Weather | Sports | Forums | Comics | Classifieds | Calendar | Movies

Put heat on board to cool rec room

Question: The air conditioning in our card and billiards room needs repair or replacement, but the president refuses, saying the money has to be used for something else. The room is unbearably hot, almost 90 degrees in the summer, and we can't use it. I believe we are entitled to a comfortable recreation room.

Answer: The primary duty of the board is to maintain the common areas. If that means the budget must be increased, so be it. Your president is only one member of the board and has only one vote. If repairs or replacements are not being handled in a timely manner, your board is not doing its duty.

Write to the board expressing your concern that the directors are not fulfilling their duty to maintain the common areas, specifically the air conditioning in the billiards room. Place the responsibility on the board as a whole, not on the president alone. Ask that the matter be discussed at the next board meeting. If the board takes no action, make this a major issue at the next annual election.

Question: The contractor selected by our board to make building repairs is unlicensed and has no workers' compensation insurance. Several unit owners have pointed this out to the board, but their concerns are ignored. Can unit owners be indemnified for losses that could arise?

Answer: Suppose this contractor falls and breaks an arm and cannot work. Someone must pay his medical expenses and lost wages. Ordinarily those are covered by workers' comp, but if there is no workers' comp, he will look to your association. Your liability insurance will not cover his claim, so the association will have to pay, which means each owner will be responsible for his or her share.

Or suppose this contractor drops a tool, which breaks a window next to a bed where a unit owner is sleeping, resulting in injury to the owner and damage to the unit. Who pays? Again, the association.

The first rule is to require that contractors have valid workers' comp and liability insurance coverage and that the association is a named insured.

Question: I understand that association meetings may be tape-recorded. When did this become law? Is everything verbalized at a meeting required to be part of the minutes?

Answer: FS 718.112 says unit owners may tape record meetings, but the board may impose reasonable rules. A reasonable rule could say that an owner is not entitled to disturb the meeting with loud and bulky taping equipment, but that hand-held devices are approved.

I don't recall when the law changed to allow tape-recording of meetings, but it was many years ago.

Minutes are legal documents, not historical records or verbatim transcripts of every word that is uttered at a meeting. They record attendance; time and place of the meeting; the motions, resolutions and votes, by name. The minutes reflect who delivered a report but do not give details. (Reports and other written materials discussed may be attached as backup material.) Properly recorded, minutes should be one page per hour of meeting time, or less. If your minutes are longer than that, you are recording too much information.

Richard White is a licensed community associations manager. Write to him c/o Community Living, St. Petersburg Times, P.O. Box 1121, St. Petersburg, FL 33731 or e-mail him at CAMquestions@att.net Please include your name and city. Questions should concern association operations; legal opinions cannot be offered. For specific legal advice, contact an association attorney.

Readers may call the state Division of Condominiums Bureau of Customer Service at toll-free 1-800-226-9101 with questions or requests for materials. Access the Bureau of Condominiums Web site at www.state.fl.us/dbpr/lsc/index.shtml or write to Bureau of Customer Service, 1940 N Monroe St., Northwood Centre, Tallahassee, FL 32399-1032.

Please note that this office provides no information about homeowners' associations. The state has no bureau or department covering those associations.