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HAIL TO THE PRESIDENT OR NOT?
By
Jan Bergemann
Published February 19, 2016
Lets say one thing: There are many good folks who spend lots of
time and efforts on being a good president for their
association. Yes, it is a difficult job and it sure isnt easy
to make everybody happy. But many of these presidents are trying
very hard. Many owners seem to forget thats these folks are
unpaid volunteers and still have a private life.
To be very honest: These PRESIDENTS deserve the
highest respect and the biggest THANK YOUs from all
community members. A good president should be cherished and held
in high esteem because it really isnt easy to be a good
president.
But then there are the other folks who think that being the
president entitles them to be the COMMUNITY DICTATOR who
can ignore laws and rules and make decisions without even
asking his/her fellow board members. They hold on to their
power pulling every trick to avoid being removed from office and
will waste lots of good association money fighting to stay in
power.
I get daily complaints from community association members
telling me the stories of their president named Adolf, Joseph or
Fidel. These folks act like their big HEROS and feel
that they have the right to ignore the laws and make up their
own rules.
But lets face it: Too many of us are just human and the fact
that these folks are not held liable by any authority is very
tempting for these folks and they act accordingly. Elected
presidents turn into dictators as soon as they realize that they
CAN.
Florida laws just make it too easy for presidents to be
dictators and even encourage them to abuse their neighbors.
You know: POWER CORRUPTS, AND MORE POWER CORRUPTS EVEN
MORE!
We need to find ways to stop these dictators from being abusive.
We need Presidents running the show in our communities not
dictators.
With all that said: Its even more important that we let the
volunteers, who try their best to be a Good President,
know how much they and their hard work -- are appreciated.
HAIL TO THE PRESIDENT!
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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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