MINUTES OF
MEETING
NORTH SPRINGS IMPROVEMENT
DISTRICT
The regular meeting of the Board of Supervisors of the North Springs
Improvement District was held on Thursday, March 3, 2005 at 4:00 p.m. in the
District Office, 10300 N.W. 11 Manor, Coral Springs, Florida.
Present and constituting a quorum were:
Matt Lauritzen
President
Salvatore J. Mendolia
Secretary
Bob Miner
Assistant Secretary
Also present were:
George Keller
Manager
Dennis Lyles
Attorney
Jane Early
CH2M-Hill
Dan Daly
Staff
Jean M. Rugg
Severn Trent
Roger Moore
Severn Trent
Tara Patton
WCI
Joe Guttuso
WCI
Michael Udine
Parkland City Commissioner
Michael Hollander
Resident
Todd Stevens
Resident
Paul Brewer
Paul Brewer & Associates
Mark Mallwitz
Paul Brewer & Associates
Sallie James
Sun-Sentinel
The Pledge of Allegiance was recited.
FIRST ORDER OF BUSINESS
Roll Call
Mr. Lauritzen
called the meeting to order and called the roll.
SECOND ORDER OF BUSINESS
Approval of Minutes of the February 3, 2005
Meeting
Mr. Keller stated
each Board member had received a copy of the minutes of the February 3, 2005
meeting and requested any additons, corrections or
deletions.
There not being any,
On MOTION by Mr. Mendolia seconded by Mr.
Miner with all in favor the minutes of the February 3, 2005 meeting were
approved as submitted.
NINTH ORDER OF BUSINESS
Discussion Items
A.
Room Rental Charges at Heron Bay North
with WCI
Mr. Lyles stated there are a number of
interested individuals in attendance for item 9C of the agenda, and staff
suggests we take this out of order.
Mr. Keller stated the accountant from
NSID who has been performing the internal audit on this matter has done a good
deal of work on it. There is
more work to be done and we do not have all the answers and information we need
now to give a bottom line recommendation.
It is recommended at this time to give us an another month to be prepared
to move on a sound foundation of facts.
Mr. Lyles stated if any questions were to
come up, the accountant has taken ill and is not available to answer. We have a preliminary report, but we
certainly do not have anything final and do not feel we can give a complete
report or recommendation either from management or legal to the Board at this
time and under these circumstances.
Mr. Hollander asked we brought this to
the Board in October, when can we see something? Since that time the people who caused
this issue are still coming before you asking for things and maybe we should
table that until we resolve this issue.
This to me looks like there is some criminal activity. Are you seeking any other outside
agencies to help?
Mr. Lauritzen responded I appreciate your
comments but we have a pretty strong manager and attorney and I typically take
their guidance on issues. I am
going to suggest we table it to next month. You are more than welcome to come back
and if you have any facts to bring on board to help us make a decision, bring
them on.
Mr. Hollander asked who can I
contact? I have some
information.
Mr. Keller responded please contact
me.
Mr. Lauritzen asked are you a homeowner
in Heron Bay? You said you live in Parkland.
Mr. Hollander responded yes. Will you be looking to other agencies
for help or not yet?
Mr . Keller responded we will do a
complete review first internally and we will do what we think is appropriate and
see where it takes us.
Mr. Udine asked will we be able to
comment next month?
Mr. Lauritzen responded yes.
Mr. Udine asked will we be able to get
documents? If we need additional
documents are we entitled to them by public records through your
office?
Mr. Lauritzen responded I do not know
what you are asking for but if we have it we will get it to you. We want to resolve this
issue.
Mr. Udine stated Ms. Walker says she does
not have the documents and she has been asking for them. Were you aware of
that?
Mr. Lauritzen responded not until
now.
Mr. Keller stated we are aware we do not
have all the information to give a firm recommendation and recommend tabling
this.
Mr. Hollander asked will you be tabling
any other issues WCI brings before you?
Mr. Lauritzen responded we have not gone
through the agenda yet, so I do not think so. If we do not have all the facts, we
usually table the issue.
On MOTION by Mr. Miner seconded by Mr.
Mendolia with all in favor the room rental charges at Heron Bay was tabled until
the next meeting.
THIRD ORDER OF BUSINESS
Consideration of Award of Contracts and Associated
Agreements
A.
Heron Bay North Two –
Drainageways
i.
Award of Contract
Ms.
Early stated we had three
bids, the low bid was submitted by Triple R Paving. Triple R Paving is currently doing the
drains in Heron Bay Northeast. We
are confident in their work and recommend accepting their bid and awarding the
contract subject to funding. Their
base bid was $2,882,645.87. In the
funding agreement the NSID portion is $687,376.
Mr. Lauritzen stated they have done a lot of work for us, Heron Bay
Northeast, Heron Bay East and Heron Bay Central.
On MOTION by Mr. Mendolia seconded by Mr.
Miner with all in favor the Nob Hill Road and University Drive was awarded to
Triple R Paving.
ii.
Construction Financing Agreement
#401
On MOTION by Mr. Mendolia seconded by Mr.
Miner with all in favor Construction Financing Agreement #401 in the amount of
$687,376 was approved.
iii.
Construction Trust Fund Agreement
#403
Ms. Early
stated Agreement #403 does not have water and sewer listed. We only need Agreement #401 for the
drainageways. I’ll have to get with
Ms. Walker and Ms. Rugg on this.
The wording needs to be corrected.
B.
Banyan Isles/Sable Point Water and
Sewer
i.
Award of
Contract
ii.
Construction Financing #400
iii.
Construction Trust Fund Agreement #402
Ms. Early stated we had three bids, lowest responsive bidder was Florida
Sewer and Water. We are
recommending total award of the contract.
Their base bid was $2,656,409.15.
In the funding agreement the NSID portion is $880,896.25. These are sealed bids when they come to
my office. They are not opened
until 10:30 a.m. or 11:00 a.m., whatever the bid states and we sit down with the
contractors who show up and open the bids publically so everybody can see
them. There are no bids that are
not public information and if the bidders want to look at the other bids they
are allowed to do so.
On MOTION by Mr. Mendolia seconded by Mr.
Miner with all in favor the Banyan Isles/Sable Pointe Water and Sewer Contract
was awarded to Florida Water and Sewer Inc, in the amount of $2,656,409.15 and
Construction Financing Agreement #400 in the amount of $880,896.25 and
Construction Trust Fund Agreement #402 were
approved.
FOURTH ORDER OF BUSINESS
Consideration of Change Orders
A.
No. 1 with Triple R Paving, Inc. for Nob
Hill Road, University Drive (Phase 2) and County Line Road for a Net Increase of
$6,017.20
Ms.
Early stated County Line Road between Nob Hill and University Drive is under
construction and the county nor Parkland wanted to say they were taking
juridication, we were bidding it trying to move the job along and finally the
county decided they would take it.
They had a revision on the turn lane, the change order is for curbing and
is a WCI cost; it is a tri-party agreement and is why I am bringing it to the
Board.
On MOTION by Mr. Mendolia seconded by Mr.
Miner with all in favor Change Order No. 1 with Triple R Paving for a net
increase of $6017.20 was approved.
B.
No. 2 with Florida Sewer and Water,
Inc. for Heron Bay Northeast
“Greenbrier” for a Net Increase of $2,002
Ms. Early
stated this was a change in the plans with the addition of type F curbs and is a
WCI cost.
On MOTION by Mr. Mendolia seconded by Mr.
Miner with all in favor Change Order No. 2 with Florida Water and Sewer, Inc.,
for a net increase of $2002 was approved.
C.
No. 6 & Final with Astaldi
Construction Corporation for University Drive for a Net Decrease of
$932,505.71
Ms.
Early stated this is the portion of University Drive north of the city building
up to the commerical site. We are
not doing the second lift with Astaldi Construction Corporation. This is a balancing change order to
equal out their quantities.
Mr.
Lauritzen asked are they not going to finish the job and someone else is going
to?
Ms.
Early responded they have done as much as we want them to do and we will work
with WCI when we are ready to do the second one.
On MOTION by Mr. Miner seconded by Mr.
Mendolia with all in favor Change Order No. 6 with Astaldi for a net decrease of
$932,505.71 was approved.
D.
No. 12 & Final with Astaldi
Construction Corporation for Trails End Road for a Net Decrease of
$504,483.46
Ms.
Early stated this is Trails End Road from the grade school to University
Drive.
On MOTION by Mr. Miner seconded by Mr.
Mendolia with all in favor Change Order No. 12 with Astaldi for a net decrease
of $504,483.46 was approved.
E.
No. 16 with Florida Sewer and Water, Inc.
for Osprey Trail and Heron Bay Recreation Amenity Offsite Roadway Improvements
for a Net Decrease of $22,443.21
Ms. Early
stated this is for Creekside change order in Osprey Trail. We had two change orders and this change
order is going to deduct Change Order No. 9 and No. 10. This is a WCI
cost.
F.
No. 17 with Florida Sewer and Water, Inc.
for Osprey Trailand Heron Bay Recreation Amenity Offsite Roadway Improvemnets
for a Net Decrease of $150,069.45
Ms. Early
stated this is also for Creekside in Meadow Brook and is balancing changes for
the two parcels for this project.
This is a WCI cost.
On MOTION by Mr. Mendolia seconded by Mr.
Miner with all in favor Change Order No. 16 for a net decrease of $22,443.21 and
Change Order No. 17. for a net decrease of $150,069.45 with Florida Sewer and
Water, Inc were approved.
Ms. Early
stated I have one more if I may add.
This is Heron Bay Northeast drainage ways. This is two additional parcels they are
going to fill and is a WCI cost.
The change order is $72,000 and is for work at the Greenbier area and the
Heron Bay recreational center and the Glens.
On MOTION by Mr. Miner seconded by Mr.
Mendolia with all in favor Change Order No. 4 with Triple R Paving for Heron Bay
North Drainageways for a net increase of $72,000 was
approved.
FIFTH ORDER OF BUSINESS
Consideration of Plats
A.
Rayel Estates Plats 1, 2 & 3
(Continued from last meeting)
Ms.
Early stated at the last meeting there was a service letter stating the District
had adequate water and sewage service and this letter states we can accept the
drainage from the plats located in Cypress Estates.
On MOTION by Mr. Mendolia seconded by Mr.
Miner with all in favor the Rayel Estates Plats 1, 2 & 3, as respects to
drainage was approved.
B.
Parkland Commercial
Ms.
Early stated there is a letter included we have reviewed and the District can
accept the drainage. We checked the
easement and we do have stub outs for the drainage. There is a 15’ flowage easement and we
would rather have a 20’ and we will make the change.
On MOTION by Mr. Mendolia seconded by Mr.
Miner with all in favor the Parkland commercial plat and drainage was approved
as amended.
C.
Heron Bay North Plat
3
Ms. Tara
Patton stated what we are coming forward with is Heron Bay North Plat 3, which
is the next series of the Heron Bay subdivision. It is a mixture of different product
types that exist within Heron Bay.
We have 50’, 65’ and 75’ lots.
We are here for you to consider acceptance of the drainage, appropriate
flowage easements, lift station easements and sewer easements for the District
according to this plat.
Mr.
Moore stated I do not believe there is a letter yet from our consultants.
Ms.
Early stated an engineer in my office has met with Ms. Patton and gone through
the easements we request for the District.
Mr.
Moore stated my only suggestion is they be approved subject to working out the
details. The plat submitted had
hand-drawn easements with some numbers and they need to be cleaned up. The lift station easement was shown as
30x30 and needs to be 45x30 setback.
There are a couple of lake maintenance easements that may need to be
looked at because there needs to be no fencing or landscaping on those
easements.
Mr.
Keller asked do you think this is ready to go forward? Do you think it needs to be amended
significantly? Are those
substentive or not?
Mr.
Moore responded my recommendation is to approve it subject to finalization. I will meet with Ms. Patton to see if we
can work out all of the little details.
In concept it looks okay. We
need to make sure individuals who buy the property cannot put in fences in the
easements.
Mr. Keller
asked are we all in agreement it is substantially complete subject to the
engineering corrections that need to be made? If that is the case they will need to be
enumerated in detail so they can be incorporated in a motion as part of the
action.
Ms. Early
responded yes.
SiXTH ORDER OF BUSINESS
Consideration of Permit Requests
A.
Stoneman Douglas High School – Irrigation
Pump
Ms.
Early stated the high school has requested an irrigation pump and suction
line. Our letter states pumps are
not permitted in the Districts right-of-way. We recommend approval subject to
conditions as outlined in our letter dated February 23,
2005.
On MOTION by Mr. Mendolia seconded by Mr.
Miner with all in favor the permit for the irrigation pump for Stoneman Douglas
High School was approved subject to the conditions outlined in the Engineer’s
letter dated February 23, 2005.
B.
Sable Point Heron Bay Northwest – Surface
Water Management System
Ms. Early stated this is the actual
service water drainage permit for one of the subdivisions we awarded the
contract on. We recommend approval
subject to conditions as outlined in our letter dated February 16,
2005.
On MOTION by Mr. Miner seconded by Mr.
Mendolia with all in favor Sable Point Heron Bay Northwest – Surface Water
Management System Permit was approved, subject to the conditions outlined in the
engineer’s letter of February 16, 2005.
SEVENTH ORDER OF BUSINESS
Consideration of Quit Claim Deed for the Heron Bay Commercial Presevation
Parcels
Ms. Patton
stated Heron Bay Commercial is a project we have been coming to you with for the
past several months. Over the last
couple of months I have come to the Board with the various easement relating to
this project which is located in the City of Coral Springs and wraps around the
Sawgrass Center Publix Site adjacent to Coral Ridge Drive. This is one of the final pieces to the
easements and grants the three preservation parcels. These parcels are serving as retention
areas; they have been permitted through Borward County DEPAP and have been given
the appropriate licensure. It is
our intent to give them to the District for drainage
purposes.
Mr. Lyles stated this is being done pursuant to a deed that was presented
to and reviewed by me and is in order.
It will be of no cost to the District and will become part of our system
and part of the preservation areas for the District.
On MOTION by Mr. Miner seconded by Mr.
Mendolia with all in favor the Quit Claim Deed for the Heron Bay Commercial
Preservation Parcels was approved.
EIGHTH ORDER OF BUSINESS
Consideration of Resolution 2005-4 Designating James P. Ward as
Treasurer, Karen Ellis as Assistant Treasurer and George R. Keller, Jr. as
Assistant Secretary
Mr. Keller
stated this is housekeeping business.
Ms. Patti Powers who previously served with Severn Trent Services and Mr.
Rich Hans as the District Manager, have, as you know, resigned. This will
formalize the fact that Mr. Ward be designated as treasurer and Ms. Ellis as
assistant treasurer. Mr. Ward is
one of the founding principals of Severn Trent or its predecesor company, GL
Moyer, and has been in place for 26 years and is the Senior Manager with the
company. Ms. Karen Ellis is the
financial officer with the company and has been in place about 8 years and both
come with high regards and our recommendations and if I may be designated as an
assistant secretary it will allow me to execute documents on behalf of the
Board.
Mr. Lyles stated when Mr. Keller says execute documents on behalf of the
Board, as an assistant secretary he can attest to the chairman’s signature,
where we are taking action pursuant to authorization of the Board.
On MOTION by Mr. Mendolia seconded by Mr.
Miner with all in favor Resolution 2005-4 designating James P. Ward as Treasurer, Karen Ellis as
Assistant Treasurer and George R. Keller, Jr. as Assistant Secretary was
approved.
FIFTH ORDER OF BUSINESS
Consideration of Plats (continued)
C.
Heron Bay North Plat 3
(continued)
Mr. Moore
stated comments to be clarified for final approval:
·
on the title
page – there is a dedication discussed over previous years that all utilities
easements shown are granted to the City of Parkland for the construction,
installation, maintenance and operation of utilities and cable TV services. In the past I have brought this up and
we requested they also include the NSID because in the 15’ easement of the plat
we install our cleanouts and water meters.
In previous plats that has never been included. Several plats in the last year we have
the terminology to include NSID; however, I was told prior to the meeting the
city has reqeuested NSID be eliminated from this dediction. I would like to meet with WCI and the
city to clarify why they want to exclude us from the dedication or if we will
have to enter into an agreement with the city to allow us to use their easements
to put our water lines into.
Mr. Lyles
asked are you saying this in not a condition to the approval of this plat by the
District Board? You are indicating it is an item of information. They are either going to approval or
disapprove this plat today. If you
say it is a condition that we be included as one of the parties to the
dedication then it is a condition under which it is going to be approved.
Mr. Moore
responded my recommendation is we negotiate with the city. The city has told them they will not
sign the plat. I would like to know
why they have now come up with that decision.
Ms. Early
stated in my opinion they do not want us to be able to start putting things in
the easement anywhere we want after the fact.
Ms. Patton
stated the city, in their code, has a franchise that says all utilities in
regard to cable and other utilities services, Parkland be the holder of the
utility easement.
Mr. Lyles
asked could our requirements be met with a separate instrument that we will meet
the city to dicuss and therefore we could allow the Board to take up this matter
without this condition holding up
the recording of the plat?
Mr. Moore
responded yes and listed the following items to be corrected on the plat:
·
Sheet 3 the
lift station easement needs to be 40X30 or 40X45 exclusive of the 12’ utility
easement.
·
Sheet 5 the
20’ flowage easement is not adequetly dimensioned on Tract B4.
·
Sheet 8 Tract
B4 the 20’ lake maintenance easement dimension is showing the wrong direction
through tract B1.
On
MOTION by Mr. Miner seconded by Mr. Mendolia with all in favor the Heron Bay
North Plat 3 was approved subject to the conditions outlined above by Mr.
Moore.
NINTH ORDER OF BUSINESS
Discussion Items
Mr. Keller stated in the past week we
were able to have a meeting with the President, Mr. Gary Moyer, Mr. Ed Goscicki,
the Vice President and myself to discuss some of the questions raised at the
last meeting:
·
The changes
in the company
·
Where the
company is coming from and going to
·
The
relationship with NSID
·
How do we
proceed from here
I can give you brief summary comments today and what we propose to do, if
it is the Board’s pleasure when we can have a large block of time, to give you a
more detailed powerpoint presentation on our roll, orginatizational structure,
improvement or change areas. I
would characterize it as a positive productive meeting. We are committed as we go through the
changes in the orgination right now that those resources are needed here to make
sure business goes on in a proper way and quality fashion takes place. Mr. Moyer and Mr. Goscicki would like to be part of the presentation
and discussion and they could not be here this evening. It will take an hour or so, based on our
experience with CSID recently.
We would offer you based on some of those issues and topics we focus on
specifically and do a lengthy workshop session.
Mr. Lauritzen stated sounds great.
B.
Status Report on Parkland Village
Project
Ms. Rugg stated Ms. Patti Hitchcock is
not in attendance. They are in the
process of proceeding with the bond issuance and she is waiting on more
information. Once that is handled
they will bring it to the Board at a later time.
TENTH ORDER OF BUSINESS
Staff Reports
A.
Attorney
Mr. Lyles stated our special act we filed
again this year with the legislative delegation has been approved at the public
hearings in Broward County. It is
now in the legislative process in Tallahassee. I was provided this week with a revised
version of the bill prepared by the legislative bill drafting people in
Tallahassee. We are comparing it
against what we submitted and they have made a number of changes. We are optimistic the bill will be
approved and signed by the govenor this year.
B.
Engineer
Mr. Moore
stated the HOA in Parkland Isles was damaged during the hurricane and we take
care of the berm. We have had
approximately $17,000 worth of damage.
It has been cleaned up. FEMA
may cover some of it, but it does not cover any replacement. The HOA has requested a replacement program. They asked to find out what it will cost
to assess everyone to replace the trees and do enhncements around the berm
areas. Ms. Walker put together four
options on what happens based on getting reimbursement, not getting
reimbursement, considering the insurance payments, etc. A letter has been sent to us from
Parkland Isles HOA authorizing us to go through the public hearing to do the
assessment on option three, $69 a unit, which will allow for a $40,000
replacement program. We have met
with the board and their financial committees giving them the option of waiting
until October or doing it immediately.
They would like to do it immediately and the reason I brought it up to
this Board instead of waiting thirty days is to get a thirty day jump. It has to be advertised for public
hearing and then we can bid the project and begin constucting.
Mr. Lauritzen asked are we getting involved with this because it is our
easement area?
Mr. Moore responded it is our easement, our property. It is a special assessment strictly to
the HOA, not overall to the general budget.
Mr. Lauritzen asked are we going to deal directly with the
HOA?
Mr. Moore responded the public hearing will have to notify all the people
and is why I requested the letter from the HOA that represents the entire
group. They have supposedly done a
survey of the people and gave them the options and had it at their last board
meeting.
Mr. Keller asked who will the assessment be levied
by?
Mr. Moore responded NSID.
Mr. Keller stated because it is our property. They have agreed to the assessment in
those amounts to make the improvements.
Mr. Moore stated that is correct.
Mr. Lyles asked pursuant to what are we levying these
assessments?
Mr. Moore responded I will defer, I am not sure I understand the
question.
Mr. Lyles stated this is the first I have heard of this; I did not know
discussions were going on. I guess
we can consider this a presentation to tell you about the meetings and the
negotiations that have been going on that Mr. Moore has been handling. We will do the necessary homework now to
determine if this is even within our power.
Mr. Moore stated I have been following directions to get this done and
this is the conclusion of what I have been asked to do.
Mr. Lyles stated unlike a HOA or a property owners association, we do not
have the authority to levy assessments to do a particular task. Our assessment process is a much more
time consuming and annual process.
I will work with Mr. Moore and Mr. Keller to see how and if we can
accomplish this.
C.
Superintendent
There not
being any, the next item follwed.
ELEVENTH ORDER OF BUSINESS
Supervisor’s Request and Audience Comments
Mr. Udine
stated I do not want to reopen the whole Heron Bay issue, I know you have spoke
about it. I do want to compliment
you and your staff because I think you are doing a good job on the issue. I have what I consider a very good
relationship with WCI; the problem goes beyond a room at the Heron Bay
Conference Center. I read some of
the questions you had last meeting after we had left and I personally have no
problem with anybody using a room who wants to use a room. The problem that happened with this room
was you were being billed and assessing us for the bills and we were paying
those bills. As you look more and
more into these issues, and I have spoken with your attorney on this, you and
your staff are not being presented with all the facts.
Mr. Udine presented the following examples:
·
In 2003 there
was a management agreement signed by Heron Bay Community Association with WCI
proprty management. I have seen the
agreement, they would not give it to me, but they said they would make a copy
for me and get it mailed to be or give it to me when I pay, which is fine I will
pay. It is a document that you and
Ms. Walker should have and the reason you should have it is on the first page of
the agreement it talks about what the HBCA and WCI property management are
supposed to manage. They are
supposed to manage all the common areas and any buildings that the HBCA is
contracted to operate. I get the
newsletter every quarter and the Heron Bay Commons is a building HBCA is
supposed to be operating. The
charge is $14 per unit per month.
Why then are you paying an assessment for another management fee at
$3,200 a month? That is a question
that deserves to be answered.
·
Pursuant to
those contracts they are allowed to bundle and buy materials for all their
different facilities. To me it
sounds like the right way to do things if there is somebody to determine the
stuff coming into the building the residents are supposed to be paying for is
actually taking place. That is not
being done because Ms. Walker cannot get those reciepts. That should be the first red flag. I am not sure how it is passing by the
audits. Under Florida Statutes you
are allowed to give a management contract to manage this buidling. I don’t have a problem with it; you are
not in the recreational business.
You take it out of the public record, but then you can assess us to pay
for it.
·
There are no
contracts for the vendors in the building.
The tennis facility and program has $100,000’s passing through that
facility and none of that is being sent to the District. Shouldn’t it be sent to the District to
lower our cost factor in the building?
Coral Springs has a tennis program and facility. They have a tennis pro who pays 10% of
what he makes to the facility. I
have spoken to the person who had the food service and came out on the
weekends. She was sending money
every month to NSID. There was no
contract, but she said she had a contract and a check was coming. Ms. Walker said there is no
contract. At that point don’t you
think as a Board you have a fiduciary duty to start asking questions?
·
In 1999 there
apparently was Lang management that managed the building for HBCA. I looked at the minutes of all the HBCA
meetings and there was no mention of them being terminated as the manager. Why were they terminated and a new
management company brought in that is related to the HBCA? You have all the same entities with all
the same people passing things on to you to be approved. You have a duty to ask deeper questions
than just approving invoices and requisistions. Interestingly enough when your lawyer
drew up the contracts he recognized that because all of the bills in the
contract are supposed to be sent to NSID for NSID to pay the bills. I looked at it, it is clear and on
point. That was not done, they were
sent to WCI employees for WCI to bring them to you to pay the bills. I have no problem if that is the way you
choose to do it, but don’t you think you should be asking some questions. Pursuant to the contracts I have seen
you have a contractor on the premises who is supposed to be charging you $1,500
a month for a service, one month he charged you $4,700 and one month
$3,600. I have seen in your
minutes you have argued over $269 for tennis balls, and rightfully so it is not
your money. Why aren’t you asking
those questions on this issue on this building? You are taking all of this stuff at
everybody’s word, when you see the issues over and over again being raised by
the residents. You had a meeting in
December and you were provided with a new janitorial company and you, yourself,
and Mr. Lauritzen asked the question, why are we rebating the contract, and they
said we only like our contract to go five years. If you had looked at the contract you
would have seen the contract was a one year contract signed in 1999 and there
had been no contract to begin with after the year 2000, or none is able to be
found or produced. You have to ask
yourself at what point are you not getting all the information as a Board to
make a decision like this. You have
very competent and very able legal help and staff people, but are you being
given all that information. Are the
things that I am telling you not known to you?
Mr. Lauritzen responded we meet once a month for an hour and half. We have an agenda and we do our best to
manage the District. This was a
unique situation we got into with Heron Bay. We do have to trust and rely on a lot of
management people to do their jobs.
I said last meeting, and I cannot speak for the rest of the Board, I am
not an attorney, a CPA or an engineer.
When we look at our agenda we do the best we can under the circumstances,
without trust and confidence in management, it is a tough job. I read an article regarding St. Lucie
West where they cannot operate their own water district. You are talking about a lot of
micromanagement issues, and we will look into it. I respect your concerns and we have to
always manage and make sure this District runs the most efficient way possible
with all parties involved. That is
our objective and goal.
Mr. Udine asked is staff being given all the
information?
Mr. Lauritzen responded we have gone through some changes in staff and we
need a little more time to look at these issues. Mr. Lyles stated earlier we have a new
manager here. If there are things
that are not being done properly we are going to shed light on them and we are
going to continue to do the right thing.
This community is growing rapidly.
The builder, the developer and everybody is trying to get jobs done and I
appreciate what you are talking about, but honestly these are some
micromanagement issues. From what I
can see WCI has made a few mistakes, maybe we all have made a few mistakes but I
am not looking for a dark horse to shoot.
A lot of the issues you bring up are issues we do not look at as the
Board. We trust management to solve
those problems and run it, that is why we have the management we do. Mr. Hollander was here in December and
he did not like the tennis pro.
Mr. Udine stated that was a year ago and he was not talking about the
tennis pro. He was talking about
the facility generating $100,000’s profit, has that issue been brought out? Some of that money should go back to the
District for the residents benefit.
Mr. Minor stated if you read the minutes, Mr. Hollander was upset about
the particular pro he wanted. I
resent the fact that he is talking about criminal activity and people
stonewalling; it is insulting. I
sell books for a living, I am not an engineer, I am not a lawyer, I do this out
of the goodness of my heart and we are here to represent the people. We are not here to represent WCI. When people come in and start throwing
terms around about criminal activity or we are stonewalling and bringing
reporters and people calling my home if the truth were known Mr. Hollander, if I
am not mistaken, has a restraining order on him with certain aspects of WCI,
because of some of the letters and things that he has done, so maybe we need to
bring that up to Parkland and the newspaper. The newspapers are reporting that you
have been to 13 to 14 meetings and I have seen you once before. We are trying our
best.
Mr. Udine stated trying your best is not the answer. The answer is it has to be done
right. I am hearing and seeing
things in the minutes that are just not correct.
Mr. Lauritzen stated why don’t we have a time out here and let the dust
settle. Why don’t we give Mr. Lyles
his request. They asked for a
little more time and in all fairness this is new management, we are going
through some changes in our District, you have to appreciate these things
happen. Let’s table this until next
month, relook at the issues and we will work out a solution so everybody is
going to be happy. The bottom line
is we are humble taxpayers and we are with you. Nobody has any ulterior motives and my
concern is we have to manage this District and the bottom line is we do water
and we get water to the houses so when they turn on the faucets water comes out
and I do not want to get so caught up that, we could filabuster meetings all day
long but we have to get District business done. We do not live in a perfect world, we
all try our best and in that spirit I say to you we will look at those
issues. Please be patient with us
and we will work this thing out.
Mr. Lyles stated let me make one quick reference to the agreement that
exists between this District and HBCA.
This is a contractural obligation they have undertaken. “The community association shall at all
times and at it’s own expense maintain an accurate and complete set of books and
records of all income and expenses asscoiated in connection with the management
of Heron Bay Commons, which books and records shall during normal business hours
be open to inspection by NSID or it’s duly authorized representatives.” Everything they do that is in any way
related to funding that orginates with this District is not only contractually
open to NSID it becomes a public record.
There may be some misunderstanding on the part of the community
association or it’s contractors as to what records they are required to turn
over or make available to the District.
We will make sure they understand they can be compelled to provide those
records to the District and I am sure they will and this is probably just a
matter of people not getting things when they are requested. I want everybody to understand this is
not a hands off they can do whatever they want to do. There are fairly tight controls and they
have to be audited annually, they cannot enter into any expenses that will
exceed $4,000 without letting us know first. We do tightly control contractually what
can and cannot happen but at the same time we did authorize the community
association, which will eventually be the residents themselves, to enter into
appropriate management contracts, landscaping contracts, contracts with tennis
pros and to adopt and enforce rules relating to all those things. The idea was to act the way we were
created by Florida Legislation as a funding mechanism to get infrastructure and
recreation facilities funded and in place to let the residents and their
representatives actually run them.
Mr. Udine asked can we get the records from WCI for
free?
Mr. Lyles responded it depends on what they are.
Mr. Udine stated if they have something to do with what we are talking
about.
Mr. Lyles stated if it has something to do with what we are talking about
there should be no charge over and above normal photocoping and gathering
records, anything that you are allowed to charge for in a public records request
which is very limited.
Mr. Udine stated I want a copy of the 2003 Management Agreement and they
just sent me an email and they will send it to me for $20. I have faxes from Ms. Walker, your
accountant, that states she cannot get the stuff.
TWELVTH ORDER OF BUSINESS
Financial Statements, Approval of Requisitions and Invoices
There being
no questions or comments,
On MOTION by Mr. Mendolia seconded by Mr.
Miner with all in favor the invoices and requisitions were
approved.
THIRTEENTH ORDER OF BUSINESS
Adjournment
There being
nothing further,
On MOTION by Mr. Mendolia seconded by Mr.
Miner with all in favor the meeting was adjourned at 5:20 p.m.
_____________________________
___________________________
Salvatore J.
Mendolia
Matt Lauritzen
Secretary
President