Kudos to all the unit owners who came to the defense of
our hard-working employees yesterday by emailing your thoughts to the Board of
Directors in response to my email (SEE BELOW).
You prevented a grave injustice from taking place. Three of the four Board
members who seemed ready to fire at least some of our employees appear to have had
a change of heart in the face of your overwhelming outpouring of indignation.
Only one Board member, Wendy Hernandez, continued directing her wrath at our
loyal staff, but in the end, she was outnumbered and not a single employee was
fired. That’s nothing short of a miracle considering that just last week Miss
Hernandez was heard bragging that our entire security staff was about to get
the boot. What turned things around? Your emails! (See a small sampling HERE.) I thank you, and our
employees thank you.
On the other hand, despite the mounting pressure for her
to resign from the Board, Miss Hernandez chose not to step down last night. But
she must now face the fact that she can’t get her way through intimidation and
double-dealing. Nobody likes a bully.
Speaking of bullying, I chose not to discuss the incident
that took place in the clubhouse gym over the weekend in my email to owners yesterday,
but since many of you have already heard about it and have been asking
questions, I feel I have no choice now but to address it.
I walked into the clubhouse gym a little before 5:30 p.m.
on Saturday to find Miss Hernandez waiting by the entrance with her arms
crossed. She had apparently been eavesdropping on a conversation I was having
with a neighbor in the hallway just before walking in. The conversation
happened to be about Miss Hernandez’s unethical conduct. After greeting her, I
asked her about the behavior and she became incensed and physically assaulted
me. The attack, which was recorded by the gym’s security camera, takes place
about two minutes into THIS
VIDEO.
I called the police and I plan to press charges because this kind of behavior on the part of a unit owner (not to mention a Board member) should not be tolerated. I have discussed the incident with an attorney and have been told the chances of obtaining a felony conviction on Miss Hernandez are very good, especially since the incident was captured on video.
Some of you may be wondering why a closed Board meeting is posted for tonight. Unfortunately, although I serve as the Association’s Treasurer, all I can tell you about the meeting is what I've managed to gather from second-hand sources. That’s because the Board members who decided to organize it haven’t bothered telling their fellow Directors exactly what the purpose is. All we have received is an agenda with a few vaguely worded items and no explanation.
The meeting, which will be conducted behind closed doors with no unit owners permitted to attend, was apparently the idea of Board Secretary Wendy Hernandez, who prepared the agenda with the help of Board members Frances Mesirow, Collette Goslin, and Marc Richman without consulting her fellow officers President Marcio Jaspan, Vice President Duv Wolff and myself. This may come as a surprise to the 200-plus voters who thought they were voting for change when they filled out their ballots for Wendy Hernandez in February. Why, you might be asking, is she now working with the team that she ran against, the team she blasted in her candidate bio for their “constant maintenance fee increases and special assessments”?
The answer is because over the last few months Miss Hernandez has made a number of unethical, immoral and sometimes illegal demands of her fellow officers that Mr. Jaspan, Mr. Wolff and I have refused to go along with. In retaliation, she has apparently sold herself to the other side to see what she can get from them in exchange for promises of putting them back in power – and they have welcomed her with open arms.
Here’s a partial list of Miss Hernandez’s outrageous demands which the Board President, Vice President and I refused to give in to:
• Fire the Association’s maintenance chief, security manager, entire security staff and others for no apparent reason other than personal animosity and envy.
• Put her on the Association’s payroll as office manager while allowing her to remain on the Board (in violation of Florida law) despite her obvious lack of qualifications.
• Provide her with keys to the association’s office so she can come and go and snoop around the office as she pleases after hours.
• Grant her unfettered access to unit owner accounts and files, including highly sensitive personal information. (See HACKING VIDEO.)
• Allow her, in her position as Sales & Lease Committee Chairwoman, to bully staff into letting her deny leases to qualified tenants who happen to rent from owners against whom she holds a personal grudge, thereby exposing the Association to costly litigation.
Miss Hernandez has abused her power and created a hostile work environment for our employees by treating them with open contempt and disrespect while threatening to fire them if they fail to carry out her unethical demands. Mr. Jaspan, Mr. Wolff and I have given our full support to our hard-working staff. But unfortunately, Board members Frances Mesirow, Collette Goslin and Marc Richman have decided to act as Miss Hernandez’s enablers, and they appear ready to throw our dedicated employees under the bus in order to bribe Miss Hernandez over to their side so they can seize back control of the Association.
So tonight’s agenda includes the item “Personnel Matters,” which understandably has employees terrified of losing their jobs in light of Miss Hernandez’s stated desire to fire nearly everyone.
Some unit owners have warned me not to expose Miss Hernandez’s treacherous and unethical behavior, saying it might provoke her to join forces with her “new friends” on the Board to remove me from the position of treasurer. I guess they don’t realize this title involves no salary, benefits or perks and very little real authority, and losing it would be a very small price to pay for telling the truth. But I will not stand quietly by in the face of injustice while a shameless, unscrupulous group of Board members sacrifice our loyal staff on the altar of power. Our employees deserve better.
Finally, I want to apologize to all the unit owners for recommending that you vote for Miss Hernandez this past February. Now that I am fully aware of her lack of integrity, principle and honesty, I regret ever giving her my support. Miss Hernandez has proven herself untrustworthy, unqualified and temperamentally unfit to serve in any position of authority, and we as an Association deserve better. I encourage you to call her at 954-612-6018 to urge her to resign. You may also contact her and the rest of the Board by email to let us know how you feel by simply “Replying All” to this email.
John Labriola
International Village Treasurer
I called the police and I plan to press charges because this kind of behavior on the part of a unit owner (not to mention a Board member) should not be tolerated. I have discussed the incident with an attorney and have been told the chances of obtaining a felony conviction on Miss Hernandez are very good, especially since the incident was captured on video.
Save our International Village employees
| From: | John Labriola <jflabriola@gmail.com> |
| Sent: | Mon, Jul 28, 2014 at 8:25 AM |
| To: | John Labriola <jflabriola@gmail.com> |
| Cc: | Marcio Jaspan <marciojaspan@hotmail.com>, Duv Wolff <guitarharm@aol.com>, Wendy Hernandez <wendy_hernandez@ymail.com>, Frances Mesirow <fmkmbm@gmail.com>, Marc Richman <mwr2020ou@gmail.com>, Collette Goslin <colletteg@comcast.net>, MANAGER INTERNATIONAL VILLAGE <manager@intlvillage.com>, Assistant Manager International Village <assistant@intlvillage.com> |
The meeting, which will be conducted behind closed doors with no unit owners permitted to attend, was apparently the idea of Board Secretary Wendy Hernandez, who prepared the agenda with the help of Board members Frances Mesirow, Collette Goslin, and Marc Richman without consulting her fellow officers President Marcio Jaspan, Vice President Duv Wolff and myself. This may come as a surprise to the 200-plus voters who thought they were voting for change when they filled out their ballots for Wendy Hernandez in February. Why, you might be asking, is she now working with the team that she ran against, the team she blasted in her candidate bio for their “constant maintenance fee increases and special assessments”?
The answer is because over the last few months Miss Hernandez has made a number of unethical, immoral and sometimes illegal demands of her fellow officers that Mr. Jaspan, Mr. Wolff and I have refused to go along with. In retaliation, she has apparently sold herself to the other side to see what she can get from them in exchange for promises of putting them back in power – and they have welcomed her with open arms.
Here’s a partial list of Miss Hernandez’s outrageous demands which the Board President, Vice President and I refused to give in to:
• Fire the Association’s maintenance chief, security manager, entire security staff and others for no apparent reason other than personal animosity and envy.
• Put her on the Association’s payroll as office manager while allowing her to remain on the Board (in violation of Florida law) despite her obvious lack of qualifications.
• Provide her with keys to the association’s office so she can come and go and snoop around the office as she pleases after hours.
• Grant her unfettered access to unit owner accounts and files, including highly sensitive personal information. (See HACKING VIDEO.)
• Allow her, in her position as Sales & Lease Committee Chairwoman, to bully staff into letting her deny leases to qualified tenants who happen to rent from owners against whom she holds a personal grudge, thereby exposing the Association to costly litigation.
Miss Hernandez has abused her power and created a hostile work environment for our employees by treating them with open contempt and disrespect while threatening to fire them if they fail to carry out her unethical demands. Mr. Jaspan, Mr. Wolff and I have given our full support to our hard-working staff. But unfortunately, Board members Frances Mesirow, Collette Goslin and Marc Richman have decided to act as Miss Hernandez’s enablers, and they appear ready to throw our dedicated employees under the bus in order to bribe Miss Hernandez over to their side so they can seize back control of the Association.
So tonight’s agenda includes the item “Personnel Matters,” which understandably has employees terrified of losing their jobs in light of Miss Hernandez’s stated desire to fire nearly everyone.
Some unit owners have warned me not to expose Miss Hernandez’s treacherous and unethical behavior, saying it might provoke her to join forces with her “new friends” on the Board to remove me from the position of treasurer. I guess they don’t realize this title involves no salary, benefits or perks and very little real authority, and losing it would be a very small price to pay for telling the truth. But I will not stand quietly by in the face of injustice while a shameless, unscrupulous group of Board members sacrifice our loyal staff on the altar of power. Our employees deserve better.
Finally, I want to apologize to all the unit owners for recommending that you vote for Miss Hernandez this past February. Now that I am fully aware of her lack of integrity, principle and honesty, I regret ever giving her my support. Miss Hernandez has proven herself untrustworthy, unqualified and temperamentally unfit to serve in any position of authority, and we as an Association deserve better. I encourage you to call her at 954-612-6018 to urge her to resign. You may also contact her and the rest of the Board by email to let us know how you feel by simply “Replying All” to this email.
John Labriola
International Village Treasurer
