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It Pays To Attend Board Meetings

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By LAURA KINSLER, The Tampa Tribune

Published: November 17, 2007

LIVE OAK PRESERVE - It's 11 a.m., and the Community Development District meeting for The Hammocks starts.

Board members, all salaried executives with Engle Homes, take roll. They vote unanimously to appoint two more Engle executives to fill vacant seats on the board. They approve the minutes, hire an auditor and review financial statements.

Ten minutes later, the meeting adjourns. Ca-ching.

Each board supervisor collects $200.

On Tuesday, CDD chairman Jeffrey Bloch and Supervisors Rick Feather and Mike Mulvihlll participated in meetings for The Hammocks, Live Oak Preserve Phase 1 and Live Oak Preserve Phase 2. Each was paid $600 for a little more than an hour of work.
Florida law allows such development districts to pay board members a maximum $200 per diem for attending meetings. A supervisor who attended all seven meetings this year drew $4,200 in per diem, which comes out of the assessments homeowners pay with their annual tax bill.

It's not unusual for CDD board members, even those who work for the developer and are paid to attend meetings, to accept the per diem. John Ricciardi, a district manager for Severn Trent Services, said that on the boards he has worked with, developers' representatives take the per diem about half the time.

Rick Solano, one of only three residents who attended Tuesday's meetings, questioned the board about the per diem payments. Solano serves on the Maplewood Village Homeowners Association.

"All our board members are volunteers," he said.

Bloch later agreed the policy was "silly."

"At our next meeting, I'm going to suggest that all the Engle representatives stop taking the per diem," he said.

Feather agreed. "I personally don't have an issue with giving up my per diem," he said.

They both felt that any homeowner who serves on one of the boards should have the option of accepting the payment.
Engle Homes Regional President Joe Hennessy and marketing director Lauren Arcaro will join Bloch on the Live Oak Preserve 2 and Hammocks boards. The board opted to leave a vacant seat on the Live Oak Preserve 1 board even though three residents had applied for the position.

"That seat is up for election in November 2008," District Manager Andy Mendenhall said.

In a related matter, Engle Homes announced recent changes to improve security and facilities at Live Oak Preserve. The developer-controlled master association replaced the security personnel and will implement new entrance procedures at the gates and roving security throughout the neighborhood.

Residents picketed the builder last month over several issues. High on the list of complaints was night-security officers sleeping on the job.

Engle also pledged to improve the community swimming pool and cabana and hire a concierge for the clubhouse.

Reporter Laura Kinsler can be reached at (813) 865-4844 or lkinsler@tampatrib.com.

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