-
Statement of
Affirmative Defenses
By: David B. Israel
President, United
Civic Organization
-
Following are the statement of charges, my responses are in blue.
1)
WHEREAS: Pursuant to UCO By-Laws, As Amended (March
2, 2012), Article XI (E): David Israel, the current UCO President ("President") has acted recklessly in contravention
of Fla. Stat.§§ 617.0834 and 718.111(d), and has
committed acts or omissions in bad faith as President;
-
The Petition first cites Section 617.0834 FS which deals with
officer’s immunity from civil law suits unless the Officer committed criminal
acts, the Officer obtained improper personal benefit like money under the
table, or the Officer engaged in knowingly bad faith reckless actions. The
Petition gives no specifics on this statutory alleged violation. If the
Complainants have evidence of criminal acts, improper personal gain or reckless
actions; they should bring such evidence to PBSO or the State Attorney. Lacking
such official adjudication, this spurious accusation is without weight or
substance.
The reference to FS 718.111(d) is not applicable to UCO, because
we are not a Condominium Association. It is therefore irrelevant to this case.
-
2)
WHEREAS: The President has presented to UCO's members
("Members") intentionally inflated and unsubstantiated financial
statements regarding its financial condition;
-
At no time have I presented any sort of “inflated and
unsubstantiated” financial statements to anyone. Accurate financial data is
presented by the Treasurer of UCO, and of course our accountants and auditors,
Goldman, Juda, Eskew. The data over a period of three years of my Presidency
has been consistent and accurate, this fact being attested to by yearly
financial audits. Financial audits are available to Members upon request.
-
3)
WHEREAS: The President has delivered to the Members
false statements, both verbally and in writing, so as to deceive or give the wrong impression regarding issues of concern to
the Members;
-
This accusation
generally makes broad allegations about “false statements” or “deception” but
no specifics. The same goes for alleged violations of Article VII A (Presidents
duties) and Article XI (Sunshine), no specifics.
-
4)
WHEREAS: The President has intentionally failed to
follow UCO's By-laws, and in particular, Art. VIII(C), Article IX, with respect
to the execution and performance of contracts for goods and services in excess
of $1,000 without approval by the Finance Committee or Delegate Assembly, and
overruled a Bid Committee's recommendation with respect to a contract between
UCO and M & M Paving, Inc., and of contract rules.
-
This
accusation alleges I expended over $1000 without approval under Article VIII(c)
of the Bylaws, but that Article only applies to $1000 expenditures that were
“not previously budgeted”. Furthermore, any non-budgeted expenditures in excess
of the statutory cap, were made in accord with established process of approval
of the Officers, Executive Board and Delegate Assembly. Our Attorney has
rendered an opinion, that monies reserved for a specific purpose, may be
expended for that purpose without further approval of the Delegate Assembly.
-
5)
WHEREAS: The President is not performing effectively,
in that he has: (i) failed to act in the best interests of UCO's members and in
violation of UCO Bylaws Article VII (A); (ii) has defamed
both past and present UCO officers, executive board members, and
delegates; and, (iii) has failed to abide by the letter and spirit
of UCO By-laws Article XI (Sunshine Laws); and
-
This accusation seems to speak to effective performance, let’s
look at the record;
(A) I have removed the UCO Reporter from under the control of
the prior President and his wife, who caused the paper to be read prior to publication
in UCO, thus removing any hint of a free and independent periodical and
reducing it to a fluff and pap house organ. Currently the paper is a free and independent press, under the control of it's Editorial Board, with no undue influence by UCO.
-
(B) By insisting on following our Bilateral Agreement with the
Associations, I broke a 10 year monopolistic hold by the former Insurance
Committee, and caused the Insurance package to be competitively bid; thus
saving the unit owners some two million dollars yearly.
-
(C) I have caused UCO to adopt a broad range of Computer
upgrades which include; Creation of Interactive Online forms allowing
applications for Investigations to be filled in from anywhere on Earth; I have Digitized
virtually all paper in UCO Offices, including the UCO Reporter, so that
virtually any data may now be located in seconds; Created a robust Email
network for all users in UCO; these describe but a small number of computer
applications which are ongoing.
-
Additionally this accusation speaks to “defamation”; of who,
please may I have some specificity; the only consistent case of defamation of
which I am aware, is ongoing at one of the complainants regular meetings of his
“Presidents Umbrella Club”, which by all accounts is virtually a continuous UCO
bashing session. No wonder they do not allow recordings.
-
The accusation states that I have failed to abide by the
Sunshine Laws. Anyone who has been receiving my regular Email under my
Information Forward Initiative (IFI) knows full well, that no prior
Administration of UCO has been more forthcoming with information than I have.
Since the inception of IFI on January 3, 2012, a total of 293 Emails have been
disseminated and seen by thousands of unit owners directly, both online, and
collaterally via Association posting on their bulletin boards.
-
6)
WHEREAS: The President has failed to seek
professional legal advice, as would a reasonable and prudent officer, with
respect to issues of major importance to the Members requiring interpretation
and definition of written agreements, and instead has imposed his unilateral
decision(s) regarding same by fiat.
-
This accusation is
beyond ludicrous, since taking the Presidential oath some 3 years ago; I have
requested over 100 legal opinions from
our Attorney Rod Tennyson. Additionally, within one month of my installation, I
obtained from Rod, computer discs containing all of his previously rendered
legal opinions, both in the Investigations department, and all other requests
for legal opinion, back to President Arthur Bernhard. These many thousands of
legal opinions are resident on the UCO Digital Data Base where they may be
searched by keyword or phrase in seconds.
-
7) WHEREAS: The President owns and controls the
"CENTURY VILLAGE® in WEST PALM BEACH" blog
which he presents as the official blog of C.V. of WPB, to abuse the Members by disseminating vicious attacks on individuals and groups who
oppose his personal ideas as well as his false assumptions and facts. This blog
was never authorized by the officers, executive committee and the delegates. This blog is not sanctioned by UCO's bylaws as is the
UCO Reporter.
-
This accusation is yet another exercise in absurdity; do you
remember the UCO controlled CV Forum? This was a teletype grade site on which
no substantive discourse was permitted, The guidelines for its use were
childish; questions such as: where can I find a good plumber, or where is a
good place to hold a High School reunion were encouraged by the prior
Administration. Any criticism of that Administration would get you “banned for
Life”! so, indeed I created a proper Web site, or BLOG, where anyone could ask ANY
question, and have it answered. Here is my first Post on that BLOG:
-
“You shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.”
~John 8:32
Hi All,
With the latest CV Forum guidelines, I believe that the Forum has been reduced
to a Bulletin Board for Fluff and Papp rather than substantive inquiry. It
should be allowed to experience the ignominious demise it deserves. Researched
data is regularly referred to as "opinion" by the Forum
Managers.
-
No criticism of the
current Administration is tolerated even if it might be well deserved. Worse
yet, UCO is presented as the only valid source of the "Full Facts"
and the "Real Truth"! Simply ludicrous. No controversial issues are
entertained. Any non-compliant post is summarily deleted and declared
"inappropriate".
We are endlessly reminded that our "inappropriate" posts are read all
over the world and worse yet are affecting Real-Estate values in the
Village! Of course, the reckless multi-million dollar legal fiasco that we
have been plunged into by the Officers of UCO is not given the credit it so
richly deserves for depressing said values! So, while light fare and banter are
welcome here, it is hoped that this BLOG will also deal in harder questions
regarding how to run your Associations, questions about Condominium law,
Technical matters related to Condominium living and various complex research
questions related to Florida Statutes that impact our lives in CV. In short,
informed controversy is welcome. We are not lawyers, and no legal advice
will be dispensed on this BLOG, but real questions are welcome and hard
research is encouraged. There is more to life than; "Where can I find a
good tile person"
-
No one is banned, chat
is encouraged, as chat is a normal function of Human communications. Criticism
of UCO, WPRF or any other "Authority" is fine if it has some basis in
fact. We are not children to be kept in the dark and fed propagandized
trivial pap. Please be civil, and respect your fellow neighbors, that is
all I ask!
-
Dave Israel
Greenbrier C
BLOG ADMIN.
And for the sin of opening up an unrestricted
communications channel for our Residents, I am to be removed from office…Give
me a break!!!!!
-
8)
WHEREAS: The President permits a certain non-elected person free access to the inner offices of UCO as well
as attendance at important private meetings while not having the appropriate
officers present.
-
On any given day UCO is populated with upwards of 20 volunteers,
who save our Residents millions of dollars yearly. Most of them are non-elected; some
attend private meetings with no Officers present. So, what is this really
about, competent, productive people who can accomplish important tasks, Is this grounds for removal from Office???
-
9) WHEREAS: The President permitted a member of the
officer's committee on behalf UCO to contact a local government official to unduly influence the Building Departments
decisions as to the Drainage and Paving project.
-
Where does this stuff
come from? Absolutely no Officer of UCO, or any other UCO related person
“unduly influenced the Building Department” about anything. However, once all
permits relating to the Drainage and Paving project were closed officially by a
Building Department inspector, at least two of the complainants did indeed
unduly influence the Building department to re-open these permits. You may
thank these two complainants for the alternating black and yellow lines in your
parking areas.
Now, I ask you all to place in the Comment stream of this Post,
just what is the substance of these accusations that lead to me deserving to be
removed from the Office of the Presidency of UCO???
Dave Israel
President
United Civic Organization
