TAJ BOD Election Results 2016

                   

BOD Meeting and Election Meeting This Week

Meet the Candidates Night 2016

Candidates and interested unit owners gathered in the clubhouse tonight to get to know each other. Cindy Potts (BOD President) ran the meeting. Each candidate was given five minutes to introduce themselves. Questions and answers were to follow a three-minute limitation. For the most part, everyone was well-behaved.

One unit owner used her turn to speak to become rather accusatory toward someone. She became so animated that she left her seat and walked ten feet toward another individual and looked rather threatening. That quickly ended when the BSO security guard threatened to remove her, and she remained civil after that.

There was much talk about money. What will be the impact of a lawsuit that has been filed against the TAJ Association by a candidate have on individual unit owners, some asked. How can we raise the money to repair our buildings that are deteriorating and are under the threat of condemnation by the city of Plantation, others asked. Who will settle an old lawsuit against a former construction company, another asked. There was much disinformation bantered about, as one candidate (understandably upset because the sale of her home fell through) passed on incorrect information about our community that she obtained from an ill-informed real estate agent. Many people panicked over the threat of community-wide special assessments, lawsuits that take money from individual unit owner pockets, and exponential increases of monthly maintenance fees -- all ideas that were put forth by a couple of candidates.

Generally, the candidates seemed well-intended and well-mannered. There are pictures and brief summaries of candidate statements, below.

Above, left to right:
Esther is retired and has time to donate to the cause, and has been on the BOD many years ago. Sean has an idea to fund the rebuilding of the community -- $99 from each and every unit owner, community wide, per month, until the work is done. Carol says she is the only one with complete knowledge of the association financial records and functioning, and has been on the BOD for the past eight years.

Below:
Mark professed his integrity and has dedicated the past eight years to service on the BOD. He made allusions to past failed bank loans and other financial issues, and invited anyone to come visit him in his home for a more full explanation of what he knows.
Steve offered his services, cited his past experience on the BOD and as author of the TAJWatch blog, and his commitment to civil discourse as a member of the BOD where things are prone to becoming uncivilized.

 Below:
Lee is retired and pledged a high level of personal integrity and fiscal discipline.
Tracy said she supports other candidates (Josh, Lee, and Jesus who was not present tonight). She said that financial matters are her top priority. She asserted that she could serve on the BOD and also sue the Association (current litigation) without a conflict of interest.
Josh listed many impressive qualifications and exuded an air of professional competence.
Paulette cited her previous service on the BOD and credited herself for financial safe-guards (two-person signature requirements, etc) and the establishment of separate bank accounts for every building (each building is a separate condominium).

Not pictured are Flavio, who essentially withdrew his candidacy due to relocating to a residence outside the community, and Jesus who was not in attendance tonight.

2016 BOD Election Candidate Statements and Ballot

Letter to TAJ Residents from a TAJ Resident

Letter to all of our TAJ residents……from Margery Morgenstern

Now that our last BOD elections have taken place, with four new Board Members being elected; it is time to look back at where we are as a community. I have been a renter, and home owner for over 23 years; these past elections tactics would rival even the worst that Chicago or New York had ever seen. Did anyone ever question the WHO & WHY of the candidates, or just take them at their word??

One candidate has a good job as a manager, excellent. One is a young comer who is told what to do by another, I get it, he’s her pup.

The third person is a prior board member who quit and never completed that term! But was on the Board when the worst Bank Loan was signed!!  That person’s “claims to fame”; was making the same speech throwing out: This Board is “stealing money’, hiding money; favoritism; using account tricks; mortgage manipulation; etc.  Did he ever show one solid proof of any evidence? NO NEVER! Did he ever answer a direct question with a simple Yes or No, he answered it with another question….A cheap trick!! He keeps yelling to bring in a Forensic Accountant to look at all our Books. Bring them in, bring in two; make sure we all know the cost of upfront! For they will find nothing wrong; all the accounting is up front; with nothing to hide.

The fourth person earns that living as a Real-Estate Broker; buying and selling real-estate; town-houses; homes; at the lowest cost possible and selling/flipping them at a profit!! And now you put this person where critical home information is available; at TAJ! Where are they going to spend the 28 to 40 hours per week to the BOD business? Do you know that there is an ongoing liable suite taken out by the Association against this member?  Find out why; ask questions at the next BOD meeting. Find out why this person had fines levied by the association. There is a possible Federal Mail Fraud charge being sought against this person! Ask questions. Don’t be led astray with by Quote:::: BIG MOUTHS YELLING AT BOARD MEETINGS. Roberts Rules of Order was put in place for a reason. Learn what they are! The rules are there for your protection; don’t let a group “Rail-Road” this community.

Yes our TAJ DOC’S have to be brought up to date, they are quite old. Do not be fooled if the new Board will want to take credit for coming up with this idea; it has been in the works for some time. Many times there is a more important matter in front that must be taken care of first.

But people need to understand they were tricked to vote for someone to get on the board to stop her own lawsuit. That is a conflict of Interest in so many ways. She wants to hire a management company for this community. Our History knows – every management company has stolen from TAJ.. Is this what she wants??

Regards,

Margery Morgenstern

Meeting Minutes as Reported by Unit Owner

Meeting minutes, contributed by Paulette Watson (thank you, Paulette!)

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Townhouses at Jacaranda Condominium Association, Inc.

Board of Directors Annual Meeting 
Minutes of Wednesday, March 11, 2015

Call to Order 7:00 PM 
 Present: John Lovell, Mark Morgenstern, Phyllis Fabara, Carol Hazan,
Paulette Watson, Wendi Hill and Office staff . Also present Beth Linde and
assistant.
 Absent: Willie Perkins
 
State election Monitor, Arthur Miller, announced that there was a quorum and
explained the proceedings for counting ballots for election of Board Members
to four seats.

Announcement of newly elected Directors for 2-year term: 
 Voting Results:
 Cynthia Potts (99), David Saldarriaga (87), Tracy Thomas (85), Harold Scott
(72), Phyllis  Fabara (68), Paulette Watson (67), Sean Wolf (65), Flavius
Lazar (42), John Lovell (34).

Elected: Cynthia Potts, David Saldarriaga, Tracy Thomas, and Harold Scott

No other business brought forth.

Adjournment 11:13 PM
Submitted by Paulette Watson, 2014 Secretary, Board of Directors, March 12,
2015 

Steve, there was no voting in 2010-2014 because only present BOD members ran
so they were elected by default. Willie Perkins ran in 2013 to fill an empty
spot - again no voting. In 2014 there was, I believe, two "intents to run"
but there were problems with either their eligibility or late entry.

**************

Results Are In - The Winner is "Change"

The winners are: Cynthia Potts, David Saldarriaga, Tracy Thomas, and Harold Scott.  

I was late getting to the meeting tonight, and had to leave before the results were in because the counting of the vote went long into the night. I was told that there were approximately 158 votes cast. That is a very high voter turn out, compared to previous years. In 2007 there were 106 votes, in 2008 there were only 63 votes, and in 2009 there were 147 votes.  (I have not kept track of the past several years and would welcome that information if anyone else knows the voter turn-out numbers for years 2010 - 2014.)

I was also told that as many as 16 ballots were disqualified because the names could not be verified as unit owners. I also witnessed that a couple of the ballots were set aside by the election monitor when they were opened because they had been enveloped incorrectly.

Even though I was not there when the results were announced, I received information from two reliable sources at about 11:20pm, naming the four winners. Their reported vote totals were Cynthia = 99, David = 87, Tracy = 85, Harold = 72.  (I have no information about the vote counts of the others.)

It is worth noting that four members of the previous Board of Directors were relieved of their duties tonight. In these kind of elections, many unkind things can be said about candidates. Maybe some of that is deserved, but probably not all of it. In any case, let us be gracious and thank any and all who are willing to donate their time, efforts, and caring to the common good through their service on the BOD. 

Phyllis Fabara, Paulette Watson, and John Lovell, Willie Perkins, I (we?) thank you for your service. 

Left to right: The state appointed election monitor, TAJ attorney Beth Lindie, and her assistant. 

Do Not Forget or Delay

The TAJ BOD election will be held tomorrow at 7pm, when envelopes will presumably be opened and ballots counted. To get a start on the process, those in charge of the election will begin verifying signatures on the outer envelopes (that's the first step, to determine if a ballot is submitted by a proper voter) at 6pm. 

In response to an inquiry that I made to the management office, we are encouraged to have our ballots submitted prior to 6pm, although they are not certain that ballots submitted after 6pm and before 7pm would be disqualified.  So, to be sure that you vote counts, get it in before 6pm.

Open Letter to TAJ Unit Owners from BOD Member Mark Morgenstern

The following is a letter that came to be by email from Mark Morgenstern, a member of the TAJ Board of Directors, who asked that I post it online. I am happy to publish this letter, unedited, as it does not appear to contain any direct attacks on named individuals, and the author clearly takes ownership of his remarks.

Let me also state the obvious, just in case anyone might get confused: just because I post someone's letter on this blog does not mean that I necessarily agree with the opinions, factual claims, interpretation of events, or philosophy of the author of the letter.

*******************************

An open letter to all at TAJ from Mark Morgenstern          3/5/15

Good day, I will like to state a few facts. Within the past few months there have been many snide-remarks, rumors, false-hood, just plain lies, plus our-right Mail Fraud perpetrated, spread by mailing, e-mails throughout our community; no proof shown anywhere, just plain speculation!!!

Because of these issues, TAJ & its BOD has been put under a microscope and deeply examined by The Town of Plantation; The Building Dept of Plantation; Code-enforcement; The State of Florida; Dept of Professional Regulation; The Broward Ombudsman! The results turned out to be;… one needed letter to extend our Audit to the Community! Plus when we took the board, the audit was four- to-five years beyond; now it is two and before the year closed out; up to date. Did anyone do their research to see why we were so behind??? Because of all these issues & falsehoods more of your & mine Legal Dollars have spend; hours wasted that could have been spent to move forward. If you were at the last BOD meeting;  you heard one member bitterly complain about not being able to see old minutes they wanted and had to go to the Lawyers Office and was charged for getting these minutes. Number one; they were not charged; the building was charged. What the home owner wanted was the BOD minutes from 2005- to 2014, nine years! What she paid for was the printing; as normal. Number two; any results from reading all the minutes? I think not, or we would have heard from them! Every decision that was made at our BOD meetings was with one idea; what was the best for TAJ. Not for the Board, not for certain Buildings, as was done is in the Past;  But Do What Is The Best for TAJ!!!! ONLY!!!!

Now, a question is asked, why didn't the office print out Nine Years of minutes for them?  Many answers. One, there had been verbal threats made in the office by Home owners, there was major problems with Home owners going past the normal routine of Office Visits. Maybe the Office was responding to the many “Office Requests Forms” being PILED into the office, one on top of each other, each line, completely filled up. Never happened before; put now, something was going on. The office was being PUSHED.  There have been more than 7 full page requests from one home-owner with 9 to 10 line of information each;, from hand tool inventory to, complete roster of residents, wanted. Other homeowners followed suit. The Office was being buried under paper work……..Something was not right. May of these owners were new to our community; within the last 1-4 years!

The so called tried & failed Re-call of our new Budget……….many of these new owners did not understand or want to understand the simple rules we all live under. 

AT this upcoming election the DBPR was asked to oversee the procedure? All these new home-owners have never seen our election process. It is normal, with Lawyers present, very secure, & has never had a problem before. So why ask the DBPR to oversee? WHY, they don’t trust themselves. By the way, there were double signatures, (not-allowed), names just printed in, and a few extra wrinkles added. But they will be here! And they are welcomed; there is nothing to hide. O, I forgot something, who is going to PAY to have them here………We all are, what is an extra thousand $ of our money being spent!!!!! Didn’t we all want that!!!!

Many of us have seen the entire extra letter being sent to them. Not one but a whole slew of them!!! Only sent to certain people. Many sent with the return address as the” Townhouses At JACARANDA”.  WRONG!!!!.....They were never mailed by our Office staff or the BOD……Federal Mail Fraud? This is an open case still in process……………….Other issues, too many to go into…………WHY!!

Take a step back and look at all the facts………….All are true!......Within the upcoming election 9 candidates running, 3 are newcomers 1-4 years; One is an old board member, did not complete his time in office. Why would you remove the treasurer; (never been any legal, or money issues!), why you remove the people with the most knowledge within the two large Suits against the Contractors who caused these building problems?

We as a Board are very proud of our accomplishments; from the many disasters we were faced with on day one, & I will not beat up the past again, to what we will leave behind. Daily accounting, up to day, bills paid on time. Construction being done; permits being pulled and closed out! Working closely with the City and Dept of Building, in Plantation. There are still many problems over TAJ, and the City must see community that can work together, not be torn apart!!!!!!

Stop and think before X your ballot; it is your money, your community, do not give it away!!

THANK YOU…………Mark Morgenstern

Election Monitor Appointed for Upcoming BOD Vote

This document came to me by way of a mass-emailing to TAJ residents and unit owners. It is the first time in MY recollection that we have had an official monitor for one of our condo board elections. This vote promises to be a very emotionally charged event. 

Doorknob Flyer

02 March 2015 BOD Meeting

Anonymous Flyer, in Management Office Clothing

This morning I found a flyer on my doorstep. It was in a plastic bag, like the ones used by the TAJ Management office when they have flyers delivered to unit owners' doors. When I picked it up I expected to find an official notice from our TAJ Management office. 

Instead, what had been delivered is a printed copy of an email that had been circulated several weeks ago. I have shared it here so that the readers can see how bitter the conflict has become. But because the flyer is anonymous I do not give it much credibility. I have removed the names from this un-attributable writing out of courtesy to all involved.

Voting Package for TAJ Board of Directors Election on March 11th

I received the voting package for the TAJ BOD election, which will be held on March 11th. I scanned and have included all the pages of what came to me in the mail. Already there are complaints from some unit owners. I will post their complaints in a subsequent post.