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DRAMA AND ANNUAL ELECTION SEEM TO GO TOGETHER!
By
Jan Bergemann
Published
January 15, 2016
Honestly: Over the
years I have heard – and seen – the most ridiculous stories
regarding elections in community associations. While the general
election in the year 2000 here in Florida was a joke, elections
in associations often resemble slapstick comedies.
But in this case I
don’t blame money-grabbing attorneys and/or CAMs – or
incompetent power-hungry board members for the lack of fair
elections – in this case the blame clearly falls on the Florida
legislature who so far failed to create easy to follow HOA
election regulations.
FS 720.306(9) [ELECTIONS AND BOARD VACANCIES] doesn’t
really give associations any guidelines on how to conduct the
annual election. The existing wording is more than vague and has
more loopholes than street-dogs fleas.
Even the Division
arbitrators – already challenged with finding proper
interpretations of more precise provisions of the Florida
statutes – have serious problems finding rulings that could be
considered fair.
That in return is
being used as a cash-cow by attorneys who have a field day
challenging election procedures used by homeowners’
associations. There is always money to be made – win or lose –
and the outcome of HOA election arbitration resembles more a win
in the lottery than the outcome of a fair election.
Let’s make no
mistake: As long as the Florida legislature refuses to create
language in FS 720.306 that would finally assure fair elections
– something they did many, many years ago for condominiums [see
FS 718.112(2)] – elections in HOAs are a free for all, often not
decided by the will of the owners but by the people who are
willing to spend more money on legal fees – or intimidation.
In short:
Homeowners’ associations have a multitude of problems – and have
really nothing to do with “easy living” as often advertised. But
the lack of fair election provisions in the Florida statutes is
one of the reasons why many HOA advocates always claim: When
entering a homeowners’ association you are leaving the “American
Zone.” Remember Checkpoint Charlie?
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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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