Article
Courtesy of The HI-RISER
By
Chris Guanche
Published February 14, 2007
Contentious issues will
be at the forefront Friday when residents of Fort Lauderdale's Plaza East
Condominium vote to elect board members, after several resignations of the
condo's tabulating committee.
One concern for many
residents and potential candidates is who will count the votes. Four of
the condo association's 11 members are up for re-election. In late
January, five members of the condo's tabulating committee abruptly
resigned, citing various reasons,
Resident and candidate
Harold Wechsler said he was initially uncomfortable with the amount of
access many had to the ballot box and the lack of an election monitor.
wechsler then created a petition requesting the presence of an election
monitor from the Office of Condominium Ombudsman at the state's Department
of Professional and Business Regulation, also expressing concern over the
numbers of keys available to the ballot box.
Soon after, members of
the committee resigned.
"The people that
were on the committee resigned because they felt insulted," said
association president Richard Loarie, who is up for re-election.
Wechsler said he request
for a monitor and secure box didn't result from any distrust in the
committee, but rather was based n principle!
"There is not a
polling precinct in America that does not have a Democratic and republican
poll watcher," Wechsler said. "No one is inferring
irregularities; it's just that this is our practice in America."
But finding replacements
to fill the empty committee slots has not been easy. According to Loarie,
no volunteers have stepped forward, leaving around six to eight people to
count the votes, instead of usual 12. Loarie said the vote counting would
proceed as planned, but at a slower pace.
"It's going to run
a long time, but that's just the way things are," Loarie said.
Some residents are also
concerned about the association's publication of election results on the
association's website, www.plazaeast.info,
regarding hurricane shutter installation from September. the results match
the names of residents to their votes. Wechsler said the publication of
the results is an invasion of privacy and could intimidate voters in
the upcoming election. Loarie, however, contends that the results are
public records.
Election troubles at
Plaza East come in a wake of repeated concerns over the condominiums fire
alarm system. The old fire alarm system, Loarie said, was being replaced
with a newer ion detection system, which detects ion particles in the air
and is more sensitive. Installation began in September 2005 but is
still not complete, and there is no estimated completion date. In the
meantime, the system has been set off many times, partially due to
construction in the building.
Loarie said the system,
still in its testing phase, works fine. Residents have called 911 in a
panic when the system goes off prematurely, while Loarie said it takes
security guard about three minutes to determine if there is actually a
fire. Wechsler is concerned about the wait time and said that going down
multiple flights of stairs is difficult for elderly residents with limited
mobility!
The condo hasn't been
cited for false alarm calls by the city. According to Chaz Adams, a
spokesperson for the city of Fort Lauderdale, there is a system of fines
if the fire department responds to a false alarm call. One false alarm
call within a a 12-month period has no fine, but repeat calls have a scale
of fines ranging from $100 to $400.
The system is being
installed by Edwards System Technology. Manager Robert Sherman said that
there are no problems with the system and that the company has provided
protective covers for the detectors, which are to be used during
construction. Any triggering of the system, he said, is due to contractors
not using the covers."
"We're trying to
provide residents with the safest building possible," Sherman said.
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