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HOA ELECTIONS – A NIGHTMARE!
By
Jan Bergemann
Published October 16, 2020
Since the HOA Act [FS
720.306(9)] is not very specific in regards to elections
of the board – unlike the Condo Act – HOA elections often turn
into a nightmare. Fights over election results are pretty
common.
Let’s face it: The election provisions in the statutes refer to
the bylaws of the association – and bylaws can be easily changed
to make them advantageous to the sitting board members.
Just take a look at so-called “NOMINATING COMMITTEES”.
Since the members of this committee can be appointed by the
sitting board members you will often find husbands, wives and
friends of the board members being appointed to this committee.
And these committee member will only “nominate” candidates who
find in their agenda. With other words: You often only find the
names of the sitting board members on the ballot that is being
mailed out to the membership. That means that in reality the
actual election already took place at the meeting – a meeting
that often takes place behind closed doors – with no other
“unwanted” candidate given the chance to get elected.
And this method of eliminating unwanted candidates is absolutely
legal due to the fact that the statutes are silent on such
issues. DEMOCRACY AT WORK?
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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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