Highlights from the January 18, 2023 Board Meeting:
“PRESERVING YOUR PRIVACY” and
“FAUX PAS POLITICS”
Part I. Preserving Your Privacy
This concerns agenda item, Old Business, Item #2.
The Board voted to set a special members meeting scheduled for February 8, 2023 at 7:00pm with a notice and a proxy being mailed to all members to allow members to decide if they want to vote by secret ballot only, for future votes to change the Declaration and Articles of Incorporation of the HOA.
This motion was made by Pat, seconded by Arthur, and was approved unanimously.
Members’ approving this vote will ensure that your future votes on changing the HOA Declaration and Articles of Incorporation will be private and anonymous and you won’t be intimidated to vote one way or the other in the future for the choices you make on your ballots.
It will also make it much more convenient for you to vote (in the privacy of your own home).
While we strongly disagree with the manner in which this was handled, and procedurally it was handled poorly for technical reasons not germane to this discussion, nevertheless, we strongly recommend a yes vote on this important matter.
You will need to vote by proxy or in person just this one time so that it can be changed to an anonymous vote for future changes. This means it will not be a private vote just this one time for votes concerning changes to the Declaration and Articles of Incorporation of the Association.
You must sign the proxy and send it in/deliver it to the office or appear at the meeting to vote in person by ballot. Make sure the person who is authorized to vote per your voting certificate is the one who signs the proxy.
You will receive this in the first mailing you are going to get concerning the March Members Annual Meeting and Election, so keep an eye out for it and don’t ignore it!
It allows you to vote in the privacy of your own home for changes to the Declaration and Articles of Incorporation without being unfairly pestered about how to vote. You can vote how you wish and then tell people whatever you want as to how you voted. It protects your privacy. I know this is important to many if not most of you!
Here’s an added bonus: By overwhelmingly voting yes, in fact, you will prove to the community that if it’s something good and compelling, the community will support it by a very wide margin. Let’s see if we can get over 90% which was achieved once before when the community voted to refresh the clubhouse.
This will also dispel the inaccurate claim that if you don’t vote to reduce the community voting threshold from 75% to 66 2/3% to change an amenity, “nothing will ever get done.” Prove that inaccurate claim wrong with your YES vote on this question so that that fallacious argument will be soundly defeated by an overwhelming victory on this vote.
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Now on to the rest of the Board meeting highlights. I’ve been told my highlights are too long. Ok, this one’s shorter.
Reminder: all seven directors are equal (Jeff, Harvey, Richard, Pat, Arthur, Bob, and Sue). Four are also officers: Jeff (president), Harvey (vice-president), Richard (treasurer), and Pat (secretary) with very limited administrative functions.
Despite the fact that the officers have those additional limited administrative titles, they’re still all equal directors in charge of managing the HOA.
At the start of the meeting, not including the Board, the property manager, the Zoom operator, and the sound operator, there were a mere 16 people in the ballroom audience of which six of them were Committee Chairs; that means there were 10 others including me.
An unknown number were on Zoom, although historically this number is also low. Two more people came into the ballroom after the meeting started.
Jeff’s Opening Remarks: Once again, there were a couple of add-ons that were announced at the meeting for palm trimming, hardwood raising and thinning, and hardwood crown reduction, and the landscaper’s proposals for these add-ons alone totaled $137,032.
There was no notice to the community as required by statute (720.303) so you didn’t get the opportunity to research, prepare, and comment before the vote. That is why Arthur voted no; all others voted for these new proposals.
Part II. Faux Pas Politics
First Residents’ Input Session: (highlights only)
1. Resident #1: This man, who is a junior webmaster, went on a rampage against Director Arthur and falsely claimed that Arthur was untruthful.
Arthur had made comments in several emails between the Board and the webmasters and his comments were based on Director Harvey’s specific claim that all Board members had access to the HOA website’s email Publisher. Arthur, in fact, did not have such access, but Harvey did.
Director Sue also noted in that email exchange that previous to Arthur’s arrival on the Board, all Directors did in fact have access to the email Publisher.
It does seem that the sudden change in that policy, without any notice, was specifically punitive toward Arthur, to try and shut down his ability to communicate with the HOA membership, the very people to whom he has a fiduciary duty to report.
It is also noteworthy that Board underlings, such as webmasters, have this email Publisher access, as do Committee Chairs and even club officers.
And yet somehow a number of these people think it is audacious for Director Arthur to have the same access that they enjoy. And this junior webmaster appeared to go berserk that Director Arthur would even question the webmasters.
Harvey used that email Publisher access to send an email to the community through the official HOA website which denigrated a resident, in this case, me. Harvey ultimately stipulated to a violation of the website user rules for that faux pas.
(By the way, according to the online Dictionary, faux pas means “an embarrassing or tactless act or remark in a social situation.” So stipulated.)
Harvey later admitted that he made the inaccurate statement, to wit, that all Board members had such access, upon which Arthur relied in his email correspondence on the issue.
Nevertheless, this junior webmaster used the First Residents’ Input Session as a bully pulpit to attack Director Arthur for the comments made by Arthur based on Harvey’s initial representation, which Arthur and other Board members took as true.
Upon information and belief, even the property manager believed that all Board members had such access.
This is not the first time that this junior webmaster, who is also the co-Recreation Chairperson, who has full access to this email Publisher, and who is married to the Entertainment Chairwoman, has gone after a Board member unfairly.
He did it to Director Sue at the June 15, 2022 Board meeting where he publicly and in a very agitated manner loudly railed at her, carrying on in a tirade aimed at her which she did not deserve at all. It was completely unwarranted, disingenuous, rude, and disrespectful.
This was the same board meeting where his wife, the Entertainment Chairperson, was called out for falsely claiming that Director Arthur committed two felonies (breaking into the property manager’s office and hacking the property manager’s computer) in order to fraudulently induce residents to sign a recall petition against him.
The property manager issued a community-wide email stating that those claims were 100% false and never happened.
The Entertainment Chairwoman had circulated that gross defamation around the community and was called out at the June 15, 2022 Board meeting by a brave resident who told everyone at that meeting that this Chairwoman told her those lies to her face.
This was done to try and oust Arthur as a Director, and when this fraudulent scheme was discovered and uncovered, their fraudulent recall petition failed. See the hyperlink at the end of this report if you are interested in revisiting that despicable and disgusting divisiveness engaged in by these individuals.
So these people have a pattern of engaging in false claims where they call other people liars which is classic psychological projection. Psychological projection is where they accuse their target of what they are actually doing to the target. It’s a well-known ploy of dishonest people.
Most of you are already on to them and their deceit, and properly confer upon them absolutely no credibility. We greatly appreciate that!
Approval of Minutes: Motion to approve the December 21, 2022 Board meeting Minutes was made by Pat and seconded by Sue. It passed 7-0.
There were also Minutes from an illegal closed meeting which occurred on November 16, 2022 where six Board members illegally voted to give bonuses to the management company’s employees (they spent your money secretly). Pat moved to approve those Minutes and Harvey seconded that motion.
Arthur refused to attend that meeting or vote because it wasn’t before you, the members, with an opportunity for your input, and it violated the clear language of the statute (720.303) that disallows secret voting in plain English.
Therefore, he abstained, and these Minutes were approved 6-0-1.
Committee Reports:
1. Entertainment: [flyers and emails to follow for all planned events through the Chairwoman’s access to the HOA website’s email Publisher.]
Old Business:
1. Guest access update – Harvey Ginsberg
Harvey reported that the new system is working great and therefore the two-month trial period should convert to a permanent protocol; guards will not call you and will instead send your guests away if you don’t call them into the voice mail or add them to GateKey in advance. He made the motion, Sue seconded it, and it passed unanimously.
2. Ballot/Amendments – Pat Nast
This was covered at the top of my report. Pat made the motion, Arthur seconded it, and it passed unanimously. Members will be receiving the notice and attendant documents in the mail.
New Business:
1. New Weed Control Treatments / PBB - Harvey Ginsberg
Dennis Bradley from Palm Beach Broward Landscaping came to the Board meeting and explained that they are trying a new weed killer for more effective turf weed control.
He mentioned that PBB got three new communities to service from individuals from those communities who were just driving through ours and liked what they saw, and PBB appreciated that, so they are not charging our HOA for these treatments.
He said this new chemical is not harmful to pets and takes ten to fifteen minutes to dry. Personally, I would keep my pet away from it. They will provide dates in advance and flag the areas as they go.
2. Coconut & Royal Palm Tree Removals / $22,000 - $27,400 – Harvey Ginsberg
Here we have more proposals coming from the landscaping vendor because none of this was negotiated in advance when the contract was renewed.
Three years ago, at the March 4, 2020 Board meeting, Arthur spoke at the First Residents’ Input Session and gave the then-Board a template for a Schedule A with all kinds of landscaping issues and projects and told them to negotiate the pricing for those predictable issues and projects before renewal. He was ignored.
His speech from that Board meeting has been on our Landscaping Issues page under our HOA Issues page for almost three years now. Then-HOA president Marion’s response after his speech was: “ok, thank you everybody. Approval of Minutes, Linda.” Translation: residents, go pound sound.
So here is another example of a non-negotiated proposal from Palm Beach Broward Landscaping. Upon information and belief, no one picked up the phone to the owners of PBB for the purpose of any negotiations whatsoever on this or any of their proposals. No one sought out any competitive bidding.
Harvey is the Board liaison to the Landscaping Committee. Jeff signs off on the invoices. Bob just nods in agreement. They are each up for re-election in March.
This item passed unanimously 7-0 because it needs to be done without delay as it is a potential safety hazard (falling fronds and coconuts).
3. Phantasma Scale Treatment / PBB / $14,930 – Harvey Ginsberg
Here we have more money for the landscaping vendor: was this amount negotiated? By whom? When? This item was added to the agenda on Monday morning and equal Directors saw it for the first time when it was e-blasted to the community. It passed 7-0 because eradicating these pests in a timely manner is critical.
There were three add-ons at the meeting as listed below. There was no mandatory 48-hour notice to the community as required by the statute (720.303), and for that reason, Arthur voted no.
This was very disrespectful to the community on the part of the other board members. You all had no opportunity to research, prepare, and speak at the First Residents’ Input Session.
All they had to do was call another meeting two days later and they could have handled all of these which would have taken five minutes, just like when they met to approve the annual budget. So what was it: laziness? Or just arrogance and defiance of the statute? Maybe both. Who knows with these people.
Upon information and belief, there was no negotiation or competitive bidding for any of these either.
Total payment to the landscaper this month alone: $179,362. That’s $298.94 per household.
3.a. Palm Trimming: $30,450 twice a year = $60,900. There are 3,814 palm trees. Motion by Harvey, seconded by Bob; it passed 6-1. It violated the open meeting law because it was done without the minimum mandatory notice to the community and that’s why Arthur voted no.
3.b. Hardwood trees: raise and thin. These are the shade trees: $56,548.80 less a discount of $27 per tree at 152 trees ($4,104 discount), total = $52,444. Motion by Harvey, seconded by Sue, passed 6-1, same reason for the no vote by Arthur.
3.c. Hardwood crown reductions: Landon and Angel Wing pods, $329 each x 72 trees = $23,688. Motion by Harvey, seconded by Pat, passed 6-1, same reason for the no vote by Arthur.
4. Glenville Aerator / $3,320 – Bob Dingee
The aerator needed a new compressor and aerator diffusers. This comes under repair and maintenance; motion by Bob, seconded by Pat, and it was approved unanimously for the Glenville Pod lake.
5. Powered Speakers for Ballroom / Dale Electronics / $2,798.56 -Richard Greene
This is for four speakers. Jeff said it is the first time these speakers are being replaced and there are sound issues with the current ones. It passed unanimously.
6. New Year’s Eve 2023 Entertainment – Richard Greene
This is the contract for the DJ for this coming New Year's Eve. It passed unanimously.
7. Entertainment / Black Box Booking – Richard Greene
This is for the entertainment for two separate shows, one on January 28, 2024 and one on March 3, 2024. It passed unanimously.
8. 10-S Tennis Supplies / $1,323.31 – Pat Nast
This item was for various tennis supplies that Lee, the Sports Director, needs to maintain the courts and to replace a pickleball portable net. It passed unanimously.
9. Tennis Awnings / $6,887.30 – Pat Nast
This item was added to the agenda on Monday morning and equal Directors saw it for the first time when it was e-blasted to the community. It is for several awnings.
Arthur spoke with Sports Director Lee who told him there was “no urgency and it can wait a year or two.” Richard said it’s “in the reserve” and “we might as well do it now; it will only get worse,” and Harvey then said, “it will cost more.”
Jeff said, “it makes it a better appearance and there’s money in the reserves.” Arthur asked, “why can’t we just postpone it?” He’s trying to be a good steward of your money and was following the Sports Director’s suggestion.
Harvey said, “it will be more than $6,800.” Deborah said, “there are complaints from residents, there are holes in it, it’s ragged looking…”
Arthur went with the professional Sports Director’s advice and opposed it. It passed 6-1.
10. Removal of Posts from Official Cascade Lakes Website – Sue Schmer
A resident posted something on the message board; Harvey responded, and I responded to Harvey. The entire thread was removed without notice to any poster (in violation of the rules) by one or more webmasters and without the required referral to the Board.
Separately, director Harvey used the HOA website and his privileged access to send out a hit-piece on me to the community, denigrating me personally by name for publishing a true report on his attending the December 21, 2022 Board meeting while sick (he had Covid and five days later the board members to his immediate left and right came down with Covid).
He admitted to the inappropriateness of this hit-piece and stipulated to taking a violation (first warning) for it. He apologized to the community and the Board, but not to me, the target of his rant, and in his apology, he falsely claimed that it was “in response to a personal attack on me and we all know who.”
In fact, I did not attack him; I reported the facts. I stand by my report, and 100% of the feedback I received, as well as feedback others received who advised me of that feedback, agreed with me, and the feedback was enormous on this one.
So this apology to everyone but me actually attacked me again. This makes Harvey look like a jerk. The honorable thing to do is to own your mistakes, not compound them.
Sue: “I appreciate Harvey’s apology, but it wouldn’t be available to someone else. I wrote this: As per the terms of use of the website, any removal of a post by the webmasters needs to be approved "at a duly- noticed Board meeting."
For a complete lists of procedures for violations of the use of the website see Terms of Use, V- Violations), and an email to the one(s) whose post was deleted is to be sent, along with the reason(s) for the deletion. Additionally, the Board also needs to be informed as to the reasons for the post(s) removal.
Furthermore, I strongly advise the senior webmaster to follow the existing website use violation guidelines and rules as the procedures described above were not followed.
Therefore, I make the following motions:
1. Motion to uphold the deletion of a director's post from the message board, and to provide a written explanation to the residents as to why their posts were deleted.
2. Motion to impose another violation for a director's misuse of the email publisher to respond to a resident's message board post.
3. As it is, in my opinion, an inherent conflict of interest: Motion to approve that a current, serving Board director shall not be a webmaster.”
Arthur seconded all three motions. Harvey “recused” himself but didn’t leave the room and in fact commented during the discussion, so his “votes” should be recorded as abstentions.
Motion #1: In favor: Sue, Arthur, Pat. Opposed: Jeff, Richard, Bob. Motion failed (3-3).
Motion #2: this was handled via stipulation by Harvey to accept the first violation warning notice. Jeff actually called the question at the top of the meeting and it passed 4-0-2 with Sue and Arthur abstaining; Arthur noted that Harvey should also be listed as an abstention (he was there and he participated).
Sue and Arthur abstained because while the result was agreeable, the procedure in which this was handled was improper; Jeff should not have usurped Sue’s motion and the manner of the presentation was flawed. This was a rude hijacking of Sue’s motion.
Motion #3: In favor: Sue, Arthur. Opposed: Jeff, Richard, Pat, Bob (2-4). It failed.
11. Website Violation – admission by violator, no Board referral – Arthur Andelson
Arthur tabled this matter because it was addressed above when Harvey stipulated to the violation of the HOA website Terms of Service.
Second Residents’ Input Session:
1. Resident #1: (a former Board member)
“Congratulations to the landscaping committee; they did a beautiful job this year, it is very improved, and the Entertainment Committee members on the show on Saturday night.
And third, the last board agenda item: everyone did see the Message Board; many people get that as an email directly. Any Board member should not ever put anything on there that is personal. It’s never been done in the past and should never be done in the future.”
Thank you, Ms. Resident, for your comments, which I appreciate.
If anyone needs help in getting Message Board posts directly as emails, please contact me for assistance. It’s very easy to do on the website by adjusting your subscription.
Round Table Discussion and Adjournment:
No board member had any concluding comments. The meeting was adjourned at 10:12am. Next scheduled Board meeting is February 15, 2023 at 9:30am.
Conclusion:
Thanks for reading, and to all of our wonderful neighbors and readers, thank you again for your unwavering support!
Your faithful scribe, Vicki Roberts
Hyperlinks To Happiness:
1. Mailboxes
2. Sun-Sentinel October 11, 2022 article, “Boca condo board loses bid to withhold financial records from ‘troublemakers’”
3. “Explosive: Lies Exposed, A Smoking Gun, and Vindication:” June 15, 2022 Board meeting