According to Florida State Statute 720, the state laws that govern Homeowners Associations such as Mainlands Section 6, … by January 1, 2025, any association that has 100 or more parcels (such as us) shall post the following documents on its website, or make available such documents through an application that can be downloaded by means of a mobile device:
Required items in green have been complied with, while items in red have not been complied with, or fully-complied with.
| 01) |
The articles of incorporation of the association and each amendment thereto. |
| 02) |
The recorded bylaws of the association and each amendment thereto. (By-laws have been posted, but no amendments have been posted.) |
| 03) |
The declaration of covenants and a copy of each amendment thereto. (The declaration has been been posted, but no amendments have been posted.) |
| 04) |
The current rules of the association. (Can be found under the Policies section.) |
| 05) |
A list of all current executory contracts or documents to which the association is a party or under which the association or the parcel owners have an obligation or responsibility and, after bidding for the related materials, equipment, or services has closed, a list of bids received by the association within the past year. |
| 06) |
The annual budget required by subsection (6) and any proposed budget to be considered at the annual meeting. |
| 07) |
The financial report required by subsection (7) and any monthly income or expense statement to be considered at a meeting. |
| 08) |
The association’s current insurance policies. (The only policies posted are those that expired on or about November 15, 2024, nothing was posted for 2025 and nothing yet has been posted for 2026.) |
| 09) |
The certification of each director as required by s. 720.3033(1)(a). (Can be found on the Governing Board page.) |
| 10) |
All contracts or transactions between the association and any director, officer, corporation, firm, or association that is not an affiliated homeowners’ association or any other entity in which a director of an association is also a director or an officer and has a financial interest. (Questionable, but does not seem to apply.) |
| 11) |
Any contract or document regarding a conflict of interest or possible conflict of interest as provided in ss. 468.436(2)(b)6. and 720.3033(2). (Questionable, but does not seem to apply.) |
| 12) |
Notice of any scheduled meeting of members and the agenda for the meeting, as required by s. 720.306, at least 14 days before such meeting. The notice must be posted in plain view on the homepage of the website or application, or on a separate subpage of the website or application labeled “Notices” which is conspicuously visible and linked from the homepage. The association shall also post on its website or application any document to be considered and voted on by the members during the meeting or any document listed on the meeting agenda at least 7 days before the meeting at which such document or information within the document will be considered. (The 14 day pre-notice timeframe is not being complied with, and the notices themselves are only available to logged-in Association Members, not all Members and/or residents.) |
| 13) |
Notice of any board meeting, the agenda, and any other document required for such meeting as required by subsection (3), which must be posted on the website or application no later than the date required for notice under subsection (3). (The 3 day pre-notice timeframe and document accessibility appears to be being complied with, but the notices and documents themselves are only available to logged-in Association Members, not all Members and/or residents.) |
| 14) |
The association’s website or application must be accessible through the Internet and must contain a subpage, web portal, or other protected electronic location that is inaccessible to the general public and accessible only to parcel owners and employees of the association. |
| 15) |
The association shall adopt written rules governing the method or policy by which the official records of the association are to be retained and the time period such records must be retained pursuant to paragraph (a). Such information must be made available to the parcel owners through the association’s website or application. |
Now, if I was a betting man, I’d wager a fair amount on what President Morgan’s response to all this might , especially since only 3 of the 15 items have been fully complied with, … I suspect he’d say something like, … “I don’t have the time to do this and we don’t have enough volunteers to get all this done, so if you’re not going to volunteer, you have no right to complain, otherwise we’ll have to bring in a management company to run the Association.”
Which we all know is a ludicrous threat, since there’s no way on God’s green earth, that even if we wanted one, we could never afford a management company unless we next raise monthly maintenance fees by an additional $100-$200 per homeowner.
Anyway, to Mr. Morgan’s likely initial response about not having enough community volunteers, I would say, … “When there’s not enough volunteers to cut the Association’s common grounds lawns, you hire somebody. When you don’t have enough volunteers to clean the Association’s swimming pools, you hire somebody, so, … if you don’t have enough office help to comply with statutory State Law, then you need to hire somebody. A lack of resources is never a valid excuse for not complying with State law, especially when it’s now more than a full year since the State Legislature required total implementation.”
RFH
Please be reminded, the above information represents nothing more than the
opinion(s) of this writer and does not necessarily represent the thoughts,
feelings or opinions of the Mainlands Section 6 Civic Association’s
current Board of Directors, either individually, or as a whole.