2014 February 15 Annual Member Meeting + Comments

Here is the part of the meeting that was NOT entered into the Official Records, despite the fact that this was a MEMBER MEETING held ONCE a year!  This is loosely transcribed from the audio recording.

Feb 22, 2014 Annual Member Meeting- Comments

KL Opened up to owners for your own discussion/comments invite member to conduct rest of meeting. This is your meeting, you have that right. NO one volunteered to chair the members’ meeting.  Address your remarks to fellow owners-not to the Board

Owner #1-want to express anger to 60 people who voted against the covenant #1 on manufactured homes. Also for 3 months a year; $180/yr for 3 months of internet he is in conflict with Century ; we are supposed to get better service and I am perturbed that I get substandard system by paying this much money.

Owner #2: Speaking for Rulebook committee : we put in hundreds and hundreds of hours we are going to see covenants again next year. We may need more seminars but it the meeting never made it to the web. Calling all the folks people who Hayvn’t voted with no reason and see why absentee voters don’t vote. Everybody here in park didn’t vote and find out why people didn’t vote and how to correct it. But the FCC said you can’t control B S. To change typos and people voted against it. I hope that next year someone selling a house can’t get a loan and will yell real loud.

Owner #3 advocate for elderly people in here who have been treated wrong. I’ve written a letter to BOD asking them the authority they had to present the internet on the ballot and I’ll read the allegation here: reads part of the letter. Then read part of attorney letter saying they advised board that ballot was no more than a poll and their ballot was not permitted by SLohA documents or Florida statutes. Owner says it is a crying shame that people voted for internet on backs of people who can barely make it to the end of the month; it’s a hardship. K C service has gone down; claims he’s lost $15K/month now and he might break even if internet assessment passes; but how long will he be satisfied to break even? I cannot understand why this BOD is pushing this down the throats against half the owners in here! Ask yourselves why they are ramming it down people’s throats. The Manager told them not to do this; they can be sued individually. I have hired an attorney to fight the board’s action and have 15 backers at this time. Clapping.

Owner #4 “shout out” to board, you are bumping us in the right direction. I have a working knowledge of what you are doing. Appreciate you.

Owner #5 on the covenants : if we can only have motor homes or trailers do we all have to take our houses down? KL: In the spirit of the way things are around here, I have to refer you to your attorney.

Owner #6 on covenants we should concentrate next year on going from 75% to 66% --it might make things easier.

Owner #7 If doublewides don’t meet covenants, how did they get in here?
KL We would have to go back many years; somebody put through a rule change and the rules allow doublewides but covenants which are the overriding factor were never changed. County allows it, our covenants don’t and our mortgage institutions are looking at covenants and when they see that they aren’t allowed they refuse to finance it. Will become more of a problem you will have to sell with cash in hand. But people didn’t see this.

Owner #8: dismayed that covenants didn’t pass; I don’t know why people don’t want this to be legal. We tried to change 20 years and hope people open their hearts and minds next year.

Owner #9 People groaning and shouting “oh no” and talking, shouting “Shut up I’m talking right now. The only way we are going to change covenants is to revitalize the park but the board doesn’t want to do it.”

Someone shouts in the background “The only way we’re going to do it is put our hands over our ears.” People in the background shouting and talking and adjourning meeting.

(End of stomach churning display of bad behavior from senior adults.)


Editors Note:  I wish the rude members being nasty to other members could hear this and how it sounds on a “playback”; it sounded like a mindless lynchmob from some horrible 40’s movie made about the racial social unrest in the south—that is what it reminded me of! Would they be proud if their grandchildren could hear their voices? I am shocked and appalled at the behavior of these so-called “good” people in here. The voices I heard are just plain nasty!

Comment by Owners at Annual Members Meeting:

People would probably say they want things to be legal in S L O A, if asked,  but when push comes to shove, voting behavior is driven as much by emotion as by mind.  The practice in S L O A is to set aside the law in favor of what the leadership wants.  People generally vote FOR whatever leadership "recommends" even when doubts are present.  The advantage is to the home field and approving measures. 

The leadership wants to change the covenants to remove a growing obstacle to growth in SLR and that is the change in an economy that is beginning to conduct itself lawfully and with restraint by scrutinizing not only the borrower's ability to pay back a loan, but the overall environment of the collateral.  In Florida, HOA's are a formidable factor in terms of assessing risk because there is no regulation of HOA's and they have broad powers that can foreclose on collateral!  And, the laws are constantly changing in terms of the bank's responsibility for unpaid assessments!  The industry is in turmoil and all the attempts to change the covenants is not going to change the blanket problem of financing anything inside an HOA in Florida!  It's a wonder anyone will finance anything in an HOA at any price!

Add to that any attempt to change covenants that will be cH allengable because the covenants are expired--a FACT that can be validated by any MRTA-qualified Title Search on a property.  Remember, title searchers don't have "skin in the game"--they only tell you what has been recorded on the property.  The Attorney will issue an opinion on those results and either give the financing client an "All-clear" or a "Whoa".  If you were a Lender, would you want your collateral to be encumbered by a private government that would take it away or remove your ability to easily repossess it?  Or would you rather it be "free and clear" of outside, third party claims?  Or would you feel more comfortable if this question was in a legal dispute?

On the basis ALONE of financing homes in here, banks would MUCH PREFER that there be no Covenants laying potential claims to its collateral!  What do you think a bank would think about an HOA that could foreclose on its collateral because an owner refused to pay the internet extortion fee??  Would that financing institution be eager to loan money in that circumstance?  If there was a lawsuit cH allenging K C's presence on common property, a suit against an illegal internet assessment or a lawsuit disputing the existence of viable covenants, would the bank be happy about lending money to collateral on HOA property?

In the past, the S L R leadership ignored the Covenants because they were hard to change theoretically, but in fact, these covenants could not and cannot be lawfully amended.   So, it tried to circumvent its own continuing breach of covenant by letting the homes come in because Polk County permitted it and adopted a Rule, winking and humming and hoping nobody would notice.  S L O A, in fact, breached its own covenants against manufactured homes because that's what it wanted and it was guided by the emotion, rather than trying to find a way to fix the problem.

So, I would agree with the above owner; it's time for S L R to open its MIND to addressing the problem and not make new problems by unlawful, half-a*** measures that will surely be dismissed by reputable lenders and savored by hungry attorneys in the future.

They want people to "Open their hearts and minds" ?

That's meaningless , what will happen and what should be understood is this will lead to ....

People open your WALLETS .

THE POT CALLING THE KETTLE BLACK

The minutes of the annual meeting and voting results are all posted at post office bulletin board and the larger display case with the for sale/rent notices. I believe they were put up sometime this afternoon.