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VOLUNTEERING TO SERVE ON THE BOARD?
By
Jan Bergemann
Published December 9, 2022
I agree: The new condo bill will create quite a few challenges
for board members. But will that prevent owners from running for
the board?
I doubt it!
Considering the overwhelming number of litigation regarding
elections and recalls, many associations have more owners
willing to be on the board than there are seats on the board. I
have even seen associations increasing the number of board
members because the sitting board didn’t want to “hurt the
feelings” of some candidates who may have lost in a election.
Many of the responsibilities Eric described in his blog on
Monday will be taken care of by the management company,
preparing everything, leaving the board with the only task left
being a vote at a board meeting.
This is happening already much too often, Owners want to serve
on the board because some folks think that being called
“president” may increase their social standing – and leave all
the work to the CAM, a clear dereliction of their duties. Many
of these “board members” obviously forget that they are the ones
being blamed for any kind of problems created by the CAM.
The board is – and always will be – the responsible entity for
anything that happens within the association. Remember: The
CAM’s defense will always be: “THE BOARD TOLD ME TO DO IT!”
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Jan Bergemann is president of Cyber Citizens For Justice,
Florida
's largest state-wide property owners' advocacy group.
CCFJ works on legislation to help owners living in
community
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associations. He moved to
Florida
in 1995 - hoping to retire. He moved into a HOA, where the
developer cheated the homeowners and used the association dues
for his own purposes. End of retirement!
CCFJ was born in the year 2000, when some owners met in
Tallahassee
- finding out that power is only in numbers. Bergemann was a
member of Governor Jeb Bush's HOA Task force in 2003/2004.
The organization has two websites to inform interested
Florida
homeowners and condo owners:
News Website: http://www.ccfj.net/.
Educational Website: http://www.ccfjfoundation.net/.
We think that only owners can really represent owners, since all
service providers surely have a different interest! We are
trying to create owner-friendly laws, but the best laws are
useless without enforcement. And enforcement is totally lacking
in
Florida
!
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