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SIGNING
CONTRACTS WITHOUT AUTHORIZATION?
By
Jan Bergemann
Published
June 27, 2014
We
always hear the stories about board members signing contracts
without having been authorized by the vote of the full board in
a public board meeting as required by Florida statutes. Often
these are long-term -- or very high-priced – contracts, signed
shortly before the term (election or recall) of this board
member ends.
It’s
pretty obvious that there can be only two reasons for signing
these contracts: SPITE or KICKBACKS!
Both these reasons can cost association members lots of money.
As you have seen in Eric’s blog on Monday, the association may
well be bound by the signature, even if the signature was
totally unauthorized.
It’s
especially disgusting if board presidents, who are being
recalled – with a certification
by the Division Arbitration Section looming – bind the
association to long-term CAM contracts – if the owners
recalled the board for one reason: To get rid of this CAM
company.
These
board members (board presidents) often act so blatantly that
there is no doubt about their motive: REVENGE!
And
the reason these board members can get away with it: There is no
clear law holding the board members liable for their actions.
Our community association statutes still have no clear language
punishing such board members for renegade actions that cost
their neighbors lots of money.
I
am pretty sure that these shenanigans would stop immediately, if
these board members – signing contracts without authorization
– would know that they will be personally held liable for the
financial damages caused by them signing such contracts
unauthorized.
In
the moment the association can try to sue this board member for
the financial damage caused by his/her actions, but the ruling
in such a lawsuit can go both ways, if the association doesn’t
have irrevocable proof that the board members acted willfully
with bad intent!
We
need language added to the Florida statutes holding such
renegade board members can be held personally liable for such
action!
Believe
me: Many of these board members would think twice before signing
unauthorized contracts in the future if such language would be
included in the statutes!
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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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