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IS RECALL – IMPEACHMENT –
FASHIONABLE?
By
Jan Bergemann
Published November 22, 2019
Impeachment seems to
be the new slogan of the media – but it’s nothing compared to
the recalls in Florida’s community associations.
In 2004 the HOA Task
Force added new recall provisions to the community association
statutes – and for many years it just worked fine – until some
Division arbitrators “read between the lines” and made a mess
out of the well-working laws in place.
I never understood
where these arbitrators got their wisdom, but what can you
expect from lawyers who get paid less than most law firms pay
their secretaries. You know the old saying: "You get what
you pay for?"
In reality there is
enough money in the Condo Trust Fund to hire well-paid lawyers,
not just the folks nobody else wants to hire. But our esteemed
legislators rather use this money, paid by Florida condo-owners,
for their "pork" instead for the purpose intended.
And when complaints
from owners were adding up, the legislature tried to make
changes to the existing wording of the Condo Act -- and, since
they were not really listening to the people in the know but to
people who were led by emotions, they made an even bigger mess
out of it.
The way the recall
provisions are worded today, the process has to be considered a
total joke. No more “DUE PROCESS”, no more short
and sweet arbitration, only arbitration rulings that make owners
and attorneys just go ”NUTS.”
Maybe Florida
legislators learn one thing from the current “IMPEACHMENT
PROCEDURES” in Washington: Always use “DUE PROCESS”
and "OPEN PROCEDURES” if you want voters (owners)
to take things seriously.
In former times
Recall of Association Board Members was a clear “Numbers’
Game.” Nowadays it’s a CRAPSHOOT.
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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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