A. Road Resealing:
This is a simple, inexpensive fix that would go a long way toward beautification of the neighborhood and sprucing up the look of the entire place. Frankly, it is long past the time for this matter to be addressed. Marion advised that this is a “repair and replacement” that does not require a community vote.
She also stated in her December 16, 2020 opening remarks: “The Engineering Committee will be writing specifications for bids to repair and seal the roadways…” We will continue to monitor this.
B. Rescinding the illegal “Take Away Your Transponder If You Have An Estate Sale” vote.
It is simply unacceptable that the Board would violate the Florida statute that specifically requires the allowance of ingress and egress by residents and owners. This is not a legal discipline that can be imposed.
The maximum discipline after all other discipline has been imposed is a $1,000 fine and limiting access to common areas. Preventing ingress and egress by seizing transponders is not an allowable discipline, period.
The Board's justification is that the resident can get in via the guard shack. However, the resident is prevented from entering via the back gate, so ingress is prevented. Also, this unncessarily punishes others trying to enter by increasing the traffic to the guard gate. This needs to be addressed and rescinded.
The Board then expanded this rule by including transponder seizure as punishment for a second violation.
C. Rescission of the improper banning of Alex from the community:
Still not on the Agenda is a vote to rescind the banning of former handyman Alex from the community. Notwithstanding the fact that said ban is still the rule of the community, apparently, he is being allowed back in without restrictions (see the November 4, 2020 Synopsis and Commentary entitled False Pretenses and Go Ask Alex, The Sequel).
This, in our opinion, is no way to run an organization, where some elite few are aware of the Board allowing Alex inside the gates and some are not; does that sound fair and transparent to you?
D. Improper use of HOA funds:
Who authorized the $6,052.35 to go after your Editor and your Roving Reporter with no notice to most Board members and the community? And why exactly did Marion and one or two other Board members do that? We have never had a definitive answer to these questions, and the community deserves to know.
And who else was targeted without Board knowledge, without a Board vote, and without community knowledge? Let’s put this on the Agenda and find out. Marion states that all Board members approve attorney invoices. This is irrelevant, after the fact, and not the issue. There was never a proper Board vote to spend this money at any open Board meeting.
E. Improper expansion of Presidential powers:
In our opinion, the motion to discontinue this illegal “policy” of permitting the president to have $1,000 per month in discretionary funds failed on December 2, 2020 because there are Directors on the Board who either don’t understand the rules and/or who don’t want to bust up the coalition which they have formed so as to solidify their power and ensure the implementation of their agendas.
Sue and Eileen were the only Board members at the time who apparently understood that this is an unauthorized and improper grant to the president.
Keep in mind, Marion stated that this was voted on by multiple Boards to a period not earlier than 2012, but a review of the Board Minutes from January 1, 2012 produced no such vote. It is unclear to us how a policy can continue that was purportedly never voted upon in the first instance.
Therefore, to permit a policy to continue that is not based on any rule or regulation or order is, in our opinion, an abuse of discretion on the part of the Board and wholly improper.
It also sets a dangerous precedent that policies may be implemented without Board vote at the whim of a few and to the detriment of the owners/members of this community. The remedy is to keep placing this matter on the Agenda and identify it as an improper allocation to a Board member until this unauthorized power is stopped.
F. Disabling of the Zoom meeting Chat function:
Shutting down residents’ ability to comment did not go over particularly well with the populace. This should be reconsidered, but it won’t be with this current Board; perhaps this can be revisited after the March elections.]
G. Clubs and Their Asinine Rules:
We have been calling for the outlawing of the illegal practice of certain clubs (i.e., pickleball) instituting their own asinine rules and regulations which harm the community and your financial interests. All clubs should be banned from having their own rules, policies, and by-laws. The Board finally outlawed non-residents from being club members. That’s a start.
The rules also permit officers of that club to deny requests for financial records, and force club members to agree to legally immunize those officers for all their acts (i.e. waive any and all of your legal rights against them), regardless of whether or not those acts constitute malfeasance or said officers engage in criminal behavior to your detriment. See our dedicated Pickleball page for further details on these despicable and elitist rules.
No clubs should have anything more than an approved mission statement.
H. Two incident reports:
Discipline issues as to each: the Board should immediately place on the Agenda both alleged Election Day incidents and then conduct a proper review and decision by Board vote on each matter. This includes (1) the alleged throwing of a campaign sign at a resident which allegedly hit and injured said resident and (2) the removal of other campaign signs with the alleged assault “in your face” screaming by two residents against other residents (during the Covid pandemic of all times).
The HOA President, Marion Weil, purportedly violated Florida Statute 720.305 and the HOA governing documents specifically covering the issue of discipline, to wit, Rules & Regulations, Section E, Violation Guidelines, pages 4-16 and 4-17 when she allegedly illegally took the matter(s) into her own hands and allegedly improperly and irresponsibly meted out discipline without the knowledge of most Board members, without a required Board vote, without alleged victim input, and without the knowledge of the community at large.
She should recuse herself from any further action on these matters.
I. All incident reports are to immediately go to all Board members:
The Board should immediately place on the Agenda a directive to the property manager that any time an incident report is filed, it is to be immediately distributed to all Board members, not just the property manager’s Board liaison(s). Every single Board member must be apprised of the report; all Board members are equal.
This will allow any Board member to place on the Agenda a discipline issue with regard to any alleged incident.
In connection with any and all incident reports, residents should make sure that each and every Board member receives the report, and residents should report all issues to each and every Board member. Reporting something solely to the president does a disservice to yourselves and at the same time disrespects every other Board member who is equal to the president.
The office of the president is merely an office; it is separate and apart from a directorship. You owe it yourselves and to the community at large to report these incidents to each and every representative/director of this HOA.]
J. Weekly email blasts; News & Views dedicated page for president; president assuming too many liaison positions that target communication and final decisions:
The weekly email blasts should not be coming from the president, who is but one equal Board member. These weekly blasts should be coming from the Property Manager. Likewise, there should not be any dedicated presidential page in News & Views because this is not authorized by the HOA By-Laws as part of the president’s specifically delineated functions.
By allowing the president to continually put out these weekly e-blasts, it gives this equal Board member more exposure and the appearance of a higher status and privilege, which is undeserved and not part of the president’s specifically designated responsibilities. It also gives this individual an unfair advantage during election time because she has a forum that the rest of the Board members either don’t have or don’t use.
This individual should also not have a designated page in News & Views. This again gives the erroneous impression that this equal Board member is a higher status than other equal Board members, which is simply not the case. This faux hierarchy among Board members needs to stop because it does a disservice to the community by diluting the authority of the six other elected representatives.
For example, Board member Eileen Olitsky has spent an inordinate amount of time on the food truck project, but no email blasts come from her about the recurring food trucks. They come from the Property Manager’s office. Eileen is up for re-election this March at the same time that Marion is up for re-election. Eileen should not be disadvantaged because her hard work does not have the benefit of a weekly email blast with her name on it whereas the other equal Board member, Marion, is “in your face” constantly about community news and updates.
In fact, in the December 2020 News & Views, Marion on her full page “President’s Message” mentions other Board members but when she devoted an entire paragraph to the food trucks, she failed to mention fellow Board member Eileen Olitsky who was virtually singularly responsible for it.
In her President’s Message, Marion mentioned and thanked other Board members for various and sundry reasons, including Harvey Ginsberg, former Board member Mark Goodman, Board member Bob Dingee, as well other residents. But strikingly, Eileen’s name is omitted. We don’t think this was an oversight; we think it was deliberate.
Remember: whoever controls the communication often wins. Marion is the webmistress to the Message Board and the HOA website, she is the liaison to the Property Manager, she is the liaison to News & Views, she is the liaison to the almighty ARB, she is the liaison to the Caring Committee, and she is the liaison to the Grievance Committee.
This is way too much power for one Board member because these specific Committees control communication and conduct and in the case of the ARB, final decision-making authority.
The last thing Marion wants is to recognize Eileen who is in direct competition with her in the upcoming election cycle, and we believe that is why she deliberately did not recognize Eileen in her monthly “President’s Message” in the December 2020 News & Views.
In fact, all Board members should be involved with both the ARB as well as the Grievance Committee because those Committees issue final decisions. In addition, all Board members should be involved with the website and the Message Board because discipline is meted out unilaterally by Marion based on content she doesn’t like.
A resident can be suspended from the Message Board for a period of time or permanently by Marion’s edict. While theoretically you may appeal that to the Grievance Committee, you are suspended during the process which is actually illegal, and in the case of your Editor, I demanded a review by the Grievance Committee and my demand was ignored.
This is wrong and, in our opinion, completely illegal under Florida Statute 720.305, but this is the present protocol. As we reported in our December 16, 2020 synopsis and commentary entitled Can’t Touch This, Marion even usurped the Board’s responsibility when she took disciplinary matters into her own hands to the detriment of the victims’ rights, which was thoroughly improper.
It is also noteworthy that the Agendas for all Board meetings are not sent out by the president. They are sent out by the Property Manager’s office just like most email blasts which give various notices to the residents on a regular basis. In fact, the Property Manager sends out a weekly email blast every Friday.
There is no reason that there should be an additional email blast from Marion during the week. If there is something important, the Property Manager’s office should send out another email blast as deemed necessary. That’s why we have the Property Manager, among other reasons. The Property Manager runs the community, not one Board member.
There is no reason that the president should be sending out these weekly e-blasts and have a dedicated News & Views page and be the liaison to the Committees that control communication and final decisions.
The responsibilities of the president are strictly limited and specifically spelled out: preside over BOD meetings, sign documents and promissory notes, see that Board orders and resolutions are carried out [HOA By-Laws, Section VIII, Subsection G, Number 1, page 3-10]. Any other additional things that the president is doing are actually unauthorized. This concentration of power needs to end.
An item should be added to the Agenda to address all of these matters in their entirety.
K. Re-Vote for the office of Vice-President:
Harvey did not win the vote for vice-president.
Robert’s Rules of Order:
Voting: Rule 46:
"… A plurality never adopts a motion nor elects any one to office, unless by virtue of a special rule previously adopted…"
Note: per dictionary:
Plurality: the number of votes cast for a candidate who receives more than any other but does not receive an absolute majority.
Therefore, Harvey did not win the office of Vice-President. In order to have won, he would have needed a majority of the entire Board present at that time, which he did not earn. He earned a plurality, three votes out of seven, which is specifically not enough.
The Board must immediately take a new vote for the office of Vice-President and continue to vote until someone actually wins an actual majority. If that cannot be accomplished, then the office remains vacant because the previous vote did not result in anyone having properly and successfully been voted into that office.
Harvey’s brief, unearned tenure as purported but not real vice-president should be declared null and void, nunc pro tunc (applied retroactively to correct an earlier decision).
The fact that this was not on the Agenda immediately after it was brought to the entire Board's attention via written email on December 23, 2020 is a stain on this entire Board because it means they are permitting a flaunting of the rules. Why even have rules if you are not going to follow them?
Bottom line: regardless of the Board’s inaction, as a factual matter, Harvey Ginsberg is not the vice-president of this organization. He can claim the post until kingdom come, but as stated above, we here at the News Site who deal in facts will not recognize a false claim parading as legitimacy. Neither should you.
L. Signage and approval of galvanized dog park poles:
Someone on the Board needs to put this back on the Agenda and/or call an emergency session (before Marion signs the contract she voted for) and redo this vote. For a complete description, see our January 6, 2021 synopsis and commentary under the heading, “Pole Dancing” when the Board voted to have green U-channel poles that are used in chicken coops and our January 20, 2021 synopsis and commentary entitled "Saving Private Iguana from Bonnie and Clyde" under Old Business Item #2.
These galvanized poles are very similar to the ones used at dog parks with chain link fences.
M. Should We Really Be Barbarically and Cruelly Killing Iguanas?
Is this barbaric practice appropriate? We think this contract should not be renewed at all. These gentle giants are not disturbing this community and the manner they are killed is barbaric and cruel. Shooting them in the head with BB gun pellets until they die is wrong. Stop this barbarism and cruelty. We also understand that the traps are to be checked at least once every 24 hours and we are not clear if the company is doing that.
N. Eliminate Liaisons To Vendors; Property Manager and HOA Attorney To Report To All Board Members:
There should not be liaisons to vendors. Liaisons are appropriate for Board Committees. It is inappropriate to have liaisons to vendors. This matter should be on the Board’s Agenda.
For example, there should not be a Board liaison to the Property Manager. The Property Manager should always report to all Board members because she gets her function and duties from the entire Board, not just one or two members of the Board.
She is an employee of a vendor. This is unlike a Committee where there should be a liaison. The Property Manager has responsibilities that have been granted by the full Board. The idea of a Board liaison to the Property Manager should be rejected immediately.
The same is true for dealing with the HOA attorney. He is also an employee of a vendor. All Board members should be involved in any discussions with the lawyer.
The lawyer should not just be dealing with the president or one other Board member. The HOA should not be incurring legal fees because Marion at whim decides to run to the lawyer to complain about a resident or any topic for that matter.
O. Expenditures That Are Not Revealed To The Community Need to Be; Where Does Your Money Go?:
There are too many of these popping up. At the January 6, 2021 Board meeting, $2,200 was revealed as having been paid for a fountain leak. Another $6,052.35 was revealed through our investigation for the HOA attorneys to harass us.
This strongly suggests that there are many more of these types of expenditures that total thousands and thousands of dollars but are never brought forth to the members. These expenditures get paid and then disappear and never even make it into any Minutes because they are not part of any Agenda.
The owners of this corporation are entitled to a list of every item that was approved in this manner that just disappeared and for which there are no Board Minutes referencing said expenditures. This should also be added as an Agenda item. Where does your money go?]
P. Message Board Suspensions:
Any suspensions from the HOA message board that were never voted on by the Board at an open meeting need to be removed from those residents’ records. Suspensions are strictly governed by statute and the HOA governing documents. Webmasters have no authority to issue suspensions.
Q. Webmasters Making Board Decisions:
Apparently the webmasters on their own decided along with their liaison, Harvey Ginsberg, to reset everyone’s violation clock to zero as of April 7, 2021. We learned this in an email from Mr. Ginsberg. This was done without a Board vote at an open meeting.
The Board should immediately admonish the webmasters that they have no authority to do so and take the matter up for voting if the Board is so inclined. Allowing the webmasters to run amok and make whatever arbitrary rules they please without Board approval at an open meeting is improper and should not be tolerated under any circumstances.