At the Board Budget Meeting held on November 12th both of the new board members strongly suggested that we stop fighting the lawsuit requiring us to hold a new five-seat election and replace the entire board. Some of the residents that attended the meeting also indicated that they thought we should just drop our defense of this lawsuit so we could cut down on legal fees.  

Those same new Board members, Greg Mathison, and Kurt Kuhl, have refused to sign a Conflict of Interest statement and the Confidentiality and Fiduciary Agreement, documents that all board members for years have signed before they can access confidential materials, in which they assert they are free of conflicts that may prevent them from acting in the best interest of residents or involved in legal actions against the HOA. As you can imagine, it would be preposterous to have Board members deciding on their own lawsuits. 

Here is what is at stake in a five-seat election for the HOA Board:

• A five-seat election could be costly to the community in more than one way. There is a lawsuit (commonly referred to as the 20 million dollar suit) against the HOA and several previous and current directors (Board members). It was filed in 2020 by homeowner Lynn Sanford and two other residents that refused to use their names, so they are only identified as “Joe Doe” and “Jane Doe”. The attorney representing them is homeowner Bruce Burtoff. If the lawsuit prevails, each North Shore at Lake Hart homeowner will be on the hook in excess of $20,000. Ironically, the two new directors pushing for a five-seat election and opposed to continuing the legal process fighting the five-seat election, are in favor of settling the 20 million dollar suit with both sides just walking away and calling it even. This is a nonsensical proposition, considering that said suit has been dismissed five times. Yes, FIVE. The final time with prejudice, which means they can’t refile, but Burtoff, Sanford and the Does are appealing that decision. Their insistence to try to get each homeowner to pay them $20,000 so far has cost this community almost $350,000 in legal fees to defend against it. As soon as the Appeals Court rules in our favor, the HOA will go after Jane Doe and Joe Doe and Lynn Sandford for all of the attorney fees and costs which means all of those fees will most likely be collected and returned to the HOA. The two new directors are wanting the HOA to just walk away from going after those fees. An interesting sidenote -shortly after the 2024 Annual Meeting where Greg Mathison and Kurt Kuhl were elected to the Board, Mathison brought Burtoff to a meeting with Laurie Bihailo in her office at the Community Center. Mathison set up the meeting with Bihailo but failed to mention he was bringing Burtoff (the attorney suing the HOA for $20,000,000) with him to the meeting. During the meeting Burtoff attempted to secretly record a conversation between Laurie and Tanner (Compliance Manager) in Laurie’s office while Burtoff and Mathison went into the hallway to talk privately.  When confronted by Laurie, Mathison responded that he didn’t see anything wrong with bringing Burtoff to the meeting. This is the same Mathison pushing hard to stop defending against the suit for a five-seat election. A new five member Board might decide to settle the $20,000,000 suit agreeing for them not to have to pay anything and having the HOA offering to actually pay some or all of the fees owed to Burtoff even though they lost the case five times. Holding a five-seat election could offset the effective retention wall the current Board majority has been able to erect to protect the community against these atrocities. CAN YOU IMAGINE what could happen if those two homeowners who refuse to reveal their names to the community get elected to the Board and get to decide the fate of their own very expensive lawsuit?
• So how did we get into this five-seat election dispute? –  Shortly before the $20,000,000 suit was filed in 2020, five homeowners led by Lynn Sandford, filed a protest with the DBPR against the HOA’s 2019 election. They claimed that the election should have been for five seats. Three of those five homeowners have since moved away from North Shore.  An arbitrator with the DBPR did not agree with the homeowners’ argument, and said so in his opinion, but still ordered the election. The Board vehemently disagreed with a ruling that it believed did not adhere to process and rule of law and exercised its legal right to show it in court. The same five homeowners filed a lawsuit against the HOA asking a judge to force the board to comply with the DBPR’s Order for a five-seat election. That lawsuit is still outstanding and legal fees continue to grow as we defend against that suit. Not knowing who the two unnamed homeowners are who filed the $20,000,000 lawsuit, we are doing everything we can to keep those two homeowners from coming on the board in a five-seat election.  CAN YOU IMAGINE if they get on the Board and get to make decisions on whether to use your money to pay for their own frivolous suit that has been dismissed five times?
• But that’s not all. There’s a second suit also demanding a five-seat election: In 2023, Miriam Burtoff (wife of Bruce Burtoff) filed a protest with the DBPR about that year’s election because the Board did not allow her to be a Board member candidate citing conflict of interest. Let us not forget her husband is the one representing the plaintiffs in the $20,000,000 suit. CAN YOU IMAGINE the various conflicts of interest she would have serving on the board while her husband is suing the HOA for $20,000,000? Miriam hired her husband (Bruce) to represent her in the hearings before the DBPR to determine how to proceed with that protest. She is now suing the HOA for $40,000 in legal fees that she claims she owes her husband. We are having to use funds to defend against that suit. The arbitrator used the 2020 five-seat ruling by the prior arbitrator as precedent and ruled against the HOA and ordered another five-seat election, even though the prior five-seat election order is still pending in an open lawsuit. I’m not an attorney but it sure seems to me that the 2023 arbitrator should have postponed considering that protest until the other protest was settled in court. Once again, to protect the homeowners of NSLH, the board refused to comply with that ruling. Miriam Burtoff hired an attorney and filed a suit to force the HOA to comply with the arbitrator’s order. After a hearing, the judge ordered the HOA to comply with the DBPR order explaining that he didn’t want to second guess the DBPR arbitrator’s authority. The judge didn’t agree or disagree with the DBPR’s ruling, he just said he didn’t want to second guess them. Our attorney filed a Motion for rehearing because we believe that the judge made a mistake in his ruling. The judge has now denied the rehearing so we have filed a Notice of Appeal and a Motion with the judge to issue a Stay of the five seat election (meaning we wouldn’t do anything until the Appeals Court rules on the case).  We are spending a lot of money defending against what we believe is an erroneous decision by the DBPR and by the judge. Fortunately, prior to the 2024 election, the board made the decision to fight this order as long as it takes to overturn it. We didn’t know who might get elected to the board. We didn’t know if one or both of the homeowners who are plaintiffs in the $20,000,000 suit against the HOA and continue to conceal their identity might get elected. CAN YOU IMAGINE any homeowner voting for any of those individuals if they knew they were the ones suing them?

As baffling as it is, both of the two newly elected directors, Kuhl and Mathison, are pushing hard to proceed with a five-seat election and have stated this to be the reason they ran for the Board. They are demanding that we drop our legal defense immediately and proceed to vote. To protect the community and keep the Board balanced, we should maintain our current election schedule as stated in our bylaws. Since Lynn Sanford and the two unidentified homeowners have appealed the $20 million suit they already lost after having been tossed out five times, it would be a devastating mistake to create conditions that might facilitate for any of these bad actors to get on the board and be in a position to make decisions – like settling a suit that favors them. They can become very rich at your expense and make others rich in the process, like attorney Burtoff who wants tens of thousands in legal fees from you. CAN YOU IMAGINE?

The annual budget meeting was held on November 12, 2024 in the social room at the Community Center and on Zoom. Four of the five Board Members attended in person. All three members of the Finance Committee attended in person, as well as approximately 20 homeowners. One of the Board members and a handful of homeowners attended the meeting on Zoom.

Paul Snyder, Vice President of the HOA, called the meeting to order and then turned it over to Steve Smith, Treasurer of the HOA. 

Steve outlined the budget preparation process explaining that Laurie Bihailo, staff Community Association Manager, put the draft budget together with a lot of input from the Finance Manager and a little help from the Treasurer. Then, the Finance Committee got together for a workshop and went over the budget asking many questions and making a few changes arriving at a budget they felt was a good fit for the community and felt comfortable recommending to the Board for consideration.

The HOA bylaws provide for the Board to prepare and approve the annual budget. Homeowners are encouraged to ask questions and give input, but they do not vote on the approval of the budget. The Treasurer answered several questions that had been sent in by three homeowners, as well as several other questions asked by the homeowners attending the meeting.

There were a few changes to the budget made by the Board and then a vote was taken and the budget passed by a vote of three to two. The two recently elected Board members, Greg Mathison and Kurt Kuhl, voted no as they insisted that the HOA stop spending money defending against the lawsuit demanding a new five-seat election and also stop spending money defending against the 20 million dollar suit. They both indicated that the HOA should settle that suit by agreeing to walk away and not pursue recovering the almost $350,000 previously spent legal fees that the HOA is most likely entitled to. That suit was dismissed five times and is currently being appealed. 

There was vigorous discussion by Board members and homeowners about the need for private patrol, the use of off-duty deputies, special projects consulting and communications consulting expenses, as well as ongoing legal fees. 

The final budget that passed resulted in a 4.8% increase to the monthly assessment that each homeowner pays. The 2024 monthly assessment is $185, and the 2025 monthly assessment will be $194. Considering what inflation is currently running, that’s not too bad of an increase.

Congratulations to Laurie and the Finance Committee for a job well done. 

One of the hot topics discussed at the budget meeting was the legal fees we continue to pay. As such, it would be appropriate to provide an update of the status of the open lawsuits as of today. All but one of these cases are suits brought by current or prior homeowners against the HOA, something that is unfortunately pretty common in Florida. All of the costs incurred to date are a result of the Board voting to defend against claims that we believe are bogus and can threaten the assets of the HOA and its homeowners.

The first five cases detailed below are interrelated. The people suing for a five-seat election have a direct interest in either being on the Board or having a group on the Board that would be willing to “settle” the $20,000,000 lawsuit. We would love to settle this case by having the plaintiffs drop the appeal and assume responsibility for legal fees that the HOA has incurred defending against this frivolous suit that could be very detrimental to the homeowners of North Shore. 

1. LYNN SANDFORD, JOE DOE & JANE DOE VS NORTH SHORE AT LAKE HART HOMEOWNERS ASSOCIATION, INC. ET AL

This suit was filed on September 22, 2020, by Bruce Burtoff, an attorney living in North Shore, on behalf of homeowner Lynn Sandford and two anonymous homeowners. The original suit was filed against the HOA, seven current or prior board members and one committee member. The suit was later amended to add two more brand new directors and the law firm and owner of the law firm representing the HOA since 2015. There were a total of seven versions of this suit filed by Burtoff, and all were dismissed by the court. Ultimately, the last version of the suit was dismissed with prejudice (meaning it can’t be refiled anymore). Before the judge could rule on a motion to force the release of the names of Joe and Jane Doe and a determination of the amount of attorney fees to be paid by the losers of the case, Burtoff filed an appeal of this case, and the HOA has been defending against that appeal. 

The original suit has multiple claims against the HOA and the individuals named in the suit totaling almost $20,000,000. As is the case for all HOAs in Florida, all directors, committee members and volunteers are indemnified by the HOA, therefore claims against them would have to be paid by the HOA. If we were to lose this case, it could result in payments in excess of $20,000,000. This would trigger a special assessment against each and every homeowner of approximately $20,000. That’s why we have been and will continue to defend this suit. 

Settling this case, as some suggested during the budget meeting, is not strategically sound. Why settle when they have lost EVERY single round? The Appeals Court will ultimately rule and we are confident that we will prevail. This suit has cost the HOA more than $335,000 in legal fees that we expect to recover. This is why we are so concerned about having a five-seat election without knowing who Joe Doe and Jane Doe are. Please refer to “Can you imagine?”, an article in this very newsletter explaining that issue in detail. 

     2. MIRIAM BURTOFF vs NORTH SHORE AT LAKE HART HOMEOWNERS ASSOCIATION, INC.

This case was filed in February 2024 by Miriam Burtoff (spouse of Bruce Burtoff – see above case update). Miriam filed an Intent to Run for the Board of Directors for the 2023 election. Because of an obvious conflict of interest since she is married to the attorney representing three homeowners in a $20,000,000 lawsuit against the HOA, she was not allowed to be placed on the ballot. Subsequent to the 2023 Election she filed a protest with the DBPR.  She was represented by her husband in that protest and she allegedly incurred $40,000 in attorney fees that her husband is charging for representing her. 

The DBPR investigated her claim and held a hearing. They determined that the HOA should have let her name be placed on the ballot. As a result of that, the DBPR ordered the HOA to hold a new election, but not for the one seat that was being filled, but rather for all five seats. There was no one elected because we did not have a quorum for the 2023 election. The DBPR said that didn’t matter and issued the order to hold a new five-seat election. The HOA decided not to give in to what we believe is an erroneous decision by the DBPR, so Miriam filed this suit to convince a judge to order the HOA to adhere to the DBPR Order. The judge ruled in her favor, stating that he doesn’t have the authority to second guess the DBPR. The HOA has filed an appeal of the judge’s decision on many grounds. We believe that not only is it an error by the DBPR to order a five-seat election, but we also believe that there is a huge risk to the HOA and all homeowners to have an election where the plaintiffs in the $20,000,000 suit might get elected and enter into a detrimental settlement favoring themselves. Only Bruce Burtoff and the anonymous “Does” know the names of the mystery plaintiffs. (Lynn Sandford testified that she doesn’t know their identity even though she filed a suit with them). Given these facts, how would anyone know who to vote for? This is one of the suits that caused legal fees to increase in 2024 and may continue to increase in 2025 as the appeal of the case goes forward. 

     3. MIRIAM BURTOFF vs NORTH SHORE AT LAKE HART HOMEOWNERS ASSOCIATION, INC.

Yes, Miriam Burtoff has filed a second suit against the HOA. This suit is to ask a judge to order the HOA to give Miriam $40,000 to pay her husband, Bruce Burtoff, for representing her in 2023 with the DBPR. She filed this claim with the DBPR and they denied it so she has now filed a lawsuit against the HOA. As you would expect, we are fighting it vigorously. This is another case that has caused legal fees to increase in 2024 and will continue on in 2025. Bruce Burtoff, who is representing his wife in this case, has subpoenaed all kinds of records that seem not to be connected to the case and has requested the deposition of the HOA Treasurer. 

     4. LYNN SANDFORD, BRIAN FRIEDEL, DAVID VERLANDER, LOUISE DUTTON and JOHN BAKER vs NORTH SHORE AT LAKE HART HOMEOWNERS ASSOCIATION, INC.

This case was filed in 2020. Originally five homeowners filed a petition with the DBPR to protest the 2019 election. This group of homeowners believed that all five seats should be up for election even though our bylaws state otherwise. The DBPR did not agree with this group but for other reasons having to do with amending the bylaws the DBPR arbitrator ended up ordering a new election for all five seats. The Board at that time believed that the DBPR made some huge mistakes in their ruling and therefore did not abide by the ruling. Because of that, this same group of homeowners filed a lawsuit to have a judge order the HOA to comply with the DBPR Final Order. This group of homeowners asked for a Summary Judgement but the judge did not agree with their argument and denied their request for a Summary Judgement and made the decision that the case should go forward. In other words, that judge had a different opinion than the judge in the 2023 case and believed that she does have the authority to possibly overrule the DBPR Arbitrator’s decision. John Baker moved out of North Shore and dropped off the case. David Verlander and Louise Dutton have since moved out of Northshore leaving only Lynn Sandford and Brian Friedel as the two remaining plaintiffs. The plaintiffs stopped doing much on the case after the judge denied their argument for a Summary Judgement and not much has occurred on the case since 2022. In April 2024, a judge issued an order that basically stated that the plaintiffs either needed to move forward on the case or the judge was going to dismiss it. The plaintiffs filed for a Stay which is a motion to halt the case for a while. They filed that motion in June and the judge granted the stay pending the outcome of the 2023 DBPR case.

     5. LYNN SANDFORD, BRIAN FRIEDEL, DAVID VERLANDER, LOUISE DUTTON and JOHN BAKER vs NORTH SHORE AT LAKE HART HOMEOWNERS ASSOCIATION, INC.

The same five homeowners who filed the lawsuit above filed two other suits to collect legal fees related to the underlying petition filed with the DBPR. An appeals judge awarded legal fees for the procedures involved at the DBPR since they won their petition argument and for defending against an appeal that the HOA filed with an Appeals Court that was ruled as an invalid appeal meaning filed in the wrong venue. The HOA believes that these two awards of legal fees will be reversed if the HOA wins the underlying case. These two lawsuits are to collect these fees from the HOA. There has not been any activity on either of these cases since December 2023.

    6. MARK KING, RANDOLPH PINA, DAVE GORDON, JOHN DICK and DON ZAREMBA vs MARIA O’DONNELL

This suit was filed by the HOA on behalf of these five individuals in their capacity as Board Members. The suit was filed in January 2016. This suit was filed against Maria O’Donnell for allegedly libelous and slanderous comments that Maria made and published about these five individuals in their capacity as Board Members. In July 2022 the judge in the case signed an Order granting a “Default Judgement against O’Donnell and granting the HOA’s Motion for Attorney Fees and Costs. Shortly thereafter, we filed an Affidavit showing that our total fees and costs through that date were $53,787 and that O’Donnell had already paid the HOA $11,751 leaving a balance due in the amount of $42,036. O’Donnell’s attorney did not agree with those amounts so another Hearing was held in May 2023 and the judge ordered the parties to attempt to agree which they have not done. In July 2023 a different judge was assigned to this case and a hearing was held and he did not agree with the first judge’s ruling as to how much in attorney fees should be awarded. The judge suggested that we schedule another hearing to determine the proper amount of attorney’s fees and costs. He also stated that before that hearing can be scheduled both attorneys must hold a meeting to see if they can come to an agreement as to the amount of attorney fees due. O’Donnell, through her attorney, has requested a trial be held to determine the proper amount of attorney fees. At a hearing on January 8, 2024, the judge directed the attorneys to confer on the issue of fees, review trial periods on the calendar and to file a Notice for Trial. In an effort to avoid a lengthy, expensive trial, on March 6, 2024, we filed a Motion to Compel Mediation.  O’Donnell’s attorney has not responded or filed an answer to our Motion for Mediation. It seems that O’Donnell wants the HOA to bear the cost of going to trial to determine the amount of legal fees that we have been awarded. 

A really good question was asked by a homeowner at the recently held 2025 budget board meeting.

WHAT’S THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN PRIVATE PATROL AND OFF DUTY LAW ENFORCEMENT AND, DO WE REALLY NEED BOTH?

That question has come up before, so this seems like a good time to review the topic.

PRIVATE PATROL

The 2019 Board of Directors sought out bids for a private patrol service after the Community Center (sometimes referred to as the clubhouse) was vandalized and the toilets clogged. When the staff came in the next morning the building was flooded resulting in approximately $100,000 in damages. After serious discussion the Board decided to hire a private patrol service. The company we use provides services every day totaling 88 hours a week. The total cost is budgeted to be $163,700 for 2025. This works out to be just $13 monthly per homeowner. The following includes most but not all of the services provided:

Inspection of all parts of the Community Center every morning when they arrive and every night before they leave. As a result, we have not suffered more acts of vandalism.
Inspection of the pool area, basketball court, tennis courts, playground and softball field, as well as green areas multiple times, daily.
Unlocking during the day, and locking up at night the dog park and observation deck walk-out gate.
Inspection -several times a day- of the dog park and observation deck to ensure proper use of those amenities.
Patrolling all eight neighborhoods multiple times a day to ensure that vehicles are not parked on the wrong side of the street, or blocking fire hydrants, mailboxes or driveways. Some of the streets are too narrow for cars to park on opposite sides, which would block waste management trucks, firetrucks and ambulances. The patrol officer often gets out of the vehicle and rings doorbells attempting to locate the owner of the obstructing vehicles to ask they be moved. They actually do this multiple times daily. When owners can’t be located, they have it towed out of the way. They average about 25 calls for tows monthly.
During neighborhood patrol they are also looking for things out of the ordinary and report these to management. When necessary, they contact the Orange County Sheriff’s Office.
During each neighborhood patrol, they document any gate issues and report these to management.
On rare occasions, at night or on the weekend they have assisted HOA manager Laurie Bihailo by manually opening a gate that might have malfunctioned so that residents can come in and out.
During the school year they are at the entrance to the Community Center in the morning and in the afternoon stopping people who are attempting to drop off or pick up school kids in the parking lot and just don’t want to wait in line at the school. This service keeps the parking lot available for residents needing to come to the office or use the surrounding amenities.

OFF-DUTY SHERIFF’S DEPUTIES

Our community has always used the services of off-duty deputies. Unlike private patrol they work random days at different times. The total cost is budgeted to be $34,000 for 2025. This works out to be just $2.70 monthly per homeowner. The following includes some but not all of the services provided:
Traffic speed control along the boulevard.
Drive-through patrols of the neighborhoods looking for potential crime.
Patrol of the parking area at the end of Mallard Landings where the dog park and observation deck are located, particularly on weekend nights.
Assistance at the Annual Meeting and Board Meetings or other meetings as needed.

There is no duplicity as each service provides something different while complementing each other for enhanced security of our community. Several times in the past, Orange County Sheriff’s department personnel have told us that North Shore has the lowest crime rate of any community in this entire area. This results from a combination of having a private patrol service on site, using off-duty deputies on a random basis and having gated neighborhoods.

The 2025 budget that was recently approved by the Board included some improvement  projects that are planned for 2025. There are plans for three separate capital improvement projects to be paid for from the Reserve Fund.

CHILDREN’S PLAYGROUND EQUIPMENT REPLACEMENT 

This project was originally scheduled to be done in 2026 but the Board voted to move it up a year and take care of this much needed improvement during 2025 with a budget of $112,000 in the Reserve Fund. The playground is one of, if not the most, used amenity in North Shore. And while we sometimes have differences of opinions on HOA issues, it seems like we can all agree that upgrading the playground a year early is a good thing to do. If you bring your family members to the playground on a frequent basis and would like to volunteer to help with this project, please let Laurie know. We could use some conscientious, knowledgeable homeowners to volunteer to do some research and make recommendations to the Board on how best to proceed with this project.

FITNESS CENTER EQUIPMENT REPLACEMENT

This project was also originally scheduled to be done in 2026 but it was also moved up a year. It has a budget of $59,000 in the Reserve Fund. The fitness center gets a lot of use and the equipment is in sore need of an upgrade. If you currently use this amenity and have knowledge of the type of equipment we should be considering and would like to volunteer to help with this project, please let Laurie know.

Lawns, driveways and sidewalks – kind of sounds like the name of a movie from 1987 starring Steve Martin and John Candy. Well, the movie was actually called Planes, Trains and Automobiles. If you haven’t ever seen it, it’s pretty funny and has a great message in it – definitely worth watching.

It’s been an unusual summer this year. Hot and dry with a couple of hurricanes thrown into the mix. It’s been tough to control weeds but it’s definitely time to jump on them before they get totally out of control.

If you’ve lived here for a while you totally understand but if you’re new to Florida you might not realize that you have to treat your lawn for weeds all year long or they will take over. For the next few months, one of the focus areas for Tanner’s weekly inspections will be weeds in lawns and beds. If you receive a Compliance Notice don’t panic. Just get a lawn care company to start treating right away and keep treating on a consistent basis all year long. Provide a copy of your lawn care company long term contract and Tanner will put the Notice in a monitored status and recheck it periodically and assuming you stick with your treatment contract he will eventually close out the violation, no fines imposed.

A second focus area that Tanner will be looking at is driveways and sidewalks in need of power washing. As a general rule of thumb, most sidewalks and driveways need to be power washed every six months. It’s a good idea to jump on them now if you haven’t had yours power washed in a while. That way, they will be nice and clean and you won’t hear a word from Tanner.

As always, Tanner inspects multiple items every time he goes out into the community but these areas will definitely be focus areas for the next few months. If you have any questions about compliance, send an email to Tanner at northshorecompliance@accessdifference.com.

We have an awesome staff that has been through a lot this year and have come through time and again for every single homeowner and resident.
But nothing put our staff to the test like two back-to-back hurricanes this summer.

It takes a lot of preparation to get North Shore ready for a storm. Here’s a glimpse at some of the things that Laurie and her team do for every hurricane:

1. Move all of the pool furniture and all of the safety equipment from the pool area into the Community Center. 
2. Either secure or completely remove the wind screens that go all the way around the tennis courts.
3. Take down the nets on the tennis courts.
4. Move all of the trash cans located outside around the Community Center (basketball court, tennis courts, pool area, front porch area) into the Community Center.
5. Take down all of the gate arms (36 in total) and move them to the Community Center.
6. Open all of the metal gates and secure them with heavy ropes and stakes so that they remain open and won’t be moved by the hurricane force winds.
7. Move the furniture located at the dog park to the Community Center.
8. Move the safety equipment located at the Observation Deck to the Community Center.  
9. Do a drive-thru of the entire community and pick up all of the loose debris on HOA property and move it to the dumpster. 
10. Do a drive-thru of the entire community to make sure all residents have secured all loose items such as trash and recycle bins, garden hoses, trampolines, etc. 
11. Issue multiple e-blasts to the community to keep homeowners informed about the storms and remind them to take necessary precautions.

After each storm passed this summer, Laurie and her team came into the community (even though the office was officially closed) to survey the damage and assess what needed to happen to resume our neighborhood’s normal activities. As soon as it was safe, the team started putting everything back in place – the pool furniture and equipment, the dog park and observation deck furniture and equipment, the gate arms and metal gates, the trash cans, the wind screens and tennis court nets – well, you get the picture. A LOT OF WORK. Then Laurie immediately got together with our landscaping vendor Servello and arranged to have all the vegetation debris picked up. The team inspected each gate and made arrangements with Performance Gate to have repairs made as quickly as possible. 

All members of the team have a plate full everyday. So, when a hurricane comes along, and then another one follows it a couple of weeks later, team members get behind on everyday work. Please keep that in mind as you communicate with them. There’s been unfortunate  instances in which homeowners, perhaps unaware of their workload, have sent harshly worded emails to the staff if they have not responded within a day or two of an inquiry. Some go to the extreme of emailing  their employer Access Management demanding their dismissal. We have a GREAT on-site staff and they deserve to be treated with the same respect and kindness you’d like to be treated. 

Please join me in stopping by the office sometime this month to give a big thank you to Laurie, Tanner, Tabitha, Irving and Bennie. They will be glad to hear you appreciate them.