Will a New Board of Directors Save Aquarina?

Hello Aquarina Neighbors,

With a new Board election coming up, the Aquarina Residents have a chance, if they want, to lift Aquarina out of the seminal swamp that was created by the current Board majority to control our community.  As this Blog has continued to disclose, a cabal was unhatched from this swamp, which unleashed arguable embezzlement, and certain neglect and negligence upon Aquarina.  Will a new Board majority take hold, with a vision for the whole of Aquarina, where spending of the Residents’ funds are even and proportionate to the areas of need and not applied to a selfish agenda for a few?

Be assured, this cabal will nurture and groom new Board candidates to run for the four vacant positions to continue their majority hold on a new Board.  Let’s review what has been wrought over the past two years with the wanton and cavalier spending of the Residents’ funds without a vote or a debate.

  • The dismantlement and replacement of the once popular and frequented gym to the Admin Building, which has made it a lesser facility, i.e. tomb like, has been a bust.  There is chatter that it may be moved back to its original and well placed location; yet another wasted expense. Remember, that the community had no say on this boondoggle move, which cost well into the six figures to complete.
  • The renovation of the golf maintenance yard, which could have been repaired to an acceptable condition, went in the direction of extravagant new equipment and a renovation. In addition, sand bunkers were replaced with bright white sand for appearance purposes, at another six figure plus cost. Sand bunkers are certainly a low placed item of the items to be overseen on a golf course.   Has the golf revenue increased because of these expenses?  It’s a business, do we make it look pretty and have the very best equipment, or do we spend to make it profitable, e.g. with marketing? Remember that we subsidize AGI (golf, etc.) because it is not profitable to support itself.
  • Continuing with golf (i.e. the golf cabal), more expense was foisted upon the Residents with the irrigation matter for the course, by drilling a well and providing a pump system. Hundreds of thousands were spent on this huge added and ongoing maintenance item to serve the golf course. Further, not only did it cost the Residents a huge purchase expense, but will require Aquarina to be burdened by an additional maintenance expense. The cost knife was driven even deeper into the Residents, since it has caused Aquarina Utilities, Inc. (AUI) to request, from the Florida Utilities Commission, a raise to our water rates because of the loss of revenue from the irrigation water supplied to the golf course. This Blog previously disclosed that expected request from AUI.  The Board never disclosed this predicted AUI action; it was never brought up for discussion.

The proposed cost increase requested for the potable water supplied to all Residents will be over fifty percent, i.e. your monthly water cost invoice will go up 50% more than it is now. The well and the pump system should have been a debated decision and brought to the community for a vote.  The dictatorial Board majority ignored the democratic approach and selfishly provided the golf cabal an extravagant embellishment to a money losing golf course. The potable higher water cost will be ongoing, as the cost will be ongoing too for the well and pump system.

The reasonable approach would have been to first meet with AUI to discuss a possible negotiated rate for both the irrigation and potable water. Strategies are certainly out there to maintain a golf course in a tropical area with a minimum water supply. This method was obviously ignored.  Remember, the Board has a legal fiduciary duty to oversee and be prudent with the Residents’ funds.  Have they?

  • The entrance to Aquarina appears old, tired, and neglected.  I can tell you that among all the neighborhoods along Hwy A1A, Aquarina appears the worst in its presentation, and could be considered a financially bankrupt community.  Does that characteristic bode well for our home prices here? Probably for most, your home is your most valuable asset.  In real estate, curb appeal is very important, especially for a community like Aquarina, where curb appeal should be the best on Hwy A1A; however, it could easily be considered the worst. At the last Board Meeting, the re-coating of our roads and the cleaning of our road gutters was cancelled from the agenda.  The rogue Board majority must have other plans for the Residents’ funds rather than addressing a crying out need for the whole community.

The entrance to Aquarina is 35 years old with no noticed maintenance to the roadway, pavers, and curbing.  Not only does the entrance roadway appear neglected, it also feels neglected as you drive over it, like speed bump after speed bump.  The pavers need to be professionally evaluated for either cleaning and resetting, or being replaced.

The entrance monument to Aquarina and the entrance monument to the golf club, need cleaning, the lettering repainted and properly aligned, and the tired landscaping redone. This is the first impression of our resort community. How about a water feature at the entrance that all can see upon entering, including the public passing by on Hwy A1A?

  • Our beach access stairs and decking also cry out for maintenance.  These stairs are significant in length and height and need to be regularly serviced.  Sand piling up at the bottom of the stairs causes unsure footing.  The sand should swept off as needed. Because the crossover is constantly used and is constructed of wood, the wood is subject to deterioration, e.g. splintering and cracking. These conditions should monitored and addressed, especially the splintering, which causes injury. BTW – where is the additional and installed regulatory hand rail on the south access? One was finally installed on the north access. Another beach amenity, commensurate for our community, would be a shower tower at the bottom of each set stairs at the parking lot.  Properly maintained beach accesses, and any amenities for these accesses, would certainly be more enjoyed by the whole community rather than bright white sand bunkers for a few.

Aquarina has become a very social and partying place, and that is understood to be appropriate for a semi-retirement to retirement resort community. However, the offered fun activities have veiled the misappropriation and non-measured use of the Residents’ funds for one group of folks.  Aquarina, as a whole, is being shortchanged, and it has become visible and palpable.

Will a new Board rise above the current culture to which the Residents have been subject, where ideas and spending can be applied in a measured fashion to the community as a whole?

Stay tuned.  The next Blog comment will explain how the present Board majority manipulated our By-Laws to serve their agenda.  And yes,  there is the AGI debacle and the importance of funding our reserves.  Much to say.   

The Kahama Sale Closes . . . The Next Shoe Drops

Congratulations to all for their efforts to bring to an end what can be considered a boondoggle over these past years of contention with this sale. It may have been considered bungled from its outset. However, there is an upside for the Aquarina Community. Coupled with the sale agreement was a commitment from the Board at that time of the sale that the funding arising from the sale would be used to build a community pool. The probable location would be on the vacant land by the parking lot for the Club House and the tennis courts.

A Community Pool commensurate in size to accommodate all of Aquarina would provide a tremendous boost to the value of our community. The huge caveat though is the past and current behavior of a Board that has a history of recklessly spending the Residents’ funds on its own agenda of wants and desires without a consensus of the community. The Board’s agenda of projects should contribute to the WHOLE community and not a segment of the community, e.g. golf.

May the $350,000 payment to the Residents for a pool be subject to Board meddling for its own purposes? May this $350,000 be spoken for by the current Board before a new Board will be voted in a few months from now? Hmm.

A Resident Wants Answers from an Obstinate Board

A lawsuit has been filed against the ACSA, by a long time Aquarina Resident, because of the Board President’s and his majority of Board Members’ refusal to provide specific financial records from the AGI.  Per Florida Statute, Chapter 720, ALL financial records from an HOA, when Residents’ funds are spent, must be available for disclosure to the Residents.  The Board President has refused to comply with this very apparent legal request. Mediation, rather than a lawsuit, was offered, and this too was apparently refused.  Wow!

What do we have here? The elected Board was given the fiduciary responsibility, the stewardship, and the entrustment of the Residents’ funds.  The Board President, rather following the letter of the law (Florida Statute, Chapter 720), says he has an attorney opinion that he can by-pass the statute to hide AGI specific spending.  Why would an HOA President or his majority Board want to hide expenses of the Residents’ funds?  Of course, having something to hide is the first reaction.

The irony of it all is that by the Board creating a lawsuit situation, for its own end, a huge attorney expense for the Residents will now follow to fund the President’s and his majority Board’s defense.  The Residents are literally being poked twice, i.e. once by non-disclosure spending, and again by paying for attorneys to defend this spending. Will Aquarina’s Silent Majority still remain silent?

Actually, there is a third poke, which this proactive Resident has caused with the lawsuit.  The third poke is not the taking of Residents’ funds, but a wake up poke to the Residents.

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More news coming on the beach property ongoing sale to Kahama VII LLC and the ongoing promised community pool.