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PANDEMIC: RIGHT TO VIOLATE LAWS?
By
Jan Bergemann
Published December 18, 2020
Hopefully the Pandemic caused by the
Chinese Virus is soon over, but until then the name of the game
is still: STAYING ALIVE? “Staying Alive” is not
just a song by the Bee Gees and the title music of the movie
“Saturday Night Fever” – it’s as well important for all of us to
live by. Remember, we only have one life, even if a James Bond
movie title suggests differently.
No question: We have to be very
careful and take the necessary precautions to avoid being
infected by the virus -- but the life still has to go on!
Make no mistake: Even if the Governor declares a “State of
Emergency” doesn’t mean that it gives association boards the
right to violate the laws or disregard the rules. They can make
certain rules regarding meetings, social distancing and mask
wearing etc., but they can’t make rules that are contrary to the
statutes and have nothing to do with precautions regarding the
virus.
If the bylaws call for a certain date
to hold the annual meeting with elections, the board can’t just
plainly cancel it. There are lots of different ways to hold safe
meetings and especially hold elections. But just cancelling the
election because the board is afraid that the owners will elect
different candidates and replace the sitting board members is
definitely not reason enough to cancel the elections totally.
The statutes are still in place and
valid – no matter if a State of Emergency is declared or not.
Making rules in order to keep everybody safe is fine,
VIOLATING LAWS AND RULES IS NOT!
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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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