Pinellas, Pasco and Hernando counties.  Either Fasano has a very short memory or he likes to ignore the bad problems. The disaster in Nature Watch HOA was most likely the worst in all Florida in the last few years.  See:  http://www.ccfj.net/HOAartFLNWHOA.htm

Families lost their retirement funds or the college tuition for their kids, all because they lived in a Nature Watch HOA.  Senator Fasano voiced his support for the homeowners under siege, but never made any serious attempt to help.  Now he seems to have a very short memory.  And there are lots of pending lawsuits all over that area.  Or maybe it’s called “selective memory”?

But both speakers proved that they didn’t do their homework.  They either got a lot of the facts all wrong – or spread misinformation on purpose?

Mel Phillips, who would like to be the big community leader in Pasco County’s homeowners’ associations, is all gung-ho to repeal the so-called arbitration and mediation bill for homeowners’ associations.  For that purpose he is joining forces with other “community leaders” and the CAI to repeal that horrible bill.  (Gee, great if you can engage the help of the organization that is responsible for creating that bill to repeal it!)  Phillips’ big claim:  CCFJ, Inc. – a 37-member organization – needs to be defeated in order to repeal the bill he and many other homeowners definitely don’t like.

Neither do we like it at CCFJ, Inc.!  Our members at the HOA Task Force fought against this provision in the HOA bill – please read transcripts of the HOA Task Force meeting in St. Augustine (Jan. 9, 2004) – but were clearly outvoted by the CAI members on the Task Force.

Read my HOA summary about the Task Force at: http://www.ccfj.net/TFTallahasseefinpres.html

I clearly warned about the outrageous cost of the arbitration and mediation provisions and spoke up against them – loud and clear. To no avail, because the CAI attorneys created this cash cow for themselves – against the wishes of the homeowners on this Homeowners’ Association Task Force.

Now here comes the great WANNA-BE community leader who wants to work with the same trade organization that created the bill.  Phillips wants to defeat the people – fellow homeowners – who had opposed these provisions from Day One!

Honestly, nothing wrong with good community leaders. They are desperately needed.  But they should do their homework and not spread propaganda without checking the truth.  Homeowners can expect an honest leadership and should be able to rely on facts offered by speakers like Senator Fasano and CONA president Mel Phillips.

This was just another case where so-called community leaders tried to make the people happy – but ended up with egg on their faces!

WANNE-BE COMMUNITY LEADERS:  Please get the facts right before making statements in front of an audience of people who hope for help and support. They don’t deserve to end up with lots of misinformation.

Guess you know the commercial?

Annual Membership CCFJ, Inc.:  $ 20.00

Annual Membership CAI (Trade Organization): $ 85.00

Wanna-be community leaders with egg on their face: Priceless!