MINUTES
OF MEETING
NORTH
SPRINGS IMPROVEMENT DISTRICT
The
regular meeting of the Board of Supervisors of the North Springs Improvement
District was held on
Present and constituting a quorum were:
Salvatore J. Mendolia President
Steve Mendelson Secretary
David L. Gray Supervisor
Also present were:
Ed Goscicki Interim Manager -
Dennis Lyles Attorney
Jane
Early Engineer
Shawn
Skeehan CH2M-Hill
Nick Schooley Field Superintendent
David Wolf WCI Communities
Rebecca Smith WCI Communities
Numerous Residents
FIRST ORDER OF BUSINESS Roll Call
Mr. Goscicki called the meeting to order and called the
roll.
Mr.
Goscicki stated I assume most of you are here for item three, which is the
public hearing to consider adoption of the Heron Bay Commons Budget. NSID is a governmental entity; not an HOA or
club. We request you abide by the rules
of civility, which you use for any public forum or entity. There are two opportunities for the public to
participate. Not every item is open for
discussion. We will open the public
hearing and give a brief presentation to the Board and then take any questions
or comments from the public. I suggest
we keep comments from the audience to no more than two to three minutes because
we have a number of people here. Please
identify yourself when you speak with your name and address for the
record.
A
resident asked will copies of the minutes be distributed?
Mr.
Goscicki responded if they are not distributed, we can provide copies by
email. If you wish to have a copy,
please let me know. We keep detailed
minutes of all meetings.
SECOND
ORDER OF BUSINESS Approval
of the Minutes of the July 19, 2007 Meeting
Mr.
Goscicki stated each Board member received a copy of the minutes of the
There
not being any,
On MOTION by Mr. Gray seconded by Mr. Mendelson with all in
favor the minutes of the
THIRD
ORDER OF BUSINESS Public
Hearing to Consider Adoption of the Heron Bay Commons Budget for Fiscal Year
2008 (Resolution 2007-7) and Levy of Non Ad Valorem Assessments (Resolution 2007-8)
Mr.
Goscicki stated at the last meeting, we presented the Heron Bay Commons Budget,
which included three alternatives; the basic budget, keeping assessments at the
current level and two alternative budgets providing for the addition of four
tennis courts at The Heron Bay Commons.
The current cost for this project is $750,000. The District has $250,000 in available funds
but we need to borrow additional funds in order to proceed with this project. Because the borrowing of additional funds
resulted in an increase in assessments, we were required to go through the
public notification process, which we did to all affected residents identifying
the assessment amount if we moved forward with this project. At the Board’s request, we looked at multiple
alternatives. If we do not build the
tennis courts, then the assessments will remain the same and we will be able to
keep our budget within the current assessment levels. One alternative is a five year payback
schedule as well as a two year payback.
The impact of doing the five year loan will increase the assessment from
the current level of $215 per unit per year up to $287.26 per unit per year or
a $72 increase. The 10 year alternative
will increase the current assessment of $215 to $256 or an increase of
$41. To summarize, the alternatives are:
1. Not to move forward with the expansion
of the tennis courts and not increasing the assessments.
2. Move forward with the expansion of the
tennis courts with either a five or ten year financing.
Mr.
Goscicki stated at this time, we will officially open the public hearing.
Mr.
Darrell Miles stated I live at 8247 NW 107th Terrace in
Creekside. I am the Chairman of the
Creekside Neighborhood Committee. I
spoke to many people who are for and against this expansion. Most people who were opposed told me they do
not play tennis, which is the main reason why they were opposed. When the Improvement District took over the
responsibility for this endeavor years ago, they knew what the ultimate size
Ms.
Linda LaRue stated I live at
Mr.
Wolf responded the job was fully contracted less the de-mucking.
Ms.
LaRue asked was a usage study done or do we have hard evidence this is going to
be useful to the community?
Mr.
Goscicki responded I am not aware of a usage study. The project was precipitated based on input
from the community through the HOA and Board meetings. There has been a great deal of discussion
over the years on this matter and it was initiated through community input; not
through unilateral action of the Board.
Ms.
Donna Greyson stated I live in Meadowbrook.
I have not been to any of the Board meetings before but from talking
with several people regarding the issue with adding new tennis courts, people
are having problems getting tennis courts available. There is a certain part of the day when the
tennis courts are not available but I never had a problem getting a tennis
court and heard no complaints from my neighbors. My understanding is there is a part of the
day when the tennis courts are overbooked by people who do not live in
A
resident stated I think she is talking about leagues.
Mr.
Smith stated I am the Club Manager. In
order to reserve a tennis court, we require 24 hours notice. A resident has to call in. They are allowed up to one guest per resident
per tennis court, during the busiest time of day, which is
Mr.
Goscicki stated the Board had discussions with regard to access, who has access
and how we manage this access.
Regardless of the outcome of this budget, this Board has committed to
tighten up the rules and regulations and formalize through a public process and
get them codified in the public forum.
Regardless of what happens here, this process is something the Board is
committed to and will be working on this year.
Mr.
Mendelson asked did we discuss at another meeting, the fact of these tennis courts
being open to the public and we cannot restrict anyone from coming in?
Mr.
Wolf responded I wish to answer this question.
I am the Senior Project Manager of
When
this came up again, as a developer we were excited. It certainly does not hurt us from a sales
perspective to have additional tennis courts and additional capacity. As a resident, I was thrilled about this
because it did not hurt us to have more hard/clay tennis courts. As President of the HOA, we thought it was in
the best interest of the residents to have additional capacity for our peak
hours. In addition, I believe the reason
we are here today, by no intention of previous management, we had a
miscommunication in moving forward on this project with the overall population
believing the courts were on a forward tract due to the fact there were
additional bond monies available through the initial bond.
Mr.
Goscicki stated you are absolutely correct in terms of the assumptions but for
the record, as of October 1st, Severn Trent Services will do all of
the accounting for this District with our own staff. This is why we are here. There was a presumption there were sufficient
funds. However, as we delved into this
further, we discovered there were not sufficient funds and this will require
short-term borrowing to create sufficient funds and hence, provide
notification. Regardless of how we got
here, this is where we are. I do not
think anyone was trying to do anything funny or slip anything through. The belief was there were sufficient funds in
the original bonds to build this facility.
This turned out not to be correct and we needed additional dollars.
Mr.
Mendolia asked are you saying WCI wants extra tennis courts and are agreeing to
them no matter the cost?
Mr.
Wolf asked are you asking me as a representative of the developer?
Mr.
Mendolia responded either way.
Mr.
Wolf responded it is not terrible for the developer to advertise they have more
tennis courts.
Mr.
Mendolia stated the reason why I asked this is because WCI will benefit from
more tennis courts. The benefit will be
incurred by WCI and the residents. I
believe at one time, you were not in favor of the additional tennis courts and
now you are.
Mr.
Wolf stated we had many conversations in the past. If you are asking me as a resident, I agree
with Mr. Miles. It does not hurt me as
an individual to pay the five or ten year assessment for the overall betterment
of the community, if the community feels it is in their best interest. I will not fight it. I will pay my bill, just like everyone
else. As the President of the HOA, it is
my duty and obligation to present what is occurring in the neighborhood to the
residents so they can attend, come here and state their opinions and have the
Board figure out what they want and do what they want because it is their
community. This is my position as
President of the HOA. As the developer, I
have another 800 homes to sell and it does not hurt me to have more tennis
courts. The developer is not
participating in the cost of these courts and they will be a benefit on the
backs of the homeowners. The developer
agreed to de-muck and supply the fill for these tennis courts.
Mr.
Mendolia stated this is new.
Mr.
Wolf stated no, it is not new. It has
been Ms. Early’s position all along that I was participating. Is this portion contracted at this time?
Ms.
Early responded no. We brought it to the
Board and the Board refused.
Mr.
Wolf stated this was a fully contracted job. Was it not?
Ms.
Early responded the job was fully contracted.
When we bid the job, a question came up about how much muck was
there. All of the developments were de-mucked. However, once we got out there, we were
sinking in the muck and found out there was a disposal fee from WCI. From what I understand, behind the courts there
was just a field where additional muck was spread to get rid of some muck. Now there is 18” of muck. The contractor feels he was misinformed,
which he was.
Mr.
Wolf stated I still stand by the position WCI was willing to participate.
Ms.
Early stated I appreciate it. I went to
Mr.
Mr.
Wolf stated I will stand by my position as the developer and Senior Project
Manager for WCI to participate in the de-mucking of the property, providing
there is enough support to proceed with the additional tennis courts. If there are no further questions from the
Board, I believe I have gone on the record both as a homeowner and President of
the HOA as well as the developer and my position is clear to everyone in the
room.
Mr.
Mendolia asked does WCI have any intention of donating money towards the tennis
courts?
Mr.
Wolf responded I cannot answer. This is
a project benefiting the developer. It does
not hurt the developer if it does not go forward.
Mr.
Mendolia stated we are putting a burden on the residents by paying $75. WCI is going to benefit even more than the
residents and they should donate some money towards it.
Mr.
Wolf stated it is not my place to put a burden onto the residents. It is my position to notify them so they can
come here.
Mr.
Mendolia stated you need to go back to your boys at WCI and say, “We are going
to benefit more so we should pay”. They
do not have to give a big amount.
Mr.
Wolf stated it is not a good time to discuss this.
Mr.
Goscicki stated the developer and the community needs to understand whether the
lots are unsold or sold, the residents are still assessed. You are still being assessed for the parcels
you own such as the developer is paying their share against those properties.
Mr.
Wolf stated I cannot speak to what our assessments are on undeveloped
land. My first position is as a resident
and second as President of the HOA. I
believe I did my fiduciary responsibility.
Mr.
Goscicki stated I am speaking as the person who puts together your Assessment
Rolls. It is a bill coming due and has
come due in the past. This is the way
the Assessment Rolls are sent out. You
are paying a proportionate share on platted undeveloped properties.
Mr.
Wolf stated the developer pays those assessments because this is what the residents
want.
A
resident stated as the President of the Association, you should have a survey
done with the residents to get their opinion.
Mr.
Wolf stated as the President of the HOA, I was instrumental in making sure the
residents could have their voices heard at a public hearing. It is not my responsibility to have a survey
done. It is the responsibility of
NSID. As the managers of the facility,
if NSID wanted us to do this survey and pay us to survey the residents, we are
happy to do so.
The
resident stated a survey was sent out a year ago asking the residents what they
wanted the developer to do with the land.
They mentioned numerous ideas such as tennis courts or a ballfield. Do you have the results of this survey?
Mr.
Wolf responded I caution the use of a survey in a mailed format as I believe it
is only an opinion of the active residents and the residents who wanted to take
the time to fill the survey out. The
actual form for deciding whether or not the residents of our community want to
spend money to improve the tennis courts is not the responsibility of the HOA
or the developer. It is the
responsibility of NSID because they are moving forward with the contracts for
this work. We are happy to participate
in any way, shape or form to help you determine the true response of the
community. When you have meetings;
whether they are budget meetings, hearings or public opinions, you are going to
get both ends of the spectrum in small percentages. You are not going to get a true feel of what
the community actually wants because the apathy of 2,200 homeowners is fairly
strong.
Mr.
Goscicki stated this is the legal forum.
Public notice went out to every affected property owner.
The
resident asked what was the original design criteria and plan for the tennis
courts as a master planned community and what number were you aiming for based
on the total build out?
Mr.
Wolf responded I believe the original number was 10, which were built. Then the developer realized they were short
and there was still bond money left and increased the number by four. I do not believe there was any study done to
say four was the magic number. We still
may have too many tennis courts or not enough.
There is no one in this room who can scientifically tell you whether we
have the right number of tennis courts. Furthermore,
no one in this room was opposed to additional tennis courts when the money was
leftover in the bond. Are you a resident
of Casa del Sol?
The
resident responded yes.
Mr.
Wolf stated I did my fiduciary responsibility both from the developer’s
perspective as well as from a homeowner’s perspective. I leave this in the good hands of the people
who live in
Mr.
Mendolia stated thank you.
Ms.
Marguerite Condon-Nucatola stated I live at
Mr.
Goscicki stated this budget is one of six budgets within NSID. Five budgets were approved last month at a
public hearing where very few people attended.
It is important for the community to understand there were no increased
assessments in any of the other budgets.
There is a public hearing next month on the Water and Sewer Budget and
there will not be any increase in the water and sewer rates. Of all the budgets within NSID, this is the
only one with an increase. I wanted to
put into perspective this Board has been clearly hearing the message from the
community to keep the rates and assessments down and not to increase
assessments.
Mr.
Wolf stated WCI did not build or invest any money into The Heron Bay Commons. It was strictly built on bond money. WCI did build a $12.5 million plus clubhouse,
which we just deeded over to the HOA.
WCI never participated in Heron Bay Commons.
Mr.
Goscicki stated I am not in the position to go into the history of funding NSID
on the split of bonds. We can spend four
hours on this discussion alone. Let’s
stick to the issue at hand.
Mr.
Robert Nucatola stated four tennis courts were added last year to what was
already there. Now they are talking
about adding four additional tennis courts.
I do not think it is going to do anything. You are still going to have the same problem
with people coming to play tennis in the morning because it is cooler. No one wants to play in the afternoon. They also want to play when they come home
from work, which is understandable. I do
not think it is going to add any benefit, especially when people are losing
their homes. They cannot afford to pay
their assessments now and we are increasing the assessments.
Mr.
David Philbrick stated I live at
Mr.
Don Morris stated I live at
Ms.
Mary Morris stated I attended most of these meetings. Can you explain who made the decision for the
additional tennis courts? I heard rumors
and cannot get educated by rumors.
Mr.
Goscicki responded the decision was made by the Board. The issue was brought before the Board.
Ms.
Morris asked by whom?
Mr.
Goscicki responded staff of NSID.
Ms.
Morris asked who brought it to you?
Mr.
Goscicki responded I was not here and do not have the details. It was based on community input but I cannot
tell you where this input came from. The
Board was moving forward on the premise there were sufficient funds. When we found out there were not sufficient
funds, the Board stopped the project.
Ms.
Morris stated I was under the assumption another Board made the decision on the
tennis courts. However, this can be a
rumor.
Mr.
Mendolia stated in prior meetings, we heard the residents wanted more tennis
courts. I pushed for the tennis courts
and went along with this, subject to the funding being available. I was told there was money available and
said, “If you have the money, let’s do it” as WCI is going to benefit on the
sale of homes. The residents are
definitely going to benefit, because if even one more tennis court is built,
this is one more tennis court someone could be using. People will use them and if they do not use
them, they will be there. Then we found
out there was no money available.
A
resident stated this is why we are here.
Ms.
Judith Gravel stated I live at 5708 NW 125th Terrace. I am totally opposed to either a five year or
ten year amortization on whatever is borrowed against the bonds. We agreed to the initial amount of 10 tennis
courts and four additional tennis courts, if money was available. In order to have four additional courts, it
will cost us additional money. Some
residents are on a fixed income. It is
difficult for some of us to come up with an additional assessment, which we
have to pay our homeowners insurance and association fees. We had to pay a hurricane assessment and are
still trying to recover from our hurricane damage. Therefore, I am opposed to the expansion and
additional assessment.
Ms.
Phyllis Sandow stated I live in the Estates at
Mr.
Goscicki responded NSID owns these assets and did not turn them over to
anyone. There is a Management Agreement
between NSID and the HOA to manage the facility. The HOA contracts with WCI to manage the
property.
Ms.
Sandow stated so you own the property.
Mr.
Goscicki stated correct. If not, it will
be the homeowner’s problem.
Ms.
Sandow stated in other words, we are paying to improve your property, of which
someday the government may sell it. This
is our money to improve your property.
Mr.
Goscicki stated NSID is your local government.
This is a governmental entity, which you are citizens of.
Ms.
Sandow stated then it is truly governmental property.
Mr.
Goscicki stated correct.
Ms.
Grandale stated even though I rarely go out, I do not want to pay for something
I do not use. We do not pay for the racquetball
courts or the pool.
Ms.
Elaine O’Neill stated I live at
Ms.
Lila Pagano stated I live at
Ms.
Sylvia Bland stated I live at
Mr.
Mendolia responded there are people here approving of the expansion. At the meetings we discussed what we were
doing, the tennis people were here.
Ms.
Bland asked was all of this stated in an email; in regards to the new tennis
courts and the assessment? The first
time I heard about this was in the letter I received from the CDD.
Mr.
Goscicki responded the Board meets monthly and there is a public advertisement
placed monthly notifying the community about Board meetings. This is the legal advertisement you see along
with all of the other local government advertisements. We do not get a great deal of participation
unless the community has an issue they want to bring to us. In a situation like this where we are
increasing assessments, we are required by law to provide individual
notification to the residents to make sure we get public input. If we are not increasing assessments, we are
still doing monthly notifications. These
are all open public meetings like this one.
However, when we are in this type of situation where we are saying, “We
want to dip into your pocket” we notify everyone individually by first class
mail.
Ms.
Bland stated since you were able to send a letter to me and everyone else, when
you individually had people come to you and say they needed additional tennis
courts, Mr. Mendolia proceeded to say, “Let’s get this going”. A letter could have been sent out saying
there was a discussion about adding more tennis courts, which may be an
additional cost to the residents and we could have had an open forum and saved
all of this time and stress.
Mr.
Goscicki stated I appreciate your concerns.
I do not want to sound arrogant or flippant, but this is a
representative government and your Board members are elected to represent
you. This is the same as your City
Council or
Ms.
Bland stated I oppose the additional tennis courts.
Ms.
Maria Hough stated I do not want four additional tennis courts.
Ms.
Jill Boca stated I live at
Mr.
Gary Magrau stated I live at
Mr.
Goscicki stated correct.
Mr.
Magrau stated he said $250,000 was available to be used against this contract.
Mr.
Goscicki stated correct.
Mr.
Magrau stated then we are only looking at spending $500,000.
Mr.
Goscicki stated correct.
Mr.
Magrau stated when I take the assessment of $70 per year and multiply by 3,000
units, this adds up to $200,000 per year.
Over five years, this will cost us $1 million for $500,000. Is this correct?
Mr.
Goscicki responded part of the assessment was for maintaining the reserve
funds. Instead of drawing down the last
$200,000, we will keep some funds in reserve for other contingencies.
Mr.
Magrau asked what will the reserves be used for?
Mr.
Goscicki responded for ongoing maintenance and renewal and repair of the Heron
Bay Commons infrastructure.
Mr.
Magrau stated maybe the people who play tennis or control the leagues at The
Commons can work harder to get some extended playing time. Perhaps they can play until
Mr.
Goscicki stated rescheduling issues are HOA issues. The issue of who gets to use the tennis courts
will be something we will be taking up later this year.
Ms.
Christian Gentille stated I live in Bay Cove.
I am against the expansion of the tennis courts and the assessment for
all the reasons stated.
Mr.
Paul Gentille stated I live at
Mr.
Lyles responded they do not have the ability to refinance the bond. However, this Board has the ability to at a
public hearing like this.
Mr.
David Graff stated I live at 12580 NW 76th Street in the
Vistas. I am apparently one of the few
resident tennis players. I have to
compete for a court, but mostly on the weekends. I try to play in the primetime. Many good things have been said on both
sides. We are a community and it is to
our advantage if we sell our home. We do
not know whether this person will be a tennis player or not or what their
interests are. We did not vote
separately on the gym and pool. It is a
concern we simply singled out tennis. I
do not know if this was because this was the last item in the budget to be done
but it is creating some dissention in our community. We are putting neighbor against
neighbor. I personally want to see more
courts but not at the expense of hard feelings from our neighbors.
Mr.
Everard Lee stated I live at 12602 NW 66th Drive in Waterford. I am on the Board of the Waterford HOA. Like the Bay Cove community, 20% of our homes
are for sale. On NW 65th
Court, four homes in succession are under foreclosure. The Board demonstrated fiscal responsibility
over the other budgets and it is not necessary for us to be here because you
already approved it without any additional assessment. If we can demonstrate the essential need for
these four additional tennis courts, I will not object as for a great number of
us, this is a small amount going forward.
However, the way this was done, does not sit well with many of us. I did a survey and I can tell you changes
need to be made. The players need to
sign in with their name and lot number.
We should never have guests playing on the tennis courts between the
hours of 8:00 a.m. to 11:00 a.m. Monday through Sunday. I know it is not your prerogative to have
them change the procedure, but perhaps this should be discussed.
Mr.
Anthony Ragusa stated I live at 12577 NW 65th Drive in the
Estates. As you can see by the number of
residents here tonight in this forum, most of us do not want the additional tennis
courts.
Mr.
George Jones stated I live at 12587 NW 65th Drive in the
Estates. I am here to voice my
disapproval of the additional tennis courts.
What I am hearing is a couple of people came to the Board and requested
more tennis courts. The Board said “Oh,
there is money available so let’s do it”.
If we had enough money, we would not have heard about it until they were
built. Now there is no money. Because of a couple of residents, you are
going to tax the entire community. I am
opposed to this. I have a letter from my
neighbor who strongly opposes the construction and funding of these tennis
courts. Not even a dime. I walk by the tennis courts and I can tell
you for a fact, they are not always utilized.
Until you can show the residents of Heron Bay that these tennis courts
are utilized to a point where we need more courts, you are wasting money.
Mr.
Cliff Haye stated I live at 12114 NW 73rd Street in the Edgewood
section of Heron Bay. I want to go on
the record for opposing the additional tennis courts. I also have a question with respect to the
additional construction budget, used to finance construction of The Commons,
which we are paying for. When the bond
is repaid and the residents pay the bond off, what happens to The Commons? Does it transfer over to the residents of
Heron Bay or does it remain a public property?
Mr.
Goscicki responded it remains the property of NSID. The debt service payment you are being
assessed will drop off the assessment roll.
Mr.
Haye stated so at no time do the residents retain ownership of this facility.
Mr.
Goscicki stated the homeowners have ownership.
You are residents of NSID, which is a governmental entity. It is like a county park.
Ms.
Laurie Jackerson stated I live at 12199 NW 75th Place in the
Greens. I am opposed to this expansion. I took a petition around my
neighborhood. One of my neighbors is on
the tennis team, which I am fine with but of all the people I petitioned, two
did not know what to do with it and everyone else signed immediately. I do not think people are not opposed to the
tennis players but about the bond.
Mr.
Stuart Bacher stated I live at 12662 NW 68th Drive in Waterford
Estates. I am opposed to the
construction of the additional tennis courts.
However, I will be in favor, if it could be demonstrated these tennis courts
will address the problem of over booking.
I believe this is the problem but based on the evidence presented, I
still see no valid reason to assume they are needed.
Ms.
Teri Jablow stated I live at 5733 NW 121st Terrace in Villa
Sorrento. I walked around to obtain
signatures because many people complained they could not attend this
meeting. We did not get many signatures
because we only did this in two days. The
Board should send a letter to every homeowner asking them whether or not they
want the additional tennis courts.
Mr.
Goscicki stated we already addressed this question.
Ms.
Jablow stated people are going to buy in Heron Bay whether or not you have
extra tennis courts. I walked by the
tennis courts and there are times when they are totally empty.
Ms.
Rosemary Brewster stated I live at 12425 NW 62nd Court in L’Hermitage,
which is opposite the tennis courts.
Unfortunately I am not a tennis player but I love walking my dog with my
husband through the tennis courts any time of the day. The time of day we see the most players is
between 8:00 a.m. and 11:00 a.m. There
are beautiful evenings when we take the dog for a walk and I assure you, those
tennis courts are not at full capacity.
When we have good weather in the wintertime, they are not used. Therefore, I am opposed to the
expansion. I want to see a record of how
often those tennis courts are being used and a ratio of people who play against
the number of people who do not play.
Ms.
Mary Serianni stated I live at 5808 NW 120th Avenue in Tuscany. I am against the expansion.
Mr.
Gerry Cohen stated I live in Heron Isles.
Has anything been done to see what impact the expansion will have on
someone’s property such as the lights from the tennis courts shining on homes?
Mr.
Mendolia responded not to my knowledge.
Ms.
Early stated I visited someone who lives on the edge facing the tennis courts
and the lights do not affect them.
Mr.
Cohen stated the noise affects them. I
think the extra tennis courts are completely unnecessary. I live in Casa del Sol and drive past them
400 times. They are always empty. Perhaps we can see how many people are for
and against the courts. I noticed many
improvements were made to The Commons.
Mr.
Mendolia stated correct.
Mr.
Cohen asked were they already paid for or will this be a separate assessment?
Ms.
Early responded they were already paid for.
Mr.
Glenn Fine stated I live in Heron Cove.
It seems like the tennis people are asking for something
unreasonable. If I went to the Heron Bay
golf course and wanted to play golf at 9 a.m., I cannot get a tee time until
Noon. This does not mean I should ask
Heron Bay to build another 18 holes so I can play golf. This is what happened here. When we purchased in Heron Bay, the documents
clearly stated how much money will be assessed because of the bond issue. The residents will be proportionately paying
for the life of the bond for the construction and maintenance of The
Commons. It did not say anything about
expanding it. If the money was there,
fine. We already agreed to pay for
it. However, if the money is not there,
we should not do something because a few people came to the Board and said they
wanted it. It is ridiculous. I hate for this to sound disparaging but this
is a governmental entity and $46 million was spent to buy a piece of land to
build a high school, which will sink if it is built on. The Board is sitting here saying, “We went
ahead and contracted before even knowing whether there was money available”. It is your responsibility to know whether or
not you have money before entering into a contract.
Mr.
Mendolia stated at the time, we were told the money was there.
Mr.
Fine stated the money is not there so there should not be any discussion.
Mr.
Goscicki stated the Board stopped this project and it is not moving
forward. It will not move forward unless
this Board votes to increase the assessments to fund this project.
Mr.
Mendolia stated we did not have the money and this is why we are going through
this.
Ms.
Karen Mazurek stated I live at NW 120th Terrace. I am the Chairman of the Tennis
Committee. I apologize to the residents
for being misinformed. I approached the
Board a couple of months ago requesting more tennis courts; not the Tennis
Committee. You need to understand there
are hundreds of people playing tennis. I
am here to tell you the supply does not equal the demand. It is not just in the morning. We have juniors and over 80 families
participating in our junior program and hopefully we are going to continue
growing this program. We also have the
men’s program as well as a slew of social players. WCI can present log after log to show you
where residents are being denied tennis courts.
The reason why I do not have this room filled with more people is
because we are fighting uphill a couple of negative people who apparently
misinformed you. I personally
apologize. I am asking all of you to
think outside the box because “The supply does not equal the demand”. It will only cost us $40 over 10 years and we
will be back here again when those homes are built because you are saying the
homes are not selling because of the tennis players. I can specifically tell you 15 people on
tennis leagues sold their houses in Coral Springs to move across town to Heron
Bay. WCI just spent over $12 million to
improve the Fitness Center and they never asked me if I ride the
treadmills. I do not ride them, yet we
are all paying for them as residents.
There is a unique relationship in which NSID owns the property we are
here discussing. It is a different
forum. Quite frankly, these are public
courts. It is no different than if your
children play little league at a park.
The people who live around the park are paying for use of the facility,
just like you and I are paying for The Commons.
The voice is louder than just the negative. I apologize to the Board because you always
tend to hear the negative. I read this
in the minutes every month. Every time I
am here, we are always here to tell you what happens. I am asking the Board to please meet the
demand. Today the assessment is only
going up by $40. If the Board does not
approve this expansion, we will be back here in five years and it is going to
cost us more than $40. Thank you!
Ms.
Rita Hoesing stated I live at 12441 NW 62nd Court. Ms. Mazurek has said it all. Many of you were misinformed about what occurs
on the tennis courts because you do not come out between 8 a.m. and 11
a.m. A resident said many people come in
who are not residents of the facility.
When we play in our leagues, we usually reserve five tennis courts at
least one day a week. Every court at
least has two residents on it and two guests.
Technically this is legal because each resident has a guest. We are not abusing its use. Personally, I do not recall ever hearing this
was a retirement community. I bought
into this knowing it was a luxury community, which means I expected to pay
fees, whether there was a yearly or monthly increase. With all due respect, I know a lot of you are
on a fixed income but I learned to budget myself because I want to live in an
upscale community and I expect to pay assessments.
Ms.
Lynne Rudolph stated I live at 7271 NW 115th Way. I do not agree with the statements for supply
and demand in regards to the tennis courts.
I called three weekends in a row on a Friday to reserve a tennis court
for Saturday morning and every time I have my choice of any court. I go there with my boyfriend and there is
never a problem. If these people do not
want to play other than 8 a.m. to 11 a.m. due to the heat, I am sorry. This is just the way it is and you need to
adjust your schedule and play during different hours. It is not fair for all the residents to pay
higher assessments to accommodate them. Therefore,
I am opposed to the expansion.
Mr.
Leroy Booker stated I am a tennis player.
I was surprised when I saw the sign for the expansion of four additional
courts. We did not ask for the
courts. If you thought you had the
money, where did it go? You have an
audit showing the funds were available in February and in July, they were
gone. You cannot have a contract without
any funds.
Mr.
Goscicki stated as we stated earlier, accounting errors were made showing the
funds were there. However, the money was
not there in terms of the fund balance.
It was thought there were more funds available. We are talking about $12 million in
expenditures over a multi-year period of time.
There were errors made.
Mr.
Booker stated I am seeing lack of accountability because you hired WCI to
manage your books.
Mr.
Goscicki stated this has nothing to do with WCI.
Mr.
Booker stated contrary to what tennis players believe, if this was managed
better, we would have more time to play.
The person who hired WCI should take responsibility. We need to have a voice going back to
WCI. It is true we did not need the
extra four tennis courts today but five years down the road, we are going to
need them as we are going to have 800 more homes being built. This means only one in ten people will
play. We should have a long term plan
for building more tennis courts in the future.
The expenditures needed for resurfacing the pool were used from a
settlement received from WCI, which was not approved by us. You have to take a certain amount of
expenditures from all of the residents and use it towards the community, not
just the tennis courts. There are other
improvements we need to take care of.
Mr.
Mendolia stated I have been a member of this Board for six years and I do not
recognize you. We have meetings once a
month. All of the items you mentioned
today were discussed at these meetings.
We discuss everything including the tennis courts in detail. If you were here every month asking about
what happened to the money, we would have answered you.
Mr.
Booker stated I am asking about missing funds.
Mr.
Mendolia stated I am talking about missing funds and everything else. When you see a problem, you should approach
the Board. You do not come six months
later and ask, “What happened”.
Mr.
Goscicki stated there are no “missing” funds.
Let’s get the record straight.
Mr.
Booker asked do you know where the money went?
Mr.
Goscicki responded yes. This is why we
now know there are not sufficient funds for this construction.
Mr.
Booker asked can I get some information on what happened?
Mr.
Goscicki responded it is called the budget and the annual auditing financial
statements. If you came to the meetings
when we are having these discussions, you would know. If you want to receive a copy of last year’s
annual audit, we are happy to provide it to you as it is available in the next
week or two.
A
resident stated to be fair to those who work, we cannot get here.
Mr.
Mendolia stated we moved the time of our meetings from 3:00 p.m.
The
resident stated people work until 5:00 p.m. or 5:30 p.m.