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WEARING TWO HATS?
By
Jan Bergemann
Published
October 9, 2015
We see it all the time in our
community associations: Board members wanting to be vendors as
well, or even community association managers.
Personally I don’t think that this
goes well together. There is always a conflict of interest – no
matter what anybody will argue.
Even if the board member refrains from
voting on his/her own contract, other board members may feel
like they have to vote in favor of their colleague on the board.
My opinion on this matter is straight
forward: You shouldn’t be a board member AND a vendor –
all in one person. So, in case you feel like offering your
services as a vendor to the community, please resign first from
office as a board member. THAT WOULD MOST DEFINITELY BE
THE RIGHT THING TO DO!
It gets even worse if one of the board
members suddenly feels like he/she should manage the
association’s affairs and get paid as a CAM – no matter if that
person has a license or not. Remember, the DBPR CAM Licensing
Department doesn’t really care about folks working as CAMs
without a license. If they catch somebody working without a
license – even it’s already ongoing since ten (10) years – all
they would do is tell the person not to continue doing it and
getting a license in order to make the complaint go away. It’s
called: FLORIDA LAW ENFORCEMENT!
As you know, I am always against
creating conflicts of interests – even if there is just the
suspicion of such a conflict. AVOID IT BY RESIGNING FROM
THE BOARD OF DIRECTORS – and keep the rumor mill quiet!
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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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