Article
Courtesy of WFTV, Channel 9, Orlando
By
Karla Ray
Published April 13, 2021
TALLAHASSEE — 9 Investigates why legislation that would
make it easier for homeowners to remove problematic HOA board members has
once again stalled in Tallahassee.
Over the last year and a half, Channel 9 investigative reporter Karla Ray
has covered the turmoil inside Kissimmee’s Turnberry Reserve, where after a
legal fight, a group of homeowners was able to successfully remove its
board. Many thought their efforts would finally bring change at the state
level, but we learned this push fails year after year.
Lawmakers who brought forward this year’s bill aimed at easing the process
do not expect it to reach a vote. That’s frustrating to homeowners who have
been through the long, drawn-out process of removing an HOA board.
The feeling inside Turnberry Reserve is a lot different than a year ago.
“We’ve been working on the grounds, new vendors. It’s been a full-time job
for all of us; there is a lot of work going into restoring the community to
where it should be,” Turnberry homeowner and current board vice president
Maria Napolitano said.
Napolitano is part of a group that led the effort to overhaul the
community’s Board of Directors, who had employed Management 35 Firm. That
property management company, run by Sherry Raposo and her longtime
boyfriend, ex-cop-turned-felon Joseph Conover, was removed last year. The
two are facing charges related to Conover’s role as an unlicensed security
officer, and Raposo is facing separate charges for alleged fraud involving
HOA records.
“We have been able to at least get through most of the homeowner accounts
and get those cleared up, and homeowners are happy to know that they have
accurate balances on their accounts,” Napolitano said.
Getting to this point was a struggle. Florida’s process for homeowners to
recall a board has long been criticized, with homeowners often bounced
around from local courts to the Department of Business and Professional
Regulation to force recalls to be recognized.
Still, efforts to change it fail year after year in Tallahassee. In fact,
legislation put forward this year by State Rep. Kristen Arrington and State
Sen. Victor Torres, both of whom represent parts of Osceola County, is not
making any progress. Even if it did, it would only change a small portion of
state statute.
“It’s frustrating. I can tell you since we started this, we’ve gotten so
many phone calls from communities across the state that are in similar
situations, and they’re going through the same thing, coming out of pocket,
fighting, going in the circle of court to the state, court to the state,
with nobody to say, ‘This is our wheelhouse,’” Napolitano said.
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