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TRICKY ELECTIONS
By
Jan Bergemann
Published
March 25, 2016
While condos and co-ops (FS 718 + FS 719)
have pretty detailed election rules, the HOA Act (FS 720) has
nothing but a few statements that even have more disclaimers
than factual provisions.
HOA election provisions refer to the bylaws
of the community – something that can quickly be changed if the
board desires to do so. (See FS 720.306(9)(a) Elections of
directors must be conducted in accordance with the procedures
set forth in the governing documents of the association.)
HOA elections are a free “Free For All”,
mostly depending on the decisions of the sitting board who call
the shots. Any HOA board willing to stay in power can easily
avoid “fair” elections and make sure that they are re-elected –
no matter how loud the other members of the community scream.
Even for arbitrators it’s very tricky to come
up with fair rulings in HOA elections due to the fact that the
HOA ACT doesn’t contain the requirement of the Condo Act (FS
718.112) that all associations have to use the election
procedures as described in the statutes if there are more than
10 units in the association.
Many of the “tricks” of the proper election
process can only be discovered by reading lots of election
arbitration rulings. In all honesty, that makes it difficult for
owners and board members to conduct elections that follow the
strict guide-lines required by the statutes and governing docs
of the association.
I guess our legislators prefer the process
used in the Florida General election in the year 2000: Let the
courts decide the outcome of the elections. Who cares about
the will of the voters?
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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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