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John W. Bakas
November 24, 2007
Office
of Governor Charlie Crist RE: Request for the Governor to investigate/suspend Lake St. Charles Community Development District Supervisors: Chairman Lorelei Bowden, Vice Chairman David A. Nelson, Treasurer Virginia Mueller Gianakos, and Supervisor W. Rex Speer for Malfeasance and Nonfeasance since October 4, 2006. Dear Governor Crist: I am a duly-elected Supervisor of the Lake St. Charles Community Development District (the LSC CDD) located in Riverview, Hillsborough County, Florida. A copy of my Commission is attached, Tab 1. I am also an attorney with 30-plus years of experience in governmental law. Dangerous legal precedent established by four LSC CDD Supervisors On October 22, 2007, Lake St. Charles Community Development District Chairman Lorelei Bowden, Vice Chairman David A. Nelson, Treasurer Virginia Mueller Gianakos and Supervisor W. Rex Speer (hereinafter referred to as Supervisors Bowden, Nelson, Gianakos and Speer) illegally voted 4-0 to “permanently remove” me from my duly-elected seat on the LSC CDD Board of Supervisors. (Please see Resolution 2008-2; Grievance Committee Findings And Final Administrative Order; and, Resolution 2008-1, Tab 2). Although the LSC CDD board cited authority to remove me under §112.501, Fla. Stat. (2007), that law does not apply to CDDs. A community development district is not a municipality. The illegal actions taken by Supervisors Bowden, Nelson, Gianakos and Speer are so boldly egregious as to establish dangerous legal precedent thereby justifying action by the Governor to prevent such illegal precedent from being followed by Florida’s 300-plus CDDs across the state. Other CDDs may immediately latch onto this illegal precedent and begin voting other duly elected public officials off their boards thereby forcing more elected officials to file lawsuits in order to defend their rights as public officers.
Bakas vs. Bowden, et. al. I have filed the above-referenced lawsuit to enforce my rights as a duly elected official, correct the illegal precedent that has been established by this CDD board, and to protect the rights of future board members of the LSC CDD from the constant threat of removal by the board majority. Just three votes constitute a majority vote on CDD boards of five supervisors. (Please see Bakas vs. Bowden, et.al., Tab 3).
Request for action:
suspension/investigation of In short, the LSC CDD board has now ousted everyone who has spoken up against their willful, intentional, and ongoing violations of the law, beginning with LSC CDD board attorney Sid Kilgore, followed by CDD employee Silvia Hilliard who reported about and protested against the board’s and District Manager Antoinette Manko Leake’s improper actions, and finally me even though I am a duly-elected Supervisor. (Please see “CDD Board Lawyer Advises Board re Potentially Serious Legal Concerns, Tab 4). Anyone within the board’s reach who has steadfastly refused to help conceal board members’ and the District Manager’s illegal actions from the CDD board attorney and the public have been ousted, sending the chilling message that anyone who refuses to follow the example set by LSC CDD Supervisors Dave Nelson and Rex Speer and past board Supervisor Dave Candia to “look the other way” and help to conceal violations of the law will be fired, retaliated against, and/or “voted off board.” Supervisors Nelson and Speer, as duly elected officials, have a duty to operate a public board lawfully. If and when appropriate under law, I request that the Governor suspend from office Supervisors Bowden, Nelson, Gianakos and Speer and appoint four new Supervisors to fulfill their terms of office, or that the Governor undertake whatever investigation or action that he feels is warranted under the law. Background Information · The board voted 3-2 to terminate LSC CDD attorney Sid Kilgore after he raised concerns regarding alleged actions of Supervisors Bowden and Gianakos and District Manager Antoinette Manko Leake and notified the board that "John Bakas has recently brought to my attention certain potentially serious legal concerns that I believe should be presented to the Board as a whole, and which likely will require a fuller evaluation for a recommended course of action by the Board.” The “potentially serious legal concerns” related to whether or not Ginny Gianakos had violated the Sunshine Law (which carries criminal penalties) and whether CDD District Manager Toni Leake had violated the public records law. In addition, an issue arose as to whether CDD chairman Lorelei Bowden also violated the Public Records law when she imposed improper conditions on my access to public records. Supervisors Bowden, Gianakos and Dave Candia were the three Supervisors who voted to terminate the attorney. (Attorney Sid Kilgore e-mail dated October 14, 2006; and Attorney Sid Kilgore Audit Letter dated April 30, 2007, Tab 5). · The CDD board and District Manager Antoinette Manko Leake retaliated and harassed CDD employee Silvia Hilliard after Silvia Hilliard told John Bakas that Chairman Lorelei Bowden and District Manager Toni Leake were not following CDD policies and procedures in the operation of the CDD. Mrs. Hilliard refused to “look the other way” and to help conceal the board and District Manager’s poor management actions from the public. LSC CDD Treasurer Gianakos threatened Mrs. Hilliard’s job when Mrs. Hilliard attempted to comply with a public records request made by Supervisor John Bakas. Treasurer Gianakos told Mrs. Hilliard that “her job would not be protected” if she provided public records to Supervisor John Bakas. The CDD board and District Manager Antoinette Manko Leake retaliated and harassed Mrs. Hilliard until she resigned from her position. (Please see Silvia Hilliard’s letter to the LSC CDD Board, October 19, 2006); and Silvia Hilliard’s letter of resignation, November 30, 2006, Tab 6). · For the past year the CDD board has retaliated against me for consulting CDD board attorney Sid Kilgore regarding potential violations of the law by Bowden, Gianakos, and District Manager Antoinette Manko Leake and for informing CDD residents of said potential violations. · Throughout the past year the CDD board has discussed various ways in which they might be able to remove me from my duly-elected office. Having exhausted all of their ideas and finding no legal avenue through which they might remove me from my elected office, the CDD board then resorted to a kangaroo-court grievance hearing and then illegally voted me off the board citing §112.501, Fla. Stat. (2007) which does not apply to CDDs because the CDD is not a municipality and because I am an elected official, not an appointed one. The grievance was filed by District Manager Antoinette Manko Leake in retaliation against me for having alleged that she violated the public records law. At this writing, Supervisors Bowden, Nelson, Gianakos and Speer continue to illegally and corruptly deny my right to fulfill my public office obligations and they are actively advertising that my board seat is up for grabs. To date the board has advertised that my seat is vacant: 1) by stating on the November 6, 2007 CDD board agenda that the board will review possible replacements at the December 4, 2007 meeting; 2) by notice on the LSC CDD web site; 3) by notice in the LSC newsletter; and, 4) by notice on prominent street signs placed at the entrance of the LSC subdivision. (Please see Bakas vs. Lorelei Bowden, et.al., Tab 3). The CDD board’s actions are the continuation of a year-long expansion of increasingly bold actions as the four board members realized that, acting as a voting team, they were unstoppable:
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November 21,
2006 - Date of board vote terminating Attorney Sid Kilgore.
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November 30,
2006 - Date of Mrs. Hilliard’s resignation. At each step the four board members became bolder and more confident as they realized that, acting together as a voting team, they could effectively silence anyone who spoke out against their actions.
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October 22,
2007. The board voted 4-0 to remove an elected On October 22, 2007 the CDD board that sought to silence the lone remaining voice against their mismanagement and illegal actions acted together as a voting team to silence a duly-elected official by stripping him of his office. My term expires in November 2008 and I plan to run again for the office of Supervisor of the LSC CDD. Should I win another seat on the board, I fear that Supervisors Bowden, Nelson, Gianakos and Speer will “vote me off the board” again, terminating any CDD attorney that gets in their way, and requiring LSC residents and me to endure more litigation in our community.
Chapter 190, Fla. Stat.,
Should Be Revised to This letter is equally a request for much needed revisions to Chapter 190, Fla. Stat. Residents of the 300-plus CDD communities across the state are in need of your and the Legislature’s help. Of the three residential community entities (condominiums, homeowners’ associations, and CDDs), it is the CDD entity that poses the greatest financial danger to homeowners while providing homeowners with the least amount of protection. Of the three, only a CDD is a governmental entity, but this fact is unknown to many residents. CDDs have the power to levy special assessments, issue bonds and refinance bonds. Recourse for homeowners is available only through the court system – often at formidable expense to the homeowner. The law governing CDDs should be revised and appropriate safeguards enacted to allow residents of CDDs to have a stronger voice in their CDD government, similar to safeguards that the state has enacted for homeowners’ associations and condominium associations. Across the state, governmental positions on CDD boards are being filled by inexperienced individuals who do not understand the law and as such are not qualified or suited for the position of CDD Supervisor. The failure of CDDs is all but ensured because not every subdivision can produce a board constituted of five residents who are all adequately versed in governmental laws and procedures. As problems with condominium management produced a series of statutory amendments to Chapter 718, Fla. Stat., through the 1980s, and later homeowners’ associations’ problems saw a series of amendments to Chapter 720, Fla. Stat., CDD problems show the need for a similar comprehensive review and revision to the CDD law, Chapter 190, Fla. Stat. Such amendments might be based on four principles: 1. PROTECTION IN THREE PHASES OF CDD EXISTENCE. The recognition that a CDD should have appropriate and detailed procedures in Chapter 190, Fla. Stat. for the three different phases of a CDD board existence: 1) when the developer is in control, 2) during a transition to resident control, and 3) when residents are in control. 2. GREATER ONGOING INFORMATION TO RESIDENTS. Residents living in a CDD do not receive sufficient information before and after they move into a CDD that a CDD is a governmental entity with the power to impose and raise special assessments. Greater ongoing notice and information to residents must be required. 3. TRAINING FOR BOARD MEMBERS. Especially during the transition to resident control and thereafter when residents are in control of a CDD board, CDD supervisors should be required to attend training on the operation of a governmental entity. 4. LIMITATIONS ON CDD BOARD ACTIONS. Some actions of a CDD board such as increasing assessments, purchasing, hiring professional consultants, adopting a budget, and expenditures of funds over a certain threshold amount, should include appropriate limitations beyond those currently in place. Keeping CDDs within the boundaries of the law has become a harrowing ordeal for those of us working in the CDD trenches. This is an opportunity for the Governor and the Legislature to correct a bad situation for the residents of Lake St. Charles and at the same time send a strong message to CDD boards across the state that such CDD boards should know the law and follow the law in all matters. Sincerely yours,
John W.
Bakas, Jr.
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