'Nuff said!

CNA or not?

WHO IS THAT KNOCKING ON MY DOOR?

A gaping hole in our security came to my attention recently.

There are many home health aides ,certified nursing assistants , registered nurses and other health care workers visiting our village on a regular basis. For the most part these aides do a wonderful job in assisting the elderly in coping with their daily lives. They are licensed by the state and undergo a security screening or a background check before being issued a licence.

A Century Village gate pass is issued without question to aides on the assumption that in order to possess a license they have been screened and vetted by the state. An assumption that is wrong!

There is a mechanism in the nurses registry in Talahassee that permits individuals who have been convicted of crimes to make an appeal to a committee who may decide to issue a license regardless of their criminal past. Is this known by the issuers of passes or are they simply unaware ?

In an attempt to find an aide to assist an elderly resident who suffers from dementia I searched for and found a young lady who possessed a license as a CNA and appeared to be just what I was looking for. I conducted my own background check and discovered that she had been convicted of domestic violence and fraud. The fraud involved the theft of checks from friends. The domestic violence was related to repeated assaults on her younger brother.

She was definitely not the sort of person who I would trust to look after an elder suffering from dementia. She had obtained a license by making an appeal after she was initially denied due to her criminal record.

In light of all this I have to question the efficiency of the security procedures here in the village. In order to perform an effective security screening the subject, be it a nurses aide or any other contractor , should be checked by our own security.

Why is this not being done ? There are other issues where the security in the village is lacking. Keep an eye on thiswebsite , I will be posting them in the near future.

Neil J Moore

I agree

Below is a copy of some comments from the Very Private blog of David Israel. As you can read some of his closest Minions are criticzing the Regime.

BetteL said…David
No doubt all of this could have been "avoided" had the proper presentation taken place to begin with.. One cannot expect total acceptance, without a breakdown
understood by all...
(Previous category "General Exp")
Unfortunately our Treasurer, resents being questioned,not only regarding the budget prep.,as well as his usage of the Title, once afforded to him. I agree, one does not have to be a CPA to implement a budget, nor be Treasurer...but full disclosure would have been the right path to take. In addition, in my opinion, to have shown a segment from the DA meeting,while the speaker was at the podium, did not in any form enhance the Treasurer to the assembled....

January 20, 2015 at 4:28 PM

jangor208 said...

As I have stated in previous posts, I am a seasonal unit owner who after three winters has taken steps to be better informed and more involved in the workings of my own association and Century Village overall. I monitor both OUR VILLAGE in WPB and My Village Blogger and I view all meetings that are posted on this blog. I recently was elected to the Board of Directors of my association, in order to be more than just a bystander.
With that being said, I attended today's Budget presentation/Finance Committee Meeting. Although, I had only about 10 minutes before the meeting began to review the budget, I have these three observations:
1. I have no problem with about 97% of the Budget as presented. Most items are either covered by contracts or seem to be in line with what had been spent during the previous year.
2. Some items seemed to be either arbitrary "We will cut the sign budget to $65,000" with no real discussion of why it should be this particular amount or recognizing that fuel cost for security was an error and just crossing out with no comment.
3. Howard O'Brien is rude and unprofessional and I found this to be the most upsetting and negative aspect of the entire meeting. Mr. O'Brien seems to be of the opinion that residents who pay the bills here are out of order simply by asking questions. I too am a life-long NY resident and I may be sarcastic when on the street or speaking privately, but NEVER, EVER, in my professional life. His 7-11 comment, his showing some previous tape of a speaker as he was speaking and his general condescending attitude may very well have undermined whatever he wished to accomplish. I am not a Delegate. I will not vote on this budget, but I must say I would be leaning toward a "no" vote primarily because of the attitude of 'don't like it, too bad; don't ask questions', even though the budget is, in fact, quite legitimate and in line with previous budgets.

January 20, 2015 at 5:06 PM

Water Fight!

The little man with his little mind is being little minded and trying to punish a Malcontent, but instead he is punishing 42 unit holders in Wellington A and 42 unit holders is Wellington E.

For specific details on this you can visit "Requisiting Records" on this blog.

But this is the story in a nut shell. He is being uncooperative, as usual. A pipe has broke that feeds the sprinklers. The question is who is to repair it? Wellington E has a contract with Seacrest, Wellington A has a contract with Gallagher, UCO has a contract with Seacrest. So who is to repair this and put our shrubs and flowers at ease?

The answer to this lies in the contract UCO has with Seacrest. So what does the contract say? David Israel in his self serving zeal, so far, has refused to show us the contract. Why? We don't know.

But the fight goes on.

By the way one of the VP agrees with Wellington A after looking at the plans. Seacrest is responsible for the repair.

Bad Behavior Video

This video is the Voice of Reason. It suggests solutions for our problems with the Wizard. Well worth watching.

Click here for Bad Behavior Video

Requisitioning Records

The following is very interesting. As you can see first Mr.Grossman gave 12 reasons for his request for the records concerning a pipe break near our building. The question was who is responsible to repair it.

The answer given was a excerpt from the 617 rules. 

It seems as if The Great and Responsible President considers the 617 rules as a box of chocolates. To be picked and chosen from.

Mr Grossman:

Indeed you should be proud of your association. In my Hume opinion is clearly one of the best maintained and improved in the community. 

I asked for a copy of the contract on your behalf yesterday, however Mr Israel was out today. 

I will follow up with him tomorrow.

Sent from my iPhone

On Jan 19, 2015, at 2:51 PM, Edward R Grossman <edwardrgrossman@gmail.com> wrote:

To Ted Herrle:                                                                                                        1/19/2015

Hi Ted,

Further to your visit with me yesterday at Wellington A I would like to review the following:

1)      The break in the line behind Wellington A was reported more than a week ago to Seacrest.

2)      I inspected the sight and saw work was going on.

3)      I had no idea as to the work being stopped.

4)      I knew that Seacrest had a contract with UCO with regard to the sprinkler system.

5)      I presumed since Seacrest had the contract for the village wide sprinkler system Wellington A was covered by this contract.

6)      Yesterday was the first time that I learned that there was an issue as to what work Seacrest was obligated to due under its Village Wide Contract.

7)      Yesterday was the first time that I learned that Seacrest only performed the work in question for those Associations which the managed.

8)      I had  studied the  Seacrest contract in the past for my association and nowhere do I recall seeing that this work was included in there contract, it may have changed since I reviewed there contract.

9)      It would appear to me that there may be a conflict of interest as to those associations who use Seacrest and those that do not since UCO is a separate entity.

10)   Yesterday I requested a copy of such contract so I can review it on behalf of   Wellington A.

11)   After reviewing this contract if warranted I would engage our own contractor to determine if this is the case.

12)   Upon my own contractors finding, if necessary Wellington A would proceed with the work

I believe that since some time has passed since the discovery, notification of the break and the notification to me it would behoove those in charge to make said contract available to me in an expeditious fashion.

I must stress the we here a Wellington A are very proud of our Building and always honor our commitments.

We await your prompt reply.

Sincerely,

Edward R. Grossman CPA

President- Wellington A Condominium Assoc. Inc.

For those of us that want to request records, the following are David Israel's user friendly rules.

I have been asked to forward the proper procedure for requisition records.  I have included the procedure below for your use:

617.1602 Inspection of records by members.

(1) A member of a corporation is entitled to inspect and copy, during regular business hours at the corporation’s principal office or at a reasonable location specified by the corporation, any of the records of the corporation described in s. 617.1601(5), if the member gives the corporation written notice of his or her demand at least 10 business days before the date on which he or she wishes to inspect and copy.

(2) A member of a corporation is entitled to inspect and copy, during regular business hours at a reasonable location specified by the corporation, any of the following records of the corporation if the member meets the requirements of subsection (3) and gives the corporation written notice of his or her demand at least 10 business days before the date on which he or she wishes to inspect and copy:

(a) Excerpts from minutes of any meeting of the board of directors, records of any action of a committee of the board of directors while acting in place of the board of directors on behalf of the corporation, minutes of any meeting of the members, and records of action taken by the members or board of directors without a meeting, to the extent not subject to inspection under subsection (1).(b) Accounting records of the corporation.
(c) The record of members.
(d) Any other books and records.

(3) A member may inspect and copy the records described in subsection (2) only if:
(a) The member’s demand is made in good faith and for a proper purpose;
(b) The member describes with reasonable particularity his or her purpose and the records he or she desires to inspect;
(c) The records are directly connected with the member’s purpose.
(4) This section does not affect:

(a) The right of a member in litigation with the corporation to inspect and copy records to the same extent as any other litigant.
(b) The power of a court, independently of this chapter, to compel the production of corporate records for examination.

(5) A corporation may deny any demand for inspection made pursuant to subsection (2) if the demand was made for an improper purpose, or if the demanding member has within 2 years preceding his or her demand sold or offered for sale any list of members of the corporation or any other corporation, has aided or abetted any person in procuring any list of members for any such purpose, or has improperly used any information secured through any prior examination of the records of the corporation or any other corporation.

(6) For purposes of this section, the term "member" includes a beneficial owner whose shares are held in a voting trust or by a nominee on his or her behalf.

(7) For purposes of this section, a "proper purpose" means a purpose reasonably related to such person’s interest as a member.

 Please let me know if there is anything else I may do for you. 

Very Best Regards,

Ted S. Herrle

Ted S. Herrle, PCAM, MCM

Community Manager

United Civic Organization of Century Village

This full of Pride little man has to be gone - No 4th Term

The Great Disruptor

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Dave Israel <ucopresident@gmail.com>
Date: Tue, Jan 20, 2015 at 2:01 PM
Subject: Information Forward Initiative - Revised Draft UCO Budget 2015 -2016
To: Dave Israel <ucopresident@gmail.com>

Hi all,

Attached find Treasurer O'brien's revised draft budget.

It was passed today by the Finance Committee, and will next be presented to the Officers Committee,  the Executive Board and in due course, the Delegate Assembly.

The problem we have here is that the Great and all knowing wizard is THE DISRUPTOR. He could take his own advice and we all be happy. He doesn't have to behave, just be gone.

Absolutely - No 4th Term!!

Paranoia man

This is a posting on his Very Private Blog by the esteemed President David Israel. I do not know what he is talking out. To me it seems like the rantings of a man in the throes of paranoia. What do you think?


1:07 PM (3 hours ago) (Right after Lunch)

Ed Grossman <justiceforresidenceinc@gmail.com>
to me, vicepresident3, vicepresidentv.,  vicepresidentv., Veronica

Now is the time to listen to your fellow unit owners and avoid the 2015 budget being voted down again.

Ed Grossman CPA President of:

Wellington A

The Century Village Messenger Club

Justice for Residence Inc.

WE ARE AWAITINGV YOUR REPLY!!!

.................................................................

Well, oh glorious Ras-Tafari, lion of Judah, son of Ra...Disrupter of meetings, aspirant to relevance...Etc.

UCO does not respond to threats.

Dave Israel

"UCO does not reply to threats", but is very good at threatening. They threaten to turn off your call in rights, they threaten to lock you out of the Club House, channel 63, and The reporter. He, the President is excellent at bullying, shouting and keeping the Delegate from expressing a view.  Again I say he must be the CV Paranoia man.

No Fourth Term for this man!!

Behavior and Arrogance Video

Bad behavior in the Village
Wait. Let the Video load!

The Need for Common Sense

SOMETIMES WE NEED TO USE COMMON SENSE

 Coming out of Citibank into the village, the visitor’s line at the entrance gate was backed up to Okeechobee. Since I was a resident, I cut in front of a waiting car coming from Wells Fargo to get into the resident lane. When I arrived near the gate, I noticed the resident lane was closed, so I was forced to cut back into the visitors’ lane - it does not sit well with me to cut anyone off unnecessarily.  

When I arrived at the gate, the guard asked me for my ID.  I told him I have a sticker, but he kept insisting on taking the time to check my ID. Meanwhile Ed Black was also at the gate fussing with the broken gate hardware and we started to argue. In the past when the gate was broken, the Guard from the previous company would look forward to seeing if you had a transponder or decal on your window and wave you through but no, not the new guards.  They take their orders from Mr. Ed Black who seems   to think; it's better to check your ID and have a long dangerous line onto Okeechobee than the small possibility of letting someone into the village who may be using a resident's car.  

This is one of the unexpected situations we have to deal with in everyday life where we have to make a choice to use common sense rather than protocol, but unfortunately Ed Black has limited ability for such use.  He preferred to stall the line and argue with me rather than tell the guard to lift the gate.  He knew who I was.  I am one of his favorite malcontents.

 Whenever I come across a situation where stupidities overrides common sense I have a tendency to get mad, so I managed to muster up all the nasty words I could think of and relay them to Mr. Black. I must admit; afterwards, I felt much better - I absolved my anger.  However, my guess is Mr. Black was mighty pissed off.

Israel/Black

Olga you are right. I am appalled, no I am more than that, I am angry and I think this has got to stop. So now the Democratic Club is afraid to voice an opinion against the Head of UCO. What could they be afraid of? What could or would the Israel/Black team do to them?

What could they do? They could fix it so that they don't have space in the Club House for their meetings. They could deny them the auto pass-thru at the gates. They could deny all the members the call-in feature. Who knows what else?

That is why we must get rid of this regime.

Vote the Israel/Black ticket out. 

No 4th Term!!

Democrats awake

 WAKE UP DEMOCRATS: IT’S TIME.

We have a Democratic Club in Century Village, which is comprised of approximately 200 members. At present, their goal is to support Democratic Candidates and their ideology. While I may agree with their present vision, I disagree with their policy of refusing to be involved in the politics of Century Village.   Politics are not limited to politicians. Politics are used every day by people who seek positions of power.  We use politics in everyday arguments when we negotiate, convince, coerce and influence.  Little children use it when they sheepishly are caught with their hands in the cookie jar and tell their parent, “I didn’t do it." David Israel is a perfect example of such an individual who uses politics to DENY, DENY, DENY.

In the past, the leaders of the Democratic Club have refused to get involved in Century Village Politics. This refusal does not make any sense to me. It reminds me of a well-known leader in the 1930’s who every day fastidiously went out to preach politics, yet he refused to work and earn a living to support his wife and five children: as a result, his family went hungry.

It’s a shame that the leaders of the Democratic Club do not have the wisdom to support politics in  their own home turf of  Century Village,  because they may one day find themselves hungry and out of money.   

To UCO a letter

This is a letter that was delivered to UCO on Jan.15. We still await an answer.


THE CENTURY VILLAGE MESSENGER CLUB
102  WELLINGTON A
WEST PALM BEACH, FL 33417


United Civic Organization
2101 West Drive
West Palm Beach, FL 33417

Re: Revision of the 2015 UCO Budget

ATT: UCO Officers
Executive Committee

Please be advised that at the Century Village Messenger Club meeting on January 14, 2015 we, the undersigned support a motion, made and seconded, wherein, in essence, it states that Edward Grossman, CPA, George Lowenstein, CPA and  Dorothy Tetro, former UCO treasurer volunteer to work with Howard O'Brien, current UCO treasurer, in an effort to revise the defeated budget so as to enable the new revised  budget to reflect those items which will help to enable UCO to present to the delegates a budget to vote on and pass.

This motion was drafted and accepted by those attending The Messenger Club on January 14, 2015 to expedite and execute a fair and balanced budget.

Be advised that we are trying to avoid the next budget being voted down as was it at the January Delegate Assembly.

The above letter is signed by 50 residents that attended the January 14 meeting.

Remember this will be a Up or Down vote (The whole budget is passed or turned down) so if it is not totally Correct and Acceptable.

Vote it down.

Ed Black & Arrogance

Let's talk about Ed Black, David Israel, Justice and freedoms.

First off Ed Black is a citizen of Century Village. He is not a CV elected official. He probably can be listed as a Volunteer. But that would be understating his service.

He acts as a Elected Committee chairman, but there is no committee.

Basically he has no legal entity to run any thing in CV, But he does!

He is the man behind the plan to put all our bank accounts into to one, and thereby leave them open to unsupervised spending and unsupervised CV watch, no over site, no monitoring.  With this plan Israel can withdraw monies intended for specific projects and use it as he wishes. With no body the wiser. And he has done just that!

Ed Black is the man behind the CV Rover project.Where it is not possible to call a rover directly. Any calls to the Rover have to go to the Gate Guards first. I will never understand what gives these Gate Guards the training to decide if the Rover should respond. I think the Rover Volunteers are not trained properly or else they could be trusted to respond, and it appears neither are the gate guards.

Ed Black seems to be the alter ego, perhaps shadow, of David Israel. It appears as if he makes most of the heavy duty decisions for him.

Is this what we want from UCO. A man with all the power that the President has and with no visibility, no responsibility, not answering to any of the Delegates? Not me! I don't think so and I don't like it!

It is time to get rid of D.Israel, his minions, and his alter ego!

Delegates awake, vote these guys out, pay attention to the subtleties concerning the budget, lets not allow something into the budget that we will find we cannot live with!

Here is another little story about Ed Black about the arrogance of those in power, about taking advantage.

One of our new residents went for a walk one day. She walked out the gate and upon returning she realized she did not bring her resident pass or a telephone so she could not get back through the gate. She went to UCO to ask for help. She did not have a phone yet in her unit. 

Ed Black saw her and took over. First he asked for some ID, she did not have any. She ask him to call the Condo President, he refused. Then he started to yell at her and began treating her as a suspect, as a possible burglar, as nothing less than a liar. By this time she was terrified, horrified and not a happy Resident. Thank you Ed Black.

So I ask you where does this arrogance come from? Where does Ed Black get the audacity to interrogate a unit owner, a new unit owner in a little bit of trouble. Remember he is nothing more than a Resident himself. 

I'll tell you it comes from his feeling of unquestioned UCO power in the UCO offices. He that does not hold any official job, he that is nothing more or less than a Volunteer tasked to serve the community. Feels he is the boss as a whole.

This is a terrible story!

EXACTLY WHERE IS OUR MONEY?

At the last Delegate meeting many questions about the new budget were raised.  One of the questions was – and I am the person who posed it – related to the funds WE i.e. UCO has on deposit.

The answer I received, very surreptitiously, was “in BB&T”.  Well folks, I sincerely hope that was not quite accurate.  UCO funds MUST be invested in secure accounts, the ones we generically know as FDIC insured accounts.  Since January of 2014, the FDIC limit per account (or tax ID number) in any one financial institution has been set at $250,000.

So, again I ask – “where is our money?”  I know exactly where the money was on March 1, 2014.  But now I must say, I have no idea.
 

Additionally, I believe the residents and owners of Century Village should be advised of the title of each account and how much money is in each account.
During my tenure as Treasurer I prepared and distributed this report monthly and I can assure you the report can be prepared in ten minutes – maybe fifteen.
  

From the statement we are given it would “appear” that the fund accounting method we had for many years has been disbanded.  I think I have a very good idea as to who might be behind this thinking.  Putting all the “eggs into one basket” is a very very good way of concealing expenditures.
 

Let us not forget that I served as UCO Treasurer for over five years in total - under two different administrations.  When I was out of office the road re-paving fiasco and the shuffling of money took place. 

Perhaps a detailed report relative to UCO bank balances at January 1, 2015 will be made available to us at the meeting on January 20^th when the new budget will be reviewed in depth. 

Dorothy Tetro

Hiding anons

TO “ANONYMOUS” – Come out, come out, wherever you are!

In a previous posting, I suggested that you might like to have a face-to-face conversation with me in order to satisfy yourself (and I would imagine others) who have it in their heads that I am George Loewensteins “puppet”, that that is not so.   I suggested a time and place.

WHERE WERE YOU?  I was there along with many others and I don’t believe we had an opportunity to speak or if we did you certainly did not identify yourself as the person who made that statement.

So, I am again issuing the invitation.  I will be present at the budget meeting on Tuesday January 20^th.  Perhaps you will come out of hiding at that time.  I look forward to meeting you.

Dorothy Tetro

Video of 1-14 Messenger Club Meeting

Wait for the video to load

Good Laughs

THESE SHOULD GIVE YOU A LAUGH TODAY.  LAUGHTER IS THE BEST MEDICINE, SO THEY SAY!

---

Wouldn't it be great if we could put ourselves in the dryer for ten minutes; come out wrinkle-free and three sizes smaller!

Last year I joined a support group for procrastinators.  We haven't met yet!

I don't trip over things, I do random gravity checks!

I don't need anger management.  I need people to stop pissing me off!

When I was a child I thought Nap Time was a punishment ...    now, as a grown up, it just feels like a small vacation!

The biggest lie I tell myself is ... "I don't need to write that down, I'll remember it.

Lord grant me the strength to accept the things I cannot change, the courage to change the things I can & the friends to post my bail when I finally snap!

I don't have gray hair.  I have "wisdom highlights".  I'm just very wise.

I smile because you are my sister-in-law and laugh because you married my brother!

If God wanted me to touch my toes, he would've put them on my knees.

The kids text me "plz" which is shorter than please.  I text back "no" which is shorter than "yes".

I like my middle finger best because it always sticks up for me!

When did it change from "We the people" to "screw the people"?

I've lost my mind and I'm pretty sure my kids took it!

Even duct tape can't fix stupid ... but it can muffle the sound!

Why do I have to press one for English when you're just gonna transfer me to someone I can't understand anyway?

Lord, Give me patience and give it to me NOW.

Of course I talk to myself, sometimes I need expert advice.

At my age "Getting lucky" means walking into a room and remembering what I came in there for.

The Usual Suspects

Below is an example of what the antis are thinking and saying. You will note that they feel we need a cop in presence at the DA meeting to shut up the loud speakers. Also note that they think a  Roberts Rules expert is needed to referee the arguments.

None of this is necessary. The problem with the loud DA is the chair. He doesn't know how to quiet a agitated Delegate without bringing on more anger. He can throw a Delegate out of the Assembly for no other reason than he doesn't like what he is saying.

Bringing in a Cop to threaten us is just wrong.

Now read below. This is taken from the comment stream of the Very Private blog and it is the usual suspects talking.

Also note their paranoiac ramblings about planned disruptions. This is absolutely not true. The disruption, if they be called that, are spontaneous, and generally forced by the Chair's ineptness. There is no planning and no collusion.

PRPC Meeting

PROACTIVE RESIDENTS PROJECTS COMMITTEE

PRPC MEETING

THURSDAY, JANUARY 15, 10:00 A.M CLUBHOUSE CLASSROOM B

COME TO HEAR THE PLANS TO CONTINUE TO OPPOSE ANY DEVELOPMENT ON THE CLOSED GOLF COURSE

MEETING OPEN TO ALL RESIDENTS