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By MELODY JAMESON
mj@observernews.net
Kings Point – In a contentious session characterized by a call for compromise at any cost, by a charge of conflicting interests, by criticism hurled at the news media, federation directors here voted Friday to put community recalls of two of them in the hands of attorneys representing them.
In a second vote, they also moved to assess the federation membership for any costs associated with the attorneys’ efforts.
The special 8 a.m. meeting on Friday, January 22, was called following a January 15 membership meeting when the two signature petitions seeking removal of board president Clifford Seder and board treasurer Paul Hunt officially were presented.
The organization’s membership-approved and state-registered by-laws prescribe a meeting in each district where a recall movement originated within 30 days of the petition presentation. Such meetings, in Seder’s District III where 249 residents called for his removal and in Hunt’s District IV where 71 residents signified their interest in his removal, have not been set.
Instead, the special session was arranged within a week of the petition presentations to consider the “recall process.” That consideration basically revolved around two formal motions; one to have attorneys from the Tampa firm of Wetherington, Hamilton and Harrison review by-laws and conduct whatever recall process they devise and a second to assess federation members for whatever costs and fees arise from the attorneys’ developments.
In the course of ensuing attempts at discussion, several suggestions were made and some individuals were denied opportunity to speak. Bill Richards, a former C.P.A. and candidate for director who often describes his financial knowledge as an asset to the community, recommended that Seder and Hunt vacate their officer positions on the board, although not their directorships, in a compromise between recall and determination to remain. Indicating concern about information leaving the community disclosing its internal conflicts, Richards declared “…forget the by-laws,” adding “I don’t care whether it’s legal, illegal, immoral, get out of this.”
Russell Foti, another board candidate in the current election cycle, asserted Seder and Hunt both should “recuse yourselves” when it comes to considering any matters related to the recalls. After the session, Foti said he believes the two directors should not sit with the current board but rather physically leave the board table to sit in another part of the room when anything connected to the recall process is discussed in order to avoid appearances of conflicts of interests.
Seder responded that a “legal opinion” obtained by the board allows the recall subjects to sit as part of the board during the process.
Additional support for Seder and Hunt to voluntarily remove themselves to some degree also came from current board directors Pat Boussie and Betty Krajewski. It also was suggested pointedly that if Seder and Hunt voluntarily stepped down, the recalls and their costs could be completely saved.
Hunt, at one point, replied that he would step down if Jim Green, who has been involved in the recall movement and also is a board candidate, would withdraw the recall petitions as well as his candidacy.
Green, after the meeting, said he does not intend to do either.
Mike Fox, a retired California attorney, asked three times if the attorneys to be handling whatever recall process is developed would be the same lawyers who created the “legal opinion” which accused concerned community activists of “meddling.” After uttering two replies unresponsive to the question, Seder ultimately answered “yes.”
One of those activists, Lois Singer, was cut off as she tried to express her viewpoint, despite her protests that other speakers had been allowed more than one turn at the microphone, and Carol Ramsey, a resident who has helped lead the recall movements, was denied opportunity to speak at all.
Following the meeting, however, Ramsey noted that the “board block of five votes who have successfully violated” untold portions of the federation by-laws now “have employed the oldest trick in their game book: make the residents pay for it and they will raise the roof.”
Ramsey also pointed out that “elections and recalls mirror one another” as defined in Florida’s statutes dealing with condominium communities. “We’ve not needed legal opinion to have an election, why do we need it for a recall? We’ve not had to pay for legal execution of an election; why should we be assessed for a recall?” she asked rhetorically.
She added that she is not assured the district meetings as called for in the by-laws would, in fact, be held.
Both motions were passed on a four to three vote, with Seder and Hunt refraining from participation in the actual “ yes” or “ no” roll call. Richard Fabiano, Ray Glover, Richard McCormick and Robert Sitzer voted to give the attorneys control of their colleagues’ recalls. The same block voted to assess federation members for the costs involved. Voting against both propositions were Boussie, Krajewski and Singer.
A third motion, the subject of considerable confusion, apparently failed for lack of sufficient support as the meeting broke up.
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| Melody Jameson photo
Current KP Federation Director Richard Singer (seated) emphasized a point as he and Forrest Davis (back to camera) sparred during a generally contentious special board meeting Friday morning. The acrimonious session, called to consider the “recall process” aimed at unseating the board president and treasurer, ranged from calls for compromise to blaming the news media for community problems. |
As the session ended, several persons including Hunt, former board member Gloria Wells and Carl Meinardus, accosted the news media representatives present, complaining of the reporting of the facts of Kings Point’s conflicts. This writer was accused of “single handedly reducing property values.”
Neither Brian May, on-site property manager, nor Seder, nor Sitzer, nor Douglas Christy, the Wetherington, Hamilton, Harrison attorney, handling Kings Point business, responded to calls from The Observer.
© 2010 Melody Jameson
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