Oak Park Villa Condos

They Can't Do That!

Mar 21, 2003

Since March 4, 2003, the date of the only open meeting held by the current Board of Directors, I have attempted to inspect the financial records and minutes of meetings for the Condo Association. After a number of cancellations by various Board members, Harriet Stafford and I met the Association President, Wes Denham at the U-Haul storage facility. That?’s a picture of him to the left, attempting to reach the lock. We were required to meet there to view the records. After unlocking the storage bin where the records were kept, Denham produced the records inspection document. This was the first time I was notified of special procedures for inspecting the condo records.

The original scanned document is available upon request. This is a retyped version.

Administrative Procedures
Oak Park Villa Condominium Association of Jacksonville, Inc.

1. Records may be inspected by one member or authorized representative at a time.
2. Each member may inspect records quarterly.
3. Member representatives must be authorized in writing with the signature of the member notarized.
4. The member inspecting the records shall pay a fee of $25 per inspection plus $.15 per page for copying plus postage.
5. Copies will be delivered to the member by certified U.S. mail.
6. Members shall give notice of a desire to inspect and copy records in writing.
7. Inspections will take place at the Association?’s secure storage facility. Members shall indicate which records they wish to be copied. A board member or board designee shall then copy the records and, upon receipt of payment for copying and inspection fees, deliver them by mail.

I have been an owner at OPV since 1987. I have been on the Board and am a past President of the Association. There has never been a fee to simply inspect the Association records. What is it in those records that they do not want us to see? Are Directors delinquent in payment of their monthly condo fees? Are monies not being accounted for? Are monies being transferred improperly? What secret meetings have been held? What was discussed/voted on? When did the Board vote to put up a surveillance camera? Why did Wes Denham have the recorder for the surveillance camera installed in his unit? How much rent is being paid by the tenant in unit 37, which the Association owns? Are our bills being paid? Where is all the money for the various projects in the last few months coming from? These are just some of the questions I can?’t answer, because I was prevented from inspecting the records. Maybe you will have better luck, but I doubt it.

BTW, fees for inspection are specifically prohibited by Florida State Statutes. See the Statutes link under Community pages.