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KNOWLEDGE IS POWER
By
Jan Bergemann
Published
August 7, 2015
Since many years we have been saying that
knowledge is power. But: Where to get this knowledge? In case of
community associations the answer is reasonable simple: Attend
BOARD MEMBER CERTIFICATION seminars.
Not just one – thinking that you now know it
all. Believe me: YOU DON’T! I have over the last three years
attended many of these classes – and I still don’t know all the
ins and outs of community association law.
There is much to learn. And there is always
something new to learn, if you are willing to listen to the
answers to questions from the audience.
We always hear about all these
volunteers willing to sacrifice their time in order to help
making the community a better place to live.
Make no mistake: With the powers
giving to board members by the Florida statutes incompetent
board members – lacking basic knowledge – can do a lot of damage
if they don’t know what they are supposed to do and what the
laws regulating these associations demand them to do.
There are still too many board members
running the show in Florida’s community associations who are
plainly “shooting from the hip” and making up rules as they go
along, causing a lot of financial harm to their neighbors.
Many associations would be better off without
these kinds of volunteers, who are not even willing to spend a
few hours of their time to attend these board member
certification seminars.
SHAME
ON THEM!
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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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