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A MEDAL FOR GOOD BOARD MEMBERS?
By
Jan Bergemann
Published September 7, 2018
There is absolutely no doubt that there are many good board
members serving in Florida’s community associations – and maybe
we should create a medal for them for all the good work they are
doing. Many of them are working endless hours to put the
association on the right track. And they are often enough not
getting the proper recognition for their hard work, because it
seems that there are always some members of the community who
know everything better. Let’s face it: Being a board member
isn’t an easy job – and all too often it’s a THANKLESS JOB!
And there are still too many BAD board members,
board members who ignore the rules and laws, pursue their own
private agendas and use their positions to enrich themselves by
illegal means.
In reality it’s all about the association system – a system that
can never work the way it is set up. Creating laws regulating
these communities is a pretty useless effort without creating
tools to easily enforce these laws. What kind of system is it if
you have to be rich – or minimum well off – in order to enforce
your rights?
What kind of system is it that allows board members to “steal”
from their neighbors and get away with a slap on the wrist?
It’s a system that creates dictatorships – and allows the
dictators to use their neighbors’ money to protect themselves
against prosecution for their misdeeds!
For the benefit of all the good families who got lured into
these communities under false pretenses this system needs
serious changes if it’s supposed to create the easy-living
environment families are being promised when moving into these
community associations.
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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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