Voting Proxy and Candidate Eligibility Forms

It is not too late to turn in your Proxy letter, but the deadline to register as a candidate for the Board of Directors has ended (Jan 30th). The election will be in early March.  Below you can see the forms that were mailed out. I have also inserted a link to the forms as a test of the available technology.

Notice of Intent to be a Candidate, and Voting Proxy Appointment

Annual BOD Election to be on March 13, 2013

If you want to be on the BOD in 2013, the submission deadline is February 1st.

Meet the Candidates Night

Left to right: President W2ndy H1ll was the moderater, John Lovell, Ben Odebralski, Paulette Watson, Elliot Schertzer, Phyllis Fabara.

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I arrived to the meeting at 8pm as they were just announcing the candidates and the guidelines of a few minutes each for an opening remark followed by a brief question and answer period.

The following is a summary of the presentations, questions, and responses.  This information is being provided as a service to the community with the warning that this is not an official record of the events of this night.  My report is being made from notes that I took and from my memory. Others attending the meeting may recall differently than myself and they are welcome to make comments to add to and/or correct this report.

Phyllis Fabara (building #2):  The current Finance Committee Chairman.  An original home-owner.  Worked many years as a teacher and is multi-lingual, now retired. She expressed five areas of her focus as a future BOD member:

1. Finances:  she acknowledged that she is still learning TAJ's particular financial issues, but expressed some pride in the Finance Committee's progress toward record reconciliation and stated that a spreadsheet of the TAJ finances is now available to unit owners through the office.
2. Construction: she knows that unit owners do not have money on hand for large refurbishment special assessments, but she also knows that the city is watching for progress to be made toward refurbishments. 
3. Building Captains: will work to get a captain from every building.
4. Property Manager:  there is a need for a PM, but she wants a hard worker with good people skills.
5. Board meeting Minutes:  to be posted on the website, the website to be updated and supported.

Phyllis closed with a general statement about BOD member behavior.  She emphasized the need for respect, courtesy, listening, and working together for the common good.

Elliot Schertzer (building 39):  Previous member of the BOD, past chairman of the Community Relations Committee [Editorial comment: Elliot was the host of the most successful holiday parties TAJ has ever seen]. He used the anacronym AOL to introduce his platform of Accountability, Oversight, and Leadership.  He stopped short of negative campaigning, but did state that while the current BOD is doing okay the BOD could be better.  He noted the following shortfalls that presumably would be areas of his focus on the BOD:

• Property Manager: we have not had a professional PM for one year
• Security: we have been without any security personel since last summer
• Small swimming pool: the pool has been in disrepair and is unusable since last summer

He summarized by saying that BOD members need to be more active, more assertive for the good of the community.

Paulette Watson (building 14):  She has lived in TAJ since 1996. Her employment involves people and contract skills as she is an organizer of Pro-Bowling tournaments.  

She currently serves as Chairman of the Construction Committee and is on the Violations Committee.  She said that her emphasis on the violations committee is to resolve problems rather than to collect fines.  She said that one of her accomplishments on the Construction Committee was to collaborate in the effort to obtain a new contract which has proven itself to be a useful tool in enforcing work agreements.  She said that she is in frequent contact Beth G (office manager) with the maintenance crew.  She supports the idea of hiring a Project Manager, but stated that perhaps we can get one for less money now that the economy has contracted.

Paulette explained that she was out of the country during the election one year ago, and therefore did not get a chance to campaign.  She stated that whether she wins or loses she will donate her time to the community in one capacity or another.  She encouraged all to vote and to encourage our neighbors to vote.  

Ben Odebralski (building 5): Ben is now the senior member on the BOD (six years?).  He has a history of participation with the Construction Committee and is currently the BOD Secretary. He supports that idea of hiring a Property Manager.  He stated that the little pool will be fixed within the next two weeks.  He said that work is going to be done to prepare trees for the coming hurricane season.  He noted that some units in the TAJ neighborhood are selling and that the association is renting out the units that they pruchased a couple of years ago.  

John Lovell (building 1): John has lived here since 1984 and in now retired.  He has been on the BOD from time to time and has been part of some important decisions, some of which saved the Association money (saving money on the installation of a sidewalk, winning a court case against a pest control company) and others that have cost the Association (such as the purchasing of two units by the Association with terrrible sub-prime loan terms that have lost much money).  John is currently the Vice President on the BOD and as such stands in the for President in her absence.  he stated that he has assisted Wendy by accompanying her to the bank as she negotiated better terms for the units the Association owns.  John said that he has also accompanied Wendy as she hired the Moody firm for our book-keepers.  He said that he has never missed a BOD meeting and attends all committee meetings.    He also says that he keeps tabs on the maintenance crew to make sure that they do their work.  He said that he is in communication with an attorney to seek legal remedies against JM Miles and IPQ construction companies, as well as Carne Engineering for mistakes that they had reportedly made.  He was vague about the mistakes.

Carol Hazen spoke for Esther Leacock (building 37): Esther was away for a family emergency and asked Carol to make the statement that Esther will continue to fight for the good of the unit owners.

Question 1

A unit owner from building 26 asked what has been the harm of not having a security guard or a Property Manager.  None of the candidates answered her question directly, but used it as opportunity to express their security platforms:

  

• John wants security guards on our payroll. 
• Elliot is in favor of off-duty police for security.  
• Ben raised the idea of a neighborhood watch (which all BOD members agreed would be good).  
• Paulette got involved in a discussion of security gates and why they are not a good idea.
  

Question 2

From building #31 the statement was made that communications are confusing (she gave the recent mailing about garage conversions as an example).  

• Elliot said that he supports the idea of a community-wide cable or satelite system that would provide a dedicated tv channel for us to air BOD meeting.

Question 3

The third question turned out to not be a question at all, but bickering between an audience member and Elliot over language he had used in his introductory speech.  The subject was loosely regarding the difference between a budget and real cash-on-hand.

Question 4

I asked the candidates whether they would abstain from votes that involve their own buildings.  

• Phyllis said she was not sure
• Elliot said that it depended on the type of vote, sometime yes and other times no
• Paulette said she would abstain
• Ben said he would not abstain but would cast a vote
• John said that he would cast a vote so that the members of his building would be represented

Dan Capobianco asked if we have budgeted enough for a Property Manager and was told yes. He also called for clarification regarding garage conversions/reversions and was told that Phyllis Fabara and W2ndy H1ll have been in face-to-face contact with the city building department and have been told that they are researching and expecting to find that garages were properly permitted by the original builder.  Therefore, it would only be those owners who have converted their garages to living spaces without permits that need to worry about the city violations.  All this information is to be confirmed by June, according to BOD President H1ll.

Victor Singh admonished the BOD to not be complacent.

Question 5 was are the candidate willing to attend a training class and/or obtain a CAM license? All answered yes to the first and no the the second, except John Lovell how is currently enrolled in a CAM licensing class.

Another unit owner expressed concern over lost revenue and was perplexed by the difference between our budget and our cash-flow.  There was little productive response other than to say that work is being performed, now, to collect on those unit owners who have not been paying their share of the Association's yearly maintenance assessment.

Val asked each candidate to share their idea of what the role of a BOD member should be.

• Phyllis: attend meetings, get information, donate time
• Elliot: do your homework, stay informed, be assertive for unit owners
• Paulette: attend all meetings, liason with committees, know the issues, build consensus among BOD members, and be available to unit owners
• Ben: do what you are assigned to do when you are available
• John: it depends... have good attendance, perform occupancy screenings, have direct contact with vendors and service providers

Question

A building 20 unit owner asked three questions: 

Would the candidates vote for the interests of the community over the interests of their own building?

• Phyllis, Elliot, and Paulette said yes
• Ben and John both stated no.  John went on to say that he could not envision such a conflict ever arising

Would the candidate read and respond to emails?

• they all said yes.  There were some raised eyebrows indicating that current BOD members do not actually respond to their emails.

How much time would the candidates be willing to donate to the BOD activities?

• All agreed 10-20 hours per week.  It was generally acknowledged that Paulette and Phylliss have recently donated much more than that amount as committee members.  Elliot emphasized the need for quality time, not just quantity.  W2ndy H1ll wound up into a 4 minute rant about the lack of participation of current BOD members.  
• [Editorial comment:  for those who don't know, W2ndy puts in many hours each day and week for the Association.  All campaign promises aside, there are some on the BOD who do not donate much of their own time.  There is no mechanism by which to measure.  There is no time-clock and no regular reporting of BOD members individual contributions. In fact, for the past several months there are not even minutes of meetings available -- according to the bylaws that is the responsibility of the Secretary.]

As I mentioned above, questions and comments and corrections are welcome.  This has been done in an effort to share information openly with the community.   By the way, the meeting was attended by approximately 15 unit owners and voters.

 

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The following is submitted by Bryan Sklar.  He attended the meeting and stayed longer than I did and has some slightly different information to share.

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FOR THOSE OF YOU WHO COULD NOT ATTEND LAST NIGHT – HERE ARE SOME NOTES ABOUT THE MEET THE CANDIDATES NIGHT. PLEASE FEEL FREE TO SEND TO YOUR NEIGHBORS – PLEASE ASK QUESTIONS BEFORE  YOU VOTE.

CAUTION/WARNING: SEVERAL PEOPLE ARE PASSING OUT PREFILLED BALLOTS – CALL THE OFFICE IF SOMEONE ASKS YOU TO TAKE ONE. State requires EACH UNIT OWNER TO FILL IN THEIR OWN BALLOT, AND THE BALLOT MUST COME FROM THE OFFICE (HAS A WATERMARK ON IT). ALSO YOU CAN ONLY TURN IN ONE BALLOT – IF YOU MAKE A MISTAKE YOU CAN’T TURN IN A NEW BALLOT…SO YOU MAY WANT TO WAIT BEFORE TURNING IN YOUR BALLOT TO THE OFFICE.

CALL THE OFFICE OR CONDO OMBUDSMAN IF YOU FEEL ANY BOARD MEMBER OR CANDIDATE IS COMMITTING ELECTION VIOLATIONS.

Quote of the Night: “98% of what the board does is legal” – John Lovell, Vice-President

Candidates who attended: Fabara, Watson, Schertzer, Oderbraski, Lovell.

Not attending: Esther Leacock

Opening Statements were given by each candidate:

Fabara – worked with Moody on finances, accounting and is chair of Finance Committee. Priority is finding a  property manager, and keep existing staff. Minutes should be posted on web site. Get proper landscaping in place.

Schertzer – Role of the Board is Accountability, Oversight, Leadership. Priority is Security, need an assertive property manager, and getting what we paid for.

Watson – chair of construction and violation committee, priority is property manager, fiancés, working with city

Oderbraski – been on board 5 years. Priority is Property Manager to cover day-to-day issues. Concerned about shortfalls because owners are not paying maintenance.

Lovell – interviewed accounting firms, focus has been on legal where he attends mediation for lawsuits, expert witness for community, recommending his engineer to Association, issues with IPQ, Crain, JM construction, voted on both units but did not understand terms of loan.

Leacock – could not attend, family emergency.

Questions by unit owner:

Carol Building 26 -  - How has community suffered by not have a property manager or security?

Lovell – he recommends hiring 2 people – 1 for 3-night shift, 1 for 2-night shift instead of using private guard or Plantation Police. Did not answer question.

Oderbraski – police used to be here, wants to put in better security. Did not answer the question

Schertzer – explained we paid $21,000 more for in-house security that Lovell put in place because of insurance, workers comp, uniforms, etc. Had a lot of crime when we had our own Security under Lovell, one officer was attacked. Recommends police in community – we had significant decrease in crime, but it was not perfect. Got rid of gangs. Officers rotated shifts, sometimes they were not available. Did not answer the question.

Watson – only person to answer Carol’s question: we had increase in car break-ins, vandalism. Police came to community last week – want a crime watch program – every community with crime watch lowers crime rates.

LizBet Building 31 – Any specific ideas on keeping community informed/updated – 90% of community does not know what is going on

Schertzer -  install community wide satellite or cable TV network like every other Association (Comcast or DirecTV) so we have a community channel and unit owners would benefit from lower cable rates.

Oderbraski – Talked to Jay about web site, it has issues and cannot be updated currently.

 

Robert Building 10 – To Schertzer: What items are we paying for and not getting if approximately 30% of community is not paying dues? Don’t we have to cut expenses/eliminate items that can’t be paid for?

Schertzer: If it is in the budget (security, manager, etc.) and we are not getting those services then we are paying for something we are not getting.

 

Steve Building 35 – If your building is facing actions (financial, assessments, repairs, etc.) would you abstain from a vote pertaining to your own building or would you vote on it (conflict of interest question)?

Fabara – would vote for community interests first, ahead of building (building 2)

Schertzer – would abstain on selecting the contractor or vendors, but would vote on assessment for his building (building 39)

Watson – if the issue only affects her building (14) she would abstain

Oderbraski – if it passed through the construction committee vetting, then he would vote on issue (building 5)

Lovell – unit owners in his building should be protected and represented by him on the board, would vote on issues pertaining to his building (building 1, he owns 4 units)

 

Dan Building 12 – To Fabara: 2 concerns – Do we have enough funds for a property manager and how much is budgeted?

Fabara – yes there are funds, and budget is $65,000. Dan feels that is not enough to budget for our Association.

 

Dan Building 12 – to Schertzer: wlll you recommend someone be in touch with city pertaining to garages? Is there a committee?

Schertzer – deferred to Fabara who has been working on this. Fabara said city has determined that Buildings 7-15 are OK, part of building plans, long process for City to go through all microfilms – should be done by June. Buildings 1-7 were done before City annexed. City to send letter by June.

 

VICTOR BUILDING 14 – No questions, believes board should take consensus of owners on decisions. Communications – when will notices come out clearly to unit owners? Always a small group of people showing up to meetings because Association/most unit owners are disenchanted. Con’t be complacent – board members/candidates should have skills to contribute.

 

ROBERT BUILDING 10 – STATE OFFERS FREE CLASSES FOR BOARD TO LEARN DUTIES, LAWS, RESPONSIBILITIES – WOULD YOU ATTEND IF ELECTED? would you obtain a CAM License (required to be a property manager)

Fabara – yes to condo class, yes to  CAM if it helps

Schertzer – yes to board class, unsure on CAM – that is more for Property Manager

Watson – yes to board class, unsure on CAM

Oderbraski – board class yes, no to CAM

Lovell -  yes to board class, has attended CAM class already. 98% of what Board does is legal.

 

VALERIE BUILDING 20 – WHAT DO YOU THINK YOUR ROLE AS A BOARD DIRECTOR IS?

Fabara – be at all meetings, be informed, make intelligent decisions

Schertzer – doing your homework, informed, be assertive, careful and wise decisions.

Watson – available for all meetings, liaison to committees, Q&A – ask lots of questions, be available to unit owners

Oderbraski – doing what Board asks to do if not at work that day

Lovell -  does not believe he has missed Board meeting or special assessment meeting. Works with banks, lawyers.

 

VALERIE BUILDING 20 – IF ELeCTED WOULD YOU BE WILLING TO BE OFFICER (President, Treasurer,etc.) and would you sign check/be on bank accounts? Several current board member are not willing to do this.

All members said YES

 

BRYAN BUILDING 20 –which comes first – duty to association or duty to your own building?

Fabara, Watson, Schertzer, Oderbraski – Association/community comes first

Lovell – unclear on answer, made speech.

 

HOW MANY HOURS CAN YOU COMMITT TO BOARD/ASSOCIATION EACH WEEK?

Fabara, Watson, Oderbraski, Lovell – 10-20 hours per week

Shertzer – not about quantity , it is about quality of time spent

 

DO YOU APPROVE OF TERM LIMITS FOR BOARD MEMBERS?

Watson, Schertzer, Oderbraski, Lovell – yes

Fabara – no, if you have good dedicated Board Members they should be allowed to continue to run/serve

 

HOW MANY YEARS HAVE YOU BEEN A BOARD MEMBER?

Fabara, Watson -  never been a board member

Schertzer -  2 years (2003-2005)

Oderbraski – 5 years (said this would be last time running)

Lovell – 8 years+

Reported by Bryan Sklar

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Meet the Candidates Night

Monday, March 9th at 7:30pm is the meeting where you can go and ask questions of the candidates and listen to them voice complaints, make promises, and brag about their past good deeds in the hopes of gaining votes.

Whatever their short-comings, we should all be grateful for those who are willing to donate their time and energy to the necessary and important job of being a member of the Board of Directors for the TAJ Association.

Candidate Letters for the August 2008 "Re-Ellection"

Below you will find letters from nine of the ten candidates running for positions on the TAJ BOD. The one candidate whose letter has not yet been made available to me is invited to email his letter for inclusion in this display. [click on images to enlarge them]

1st row: Bass, Capobianco, Grant


2nd row: Hazan, Leacock, Morgenstern


3rd row: Schertzer, Vermut, Watson

[missing: Ward]

I am sorry that I am unable to provide a Spanish translation of these candidate statements due to the format in which I received them. If they were sent to me via email in a *.doc format then I could easily translate them using an online service. I will provide a link from the tajwatchspanish.blogspot to this post so that the Spanish speaking non-English speakers can at least see the documents online. I will translate and post any that I receive from the candidates as I receive them.

Notice from BOD

The flyer pictured below was distributed by the BOD today. Click on the image to make it larger.






Click on the underlined words to open the a form entitled Notice of Intent to Be a Candidate for the BOD. You can print it out, fill it out, and submit it to the office as directed in the flyer.