STATE OF FLORIDA

DIVISION OF ADMINISTRATIVE HEARINGS

DEPARTMENT OF BUSINESS ) REGULATION, DIVISION OF FLORIDA ) LAND SALES AND CONDOMINIUMS, )

)

Petitioner, )

)

vs. ) CASE NO. 82-2665

) FLORIDA PLANNED COMMUNITIES, ) INC., d/b/a GOLDEN LAKES VILLAGE, ) PHASE B, )

)

Respondent. )

)

RECOMMENDED ORDER

Pursuant to notice, a formal administrative hearing was conducted in this matter on February 8, 1983, in West Palm Beach, Florida. The following appearances were entered:

APPEARANCES

For Petitioner: Helen C. Ellis

Tallahassee, Florida For Respondent: Murray G. Fields

On or about September 9, 1982, the Division of Florida Land Sales and Condominiums issued a notice to show cause against the Respondent. The Respondent requested a formal hearing, and the matter was forwarded to the office of the Division of Administrative Hearings on October 1, 1982. The final hearing was scheduled to be conducted as set out above by notice dated November 8, 1982.

The following witnesses testified on behalf of the Petitioner: Michael H. Linder, a land sales and condominium specialist employed with the Petitioner; Isidore Sapir and Benjamin Gropen, unit owners and residents at Golden Lakes Village. Murray G. Fields, an officer of the Respondent, testified on the Respondent's behalf. Hearing Officer's Exhibit 1, Petitioner's Exhibits 1 through 7, and Respondent's Exhibits 1 and 2 were offered into evidence and received. The parties have submitted post-hearing legal memoranda. The memoranda include proposed findings of fact and conclusions of law. The proposed findings and conclusions have been adopted only to the extent that they are expressly set out in the Findings of Fact and Conclusions of Law which follow. They have been otherwise rejected as not supported by the evidence, contrary to the better weight of the evidence, irrelevant to the issues, or legally erroneous.

ISSUE

The ultimate issues to be resolved in this proceeding are whether the Respondent has committed violations of The Condominium Act, Chapter 718, Florida Statutes, and, if so, the appropriate action that should be taken by the Petitioner. Petitioner contends that the Respondent participated in board of directors' meetings regarding the Golden Lakes Village condominium, without first posting notice of the meetings and without maintaining minutes of the meetings as required by the provisions of The Condominium Act. Respondent denies the allegations.

FINDINGS OF FACT

1. The Respondent, Florida Planned Communities, Inc., is the developer of a condominium known as Golden Lakes Village, Phase B. The affairs of Golden Lakes Village are administered by a board of directors that is controlled by the developer. There are three members of the board. Two are selected by the developer, and one by unit owners within the condominium.

   
   

2. The bylaws of the condominium provide that meetings of the board of directors shall be open to all unit owners and that notice of meetings shall be posted conspicuously at the condominium property forty-eight hours in advance of the meeting. The bylaws provide that a quorum of the directors means a majority of the entire board. The bylaws require that minutes of all meetings of the board of directors be kept.

   
   

3. The condominium association maintains a minutes book. There are minutes from nine board of directors' meetings since 1979. Four of these meetings had as their purpose consideration of proposed budgets. Four were organizational meetings to elect officers. One was a special meeting called to consider a proposal to engage the services of a management company. Minutes were not kept for any other meetings of the board of directors that were conducted from 1979 until the present, neither was there any posting to advise unit owners of these meetings in advance.

   
   

4. There were numerous meetings of the Board of Directors of Golden Lakes Village, Phase B, other than those that were properly noticed and for which minutes were taken. During these meetings, matters affecting the condominium were discussed. Many of the meetings were conducted on a very informal basis when the unit owners' representative on the board contacted one of the developer's representatives and asked for a meeting. Among the matters discussed were repairs to facilities, additional facilities, budget, and the like. It does not appear that business was conducted in this manner so as to hide the meetings from unit owners. Rather, the purpose appears to have been to conduct operations in a simple manner and to allow the unit owners' representative on the board ready access to the developer's representatives. While the motives of the developer do not appear to have been bad ones, conducting the meetings without first posting notice and without keeping minutes violated the provisions of the condominium bylaws.

   
   

   CONCLUSIONS OF LAW

   
   

5. The Division of Administrative Hearings has jurisdiction over the parties and the subject matter of this proceeding. Section 120.57(1), Florida Statutes.

6. The Condominium Act requires that the administration and operations of condominiums shall be governed by bylaws. Section 718.112(1), Florida Statutes. The bylaws are required to provide that all meetings of the "board of administration" be conspicuously posted at least forty-eight hours in advance of the meeting and that minutes of the board of administration meetings be kept. Sections 718.112(2)(c) and (e), Florida Statutes. The "board of administration" is defined as the board of directors or other representative body that is responsible for administering the condominium's affairs. Section 718.103(3), Florida Statutes. The Golden Lakes Village Board of Directors constitutes its "board of administration." The association's bylaws include the provisions required by statute.

   
   

7. The Respondent has violated the provisions of Section 718.112(2)(c), Florida Statutes, and of its bylaws by allowing meetings of its board of directors to be conducted without first posting notice of the meetings. The Respondent has violated the provisions of Section 718.112(2)(e), Florida Statutes, and of its bylaws by failing to keep minutes of all meetings of its board of directors.

   
   

8. The Division of Florida Land Sales and Condominiums has authority to order the Respondent to cease and desist from these activities and to impose a civil penalty not to exceed $5,000 for the violations. Sections 718.501(b)2, 4, Florida Statutes. It is appropriate that a cease and desist order be entered and that a civil penalty be imposed in this case.

RECOMMENDED ORDER

Based upon the foregoing Findings of Fact and Conclusions of Law, it is, hereby,

RECOMMENDED:

That a final order be entered by the Division of Florida Land Sales and Condominiums finding that the Respondent, Florida Planned Communities, Inc., has violated the provisions of Sections 718.112(2)(c) and (e), Florida Statutes; requiring the Respondent to cease and desist from continuing its unlawful practices; and imposing a civil penalty against the Respondent in the amount of

$500.

RECOMMENDED this 10th day of March, 1983, in Tallahassee, Florida.

G. STEVEN PFEIFFER Assistant Director

Division of Administrative Hearings The Oakland Building

2009 Apalachee Parkway

Tallahassee, Florida 32301

(904) 488-9675

Filed with the Clerk of the Division of Administrative Hearings this 10th day of March, 1983.

COPIES FURNISHED:

Helen C. Ellis, Esquire Department of Business

Regulation

725 South Bronough Street Tallahassee, Florida 32301

Florida Planned Communities, Inc. c/o Mr. Murray G. Fields

Taylor Development Corporation 1901 Golden Lakes Boulevard West Palm Beach, Florida 33411

Mr. E. James Kearney Director

Division of Florida Land Sales and Condominiums

Department of Business Regulation 725 South Bronough Street Tallahassee, Florida 32301

Mr. Gary R. Rutledge Secretary

Department of Business Regulation

725 South Bronough Street Tallahassee, Florida 32301

================================================================= AGENCY FINAL ORDER

=================================================================

STATE OF FLORIDA DEPARTMENT OF BUSINESS REGULATION

DEPARTMENT OF BUSINESS REGULATION, DIVISION OF FLORIDA LAND SALES AND CONDOMINIUMS,

Petitioner,

vs. CASE NO. 82-2665

DOCKET NO. 82178MVC

FLORIDA PLANNED COMMUNITIES, INC., d/b/a GOLDEN LAKES VILLAGE, PHASE B,

Respondent.

/

FINAL ORDER

This Order is entered by the Director of the Division of Florida Land Sales and Condominiums, Department of Business Regulation, pursuant to Section 120.59, Florida Statutes, following a Recommended Order entered in this cause by Hearing Officer G. Steven Pfeiffer, Division of Administrative Hearings, on March 10, 1983.

After a review of the Record in this cause, the factual findings of the Hearing Officer are adopted as are his Conclusions of Law.

The Recommended Order is hereby adopted with the exception of the amount of the civil penalty imposed. The recommended civil penalty of $500 is rejected and the amount of the civil penalty imposed shall be $2,000.

IT IS THEREFORE ORDERED that, within twenty (20) days of the receipt of this Final Order, Respondent shall remit to the Division the civil penalty in the amount of $2,000. Said civil penalty shall be tendered in the form of a certified check, made payable to the Florida Condominium Trust Fund.

DONE and ORDERED in Tallahassee, Florida, this 19th day of May, 1983.

E. JAMES KEARNEY, Director Division of Florida Land Sales

and Condominiums

Department of Business Regulation 725 South Bronough Street Tallahassee, Florida 32301

CERTIFICATE OF SERVICE

I HEREBY CERTIFY that a copy of the foregoing has been furnished by U.S. Mail to Mr. Murray G. Fields, Vice President, Florida Planned Communities, Inc., 1901 Golden Lakes Boulevard, West Palm Beach, Florida, 33411, and Mr. Isidore Sapir, Golden Lakes Village, Phase B, 499 Golden River Drive, West Palm Beach, Florida, 33411, this 19th day of May, 1983.

Docket for Case No: 82-002665

Orders for Case No: 82-002665