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WHEN BOARD PRESIDENTS THINK THEY ARE DICTATORS!
By
Jan Bergemann
Published April 15, 2022
In earlier posts I had already pointed out that there are quite
a few board presidents who think their names are Adolf, Joseph
or Fidel – and they act accordingly. Let’s make sure: A
president is an officer, not the CEO of the association. And
like any other officer he/she ONLY has ONE VOTE at
the board meeting, no matter what Robert’s Rules or any other
rule may say. A president can’t make any kind of decision
without the approval of a majority of the board at a public
board meeting.
The other board members have to understand that they will as
well be held responsible if anything goes wrong after the
president makes single-handed decisions that backfire one way or
the other. – or if money “miraculously” disappears. These board
members have to understand that they – even silently – condoned
these actions of the president.
And I often hear complaints from board members claiming that the
board president takes actions without approval of the board –
just claiming he can do it because he is the president.
Absolutely wrong!
These other board members seem to forget that the president
serves at the pleasure of the board. A simple majority vote of
the board members at a publicly announced board meeting can
remove him from office.
A board president who thinks that he/she is actually a DICTATOR
is a great danger for the financial welfare of all owners of the
community.
A board president has certain rights as detailed in the Bylaws,
but that’s it! And all community members, and especially the
other board members should always keep that in mind!
REMEMBER: POWER CORRUPTS – AND MORE POWER CORRUPTS EVEN MORE!
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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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