New Board of Directors Recognizes Past Unfair Dues Collection Practices

During a HOA meeting held September 13, 2014, our new Foxwood Glenn Board of Directors (BOD) voted to return late fees, interest fees, and attorney fees which were unfairly and illegally assessed to two Foxwood Glenn homeowners back in 2008 by a previous BOD.

The two homeowners had been turned over to local attorney Susan Harnden for collection of 2007 and 2008 dues, when there were 31 other Foxwood Glenn homeowners who had also not paid 2007/2008 dues. According to Florida Statutes, this was a clear act of selective enforcement on the part of the 2008 board president, Terry Nitti, and treasurer, Tom Mills, who apparently had personal disagreements with the two homeowners. Nitti and Mills personally refused to accept dues payment from one of the homeowners on December 9, 2007, stating that they could not accept payment because they were “looking for a new property manager”. Despite the fact that a total of 33 homeowners were late paying 2007/2008 dues, only the two homeowners were forced to pay an additional $277.85 each in late fees, interest fees, and attorney fees. A copy of the collection attorney letter (dated April 11, 2008), which was sent only to these two homeowners, is presented below.

For several years following their unfair and illegal enforcement action, Terry Nitti and Tom Mills refused to provide these two homeowners access to HOA records, presumably to withhold and hide any evidence of selective enforcement. The information was successfully withheld from the two homeowners by the BOD and their Community Association Manager (CAM) Joanie Trotman, until 2010 when the case was accepted for active investigation by the Florida Department of Business and Professional Regulation, and Trotman was forced to provide the records to end the investigation and avoid penalties. The HOA records clearly showed that the BOD had accepted 2007/2008 dues payments from the 31 other delinquent homeowners after the date that the two homeowners received the attorney collection notice (April 11, 2008) without charging the other 31 any late fees or attorney fees. The long-withheld records also showed that the BOD had spent nearly $8,500 of HOA funds for attorney and CAM fees between 2008 and 2010 fighting the two homeowners over this issue.

Tom Mills and Terry Nitti’s use of their positions on the HOA board to bully their HOA managers into violating Florida Statutes while financially punishing neighbors with whom they disagreed, cost our HOA over $9,000 in legal fees and reimbursements of illegally-charged collection fees:   

Terry Nitti held exclusive control of the HOA checkbook between April 2006 and October 2013, until several concerned homeowners forced the first proper BOD election held since 2008. Although Terry Nitti and Tom Mills were re-elected, three other homeowners (who were new to the BOD) were also elected. After reviewing the 2007 and 2008 dues collection records (which proved the selective enforcement of dues collection rules) the three new board members decided to return the late fees, interest fees, and attorney fees which were wrongfully charged to the two homeowners by Nitti and Mills.

Soon after Terry Nitti was fined by Leon County for illegally filling in the state wetland/county storm water pond behind his property with several truckloads of fill soil, he resigned from the Board of Directors. One of the 3 new board members, who recognized the past wrong doing, recently sold his home, thus was no longer on the BOD. The remaining two new BOD members appointed two new honest homeowners to replace Terry Nitti and the board member who sold his home. Tom Mills remained on the board, although he attended only one board meeting since the October 2013 election (to argue for nearly an hour against returning the illegally-charged fees to the two homeowners). During his arguments, Tom expressed concern that "history would repeat itself" if the money was returned. This blogger believes that Tom's true fear was that the history of his and Nitti's tyrannous seven-year reign over this HOA would be remembered and re-told for many years.

The decision by the three new honest and fair-minded board board members to return the illegally-charged fees shows that the divisiveness, which prevented harmony in this HOA since 2005, may now end. The dishonest and divisive Tom Mills has left the BOD, leaving it occupied by 3 homeowners with proven honesty and integrity and two new homeowners whom have demonstrated their willingness to serve this HOA by accepting positions on the BOD. Our new BOD is now holding regular, properly-announced meetings, has reconciled past unfair dues collection practices, and is now fairly enforcing dues collection and HOA covenants.

Link to list of new BOD Members

The following items 
(obtained from our official HOA records)
 supports the information presented above:

Below is a copy of the only letter (falsely labeled “Final Notice”) from Attorney Susan Wilkinson Harnden of Durst & Harnden PL sent exclusively to the two Foxwood Glenn homeowners in 2008. The Harnden letter is demanding payment of 2007 and 2008 dues, plus late charges, interest, and attorney fees, which were not charged to the other Two (2) homeowners whom had not paid their 2007 dues by the date of this letter, or to the other thirty-one (31) homeowners whom had not paid not paid their 2008 dues by the date of this letter.  It is important to note that this was the only notice sent to the two homeowners to demand payment of 2008 dues and that HOA records indicate no late notices were sent by Harnden to the other thirty-one (31) homeowners whom had not paid not paid their 2008 dues by the date of this letter. 
Susan Wilkinson Harnden - Durst & Harnden PL


The data below, obtained from our official HOA records, confirms that thirty-one (31) homeowners had not paid annual dues for the same time period as the two homeowners who were turned over to the collection attorney. Although the homeowners listed below had failed to pay dues until after the two homeowners received the April 11, 2008 attorney notice, these 31 people were not turned over to the attorney or charged late fees, attorney fees, or penalties for 2007 or 2008 dues delinquency.


Homeowner              Address                                      2007 Dues Payment       2008 Dues Payment  

Address                                                                         Date Received                 Date Received
Scott Bentz                9006 Foxwood Drive North                                                 April 18, 2008
Steve Sofge               9016 Foxwood Drive South                                                 April 18, 2008

Gervin Robertson      9022 Foxwood Drive North                                                 April 30, 2008
Willie Spencer           9024 Foxwood Drive South                                                 May 27, 2008
Richard Senn             9030 Foxwood Drive North                                                 May 12, 2008
James Hefelfinger      9031 Foxwood Drive North                                                April 16, 2008
Not Provided              9032 Foxwood Drive South                                                 May 7, 2008
Algie Hendrieth         9038 Foxwood Drive North                                                 May 12, 2008
Althea Wilson            9040 Foxwood Drive South                                                 June 2, 2008
Benjamin Threadgill  9046 Foxwood Drive North                                                April 18, 2008
Charles Moloney        9047 Foxwood Drive North                                                April 22, 2008
Cynthia Gammons      9048 Foxwood Drive South        April 19, 2008                May 13, 2008
Kenneth Dale Finch   9053 Foxwood Drive North                                                May 5, 2008
Jh Leale                      9054 Foxwood Drive North                                                 May 5, 2008
Robert Culver             9056 Foxwood Drive South                                                Not Paid

Arnell Willis-Bryant   9065 Foxwood Drive North        December 31, 2008        December 31, 2008
Thomas Mato              9066 Foxwood Drive North                                                May 13, 2008

Richard Sermon          9067 Foxwood Drive South                                                June 18, 2008
Dian K Sharma           9070 Foxwood Drive North                                                May 8, 2008
Stanley Maluty            9079 Foxwood Drive North                                                May 8, 2008
Donnie Dance             9080 Foxwood Drive South                                                April 15, 2008
Dana Yon                    9086 Foxwood Drive North                                                May 6, 2008
Stella Vivien Martin    9089 Foxwood Drive South                                               September 20, 2008
Thomas Christof          9095 Foxwood Drive South                                               May 9, 2008
Ernest Reddick            9096 Foxwood Drive South                                                May 7, 2008
Angie Harden              9104 Foxwood Drive South                                                April 19, 2008
Gary Cowan                9112 Foxwood Drive South                                                 June 18, 2008
Natalie Bedonie           9127 Foxwood Drive South                                                April 17, 2008
Not Provided               3111 Foxwood Lane                                                           May 13, 2008
Joseph Rhodes             3114 Foxwood Lane                                                           April 18, 2008
Dorinda Murray           3119 Foxwood Lane                                                           April 19, 2008
Date of Collection Attorney Letter Sent to Only Two Homeowners    April 11, 2008


Below is an excerpt from a Foxwood Glenn payment ledger, which shows several payments made to attorneys by Tom Mills and Terry Nitti to selectively enforce collection penalties during 2007/2008 by forcing only two homeowners to pay late fees, interest fees, and attorney fees while the 31 other delinquent homeowners for that time period were not charged any fees.



Below is a check written by Terry Nitti to Michael C Rayboun of Rayboun Mulligan PLLC for legal services presumably related to the HOA records withholding issue and/or the website issue.
Michael Rayboun - Rayboun Mulligan


Below is a check written by Terry Nitti to the HOA property manager (Joanie Trotman of Florida Association and Property Management Company) for additional services presumably related to the HOA records withholding issue and/or the website issue which began in late 2010. Note that Nitti included one of the two homeowners names above the note "Extra work for HOA", to note that this "extra work" for the CAM was associated with "dealing with" this homeowner on the "records request" issue and the "website" issue, which is discussed in the email sent by Trotman to Nitti on Saturday, Jan 15, 2011 at 1:21 PM (see emails below).
Joanie Trotman - Florida Association and Property Management

Below are the reimbursement checks recently returned to the two FWG homeowners by our new, ethical BOD members who acknowledged that the previous BOD had selectively enforced collection penalties in 2008 by forcing only two homeowners to pay late fees, interest fees, and attorney fees while 31 other delinquent homeowners were not charged any fees.



Below are copies of emails documenting that the 2010/2011 Foxwood Glenn BOD instructed their property manager (Joanie Trotman of Florida Association and Property Management Company)  to illegally withhold HOA records from a homeowner and/or attempt to force that homeowner to pay for access to the HOA records. This correspondence was the key evidence used to prove to the Florida Department of Business and Professional Regulation investigator that HOA records were being illegally withheld from a Foxwood Glenn Homeowner.
_________________________________________________________________________________
From: Dale Finch Dale.Finch@centurylink.com 
To: Joanie Trotman jtrotman@myfloridahoa.com
Terry Nitti terry.nitti@gmail.com

Date Wed, Jan 5, 2011 at 9:22 AM
Subject RE: Happy New Year!
mailed-bycenturylink.com

Thanks Joanie. There is no need to provide John the HOA records he is requesting. I do not want to spend another penny to comply with John's demands. Thank you.

Kenneth Dale Finch
________________________________________________________________________________

From Joanie Trotman jtrotman@myfloridahoa.com
To: Terry  Nitti terry.nitti@gmail.com  
Dale Finch ccbiker_911@hotmail.com  

Date: Sat, Jan 15, 2011 at 1:21 PM
Subject: Foxwood Glenn Services Invoice

Per our conversation, our invoice for services is attached.  We have spent more than 30 hours dealing with the records requests and website issue.  Please confirm receipt of same and let me know when we can expect payment.

Thanks.
Joanie
Joanie Trotman
Florida Association & Property Management, Inc.
______________________________________________________________________________

From: Dale Finch biker_911@hotmail.com

Date: Sun, Jan 16, 2011 at 10:45 AM
Subject RE: Foxwood Glenn Services Invoice

I think this needs to be billed to John Shannon, since this was done to deal with his issues.

Dale
_________________________________________________________________________________

From: Joanie Trotman jtrotman@myfloridahoa.com  
To: Dale Finch biker_911@hotmail.com  

Date Sun, Jan 16, 2011 at 2:32 PM
Subject RE: Foxwood Glenn Services Invoice

The association could bill John Shannon for the work but the invoice should be paid by the association. 

Thanks.
Joanie Trotman
Florida Association & Property Management, Inc.
________________________________________________________________________________

From: Dale Finch biker_911@hotmail.com  

Date Mon, Jan 17, 2011 at 10:06 AM
Subject RE: Foxwood Glenn Services Invoice

I agree Joanie. Please see my previous e-mail to the board on this. Any additional work done to meet John Shannon's requirements should be paid by Mr. Shannon on an up front basis.
Dale
___________________________________________________________________________________