New laundry machines, landscaping company and cameras

Has it been taking more than an hour to dry your clothes lately? Relief is coming soon.

International Village will be replacing its aging washers and driers with brand-new machines over the next several weeks as its eight-year lease contract with Aaxon has come to an end. Rather than renewing the contract – which was based on a 50/50 revenue-sharing arrangement under which the association and Aaxon each collected approximately $4,500 in laundry revenue per month – the Board of Directors last month opted to purchase new Maytag machines from Mesmen Inc. at a cost of approximately $127,000.

Purchasing the washers and driers instead of entering into a lease agreement will allow the association to collect 100 percent of the revenue from the machines once they are installed, instead of just 50 percent. At that rate, the machines will not only pay for themselves in about a year’s time, but over the long run they will result in a significant net revenue gain that hopefully will enable the association to continue reducing maintenance fees.

The new Maytag washers and driers will utilize a new smart card system and new card-reloading machines that will soon be set up in the clubhouse so residents can familiarize themselves with them before the new laundry machines are installed.

In other actions last month, the Board:

• Approved a new lawn maintenance contract with Davey Commercial Grounds Management (formerly known as Lawn Logic) following the expiration of the association’s one-year contract with Smart Choice. The switch came after months of complaints regarding the previous vendor’s failure to adequately pick up leaves. The new contract specifically requires leaf pickup, and compliments regarding the superior landscape work have already been pouring in.
• Approved purchasing a new security camera system for the association’s residential buildings following the recent membership vote in favor of installing cameras in the common areas. The system will consist of 12 cameras per building. Although I have not been an enthusiastic supporter of security cameras, my main objections to the camera plan advanced in 2013 by AMG (which I’m happy I was able to stop) were its massive $150,000 proposed price tag and the attempt to push the project through without the required membership vote. By doing things the right way and rejecting AMG's preferred vendor, we have not only respected the democratic process, but we will be spending a tiny fraction of what AMG and the 2013 Board were saying was needed. The total cost of equipment and installation will be an estimated $10,000. That’s a total savings of about $140,000!

John Labriola

International Village President

A Weiss special assessment?

In the last two Board of Directors elections, International Village unit owners have made it abundantly clear that they want to spend LESS, not more. This year, when one candidate ran on a platform of higher spending, higher maintenance fees and more special assessments, he barely received 20 percent of the vote.  Your overwhelming rejection of his agenda, however, hasn't stopped him from trying to achieve it through his incessant bogus lawsuits, collusion, sabotage, and outright bribery. 

Last night, a number of you received a “blast” email from that failed candidate – Ilan Weiss – in which he revealed his seedy financial arrangement with disgraced board member Wendy Hernandez. (For those of you who may not be aware, Miss Hernandez is currently under criminal prosecution for battery, and she is still looking to “get back” at the Board for rejecting her outrageous demands last year to put her on the association's payroll, grant her access to all unit owner files and accounts, and fire virtually all our employees.) In exchange for Mr. Weiss’ promise to pay her legal bills (which he openly admits and even brags about), Miss Hernandez has been acting as his personal stooge by busily doing Mr. Weiss’ bidding – including violating board member confidentiality by feeding him sensitive information about ongoing legal matters; engaging in defamatory and false accusations against the association, its employees, Board members, and other unit owners; and even contacting the association's insurance carriers to urge them to NOT cover us after AMG – the company that gave us convicted embezzler Jason Levy as property manager – vindictively sued us for firing them. 

Most recently – again at Mr. Weiss’ behest – Miss Hernandez, joined by another disgruntled resident and Weiss follower, invited the City of Lauderhill’s code enforcement department to visit International Village to look for violations of the City’s aesthetics code. (This from a city which – with the exception of Inverrary – is best known for its blighted conditions and elevated crime rates). Bureaucrats being what they are, the code enforcement officer was more than happy to oblige Miss Hernandez and issued the association a violation notice, instructing us to re-paint the building outside walls and address a number of other cosmetic issues with the building exteriors.

It’s important to note that as part of last year’s 40-year inspections, the City certified that all 10 of the buildings that were inspected by the engineer are structurally safe and sound. That means the only issues the City could technically cite us for on those buildings would have to do with aesthetics (despite the irony of being cited for cosmetic issues by the City of Lauderhill). But to address all these aesthetic issues at one time on a tight City-mandated schedule – instead of in order of priority and within the framework of the budget – would not only require a substantial special assessment (Mr. Weiss’ number one goal), but it would also force the Board to cancel or postpone the renovations currently underway in the interiors of the buildings. (So if your building hasn't been renovated yet, and if this latest trick forces us to divert our resources to other projects, you can thank Mr. Weiss and Miss Hernandez for their vindictiveness.)

So we are faced with a choice: We can either fight the City over its ridiculous selective enforcement of its aesthetic codes, or we can allow Mr. Weiss and Miss Hernandez to get away with their malicious scheme to make us dig deeper into our pockets to cough up another special assessment.

How do YOU think we should proceed? And what if anything should be done about Miss Hernandez’s repeated and blatant breaches of her fiduciary duties as a board member? 

The best way to let us know is to show up and speak up at our Board meeting tonight (Tuesday, April 28) at 7:15 p.m. in the clubhouse. If you are unable to attend the meeting, please share your thoughts by replying to this email and copying the Board of Directors. We need to know how you feel!

Thank you,

John Labriola
International Village President
Villageviewpoints.blogspot.com

Condo doc amendments vote results

I hope everyone enjoyed a blessed Easter and Passover with their friends and families this past weekend. My thanks also to all the unit owners who took the time to participate by proxy or in person in last week’s reconvened Special Membership Meeting on the proposed amendments to the association’s governing documents. The number of proxies collected was well above the quorum requirement. To view the results of the vote, click HERE.

Forward as One Community

Serving as president of an organization the size of International Village is no small job, but it’s a lot less daunting when your predecessor has done most of the heavy lifting. As I begin my term as President of International Village, I feel very fortunate, not to mention honored, to follow in the footsteps of Marcio Jaspan, who nominated me to serve as his successor last week due to his increasingly busy work schedule. Marcio, who led International Village successfully through one of its most challenging and transformative years, has paved a path of progress that will make the journey forward that much easier, and I look forward to continue working with him in his new role as Treasurer, as well as with Duv Wolff as Vice President, Carl Simmonds as Secretary, Hayden Joseph as Assistant Treasurer and Luis Jimenez as our newest Board member, to keep International Village moving in the right direction. 

My number one goal as President, as it has been as Treasurer, will be to keep saving money so we can continue reducing maintenance fees while making the necessary investments to improve our property values and quality of life. An equally important though less tangible goal is to continue to foster a sense of unity. As President, my job is to represent all the owners, not just the 80 percent who voted for me in last month’s election. This is one community, and we all have a vested interest in seeing it prosper, so let’s work together with a renewed sense of cooperation to make International Village the best place it can be. 

On a somewhat related note, as I mentioned last month we are still accepting proxies from unit owners who have not yet voted on the proposed amendments to the association's governing documents. The new deadline for submitting your three-page pink proxy is Tuesday, March 31. (If you already turned it in, there is no need to obtain or submit another one.)

I look forward to your continued involvement and suggestions.

John Labriola

International Village President

Victory for Progress!

A very big "Thank You" to the unit owners of International Village for overwhelmingly voting to stay on the path of continued progress in this Tuesday’s Board of Directors election. By a staggering 4 to 1 margin, you elected the team that has pledged to keep saving money and reducing maintenance fees while investing in important improvements to our community. (See the official results announcement HERE.) I am humbled and honored by the confidence you have placed in me, along with Luis Jimenez and Colbert “Carl” Simmonds, and I look forward to another term of working with a great group of people to continue improving our quality of life and property values. I also want to thank God for letting justice prevail over the forces of evil and the enemies of truth and righteousness.

By voting to remain on the right track, you also rejected the politics of hate, smear, innuendo and disgusting personal attacks represented by one of our soundly defeated opponents and his dwindling number of supporters. Let’s hope he takes a hint from this overwhelming rejection of everything he stands for and learns to keep his bile to himself. 

Regarding the proposed amendments to the association's governing documents, the number of pink proxies received fell about 30 votes short of the quorum requirement, so the results of that vote could not be officially tabulated. That means that if you did not mail in or drop off your 15-question proxy, you can still do so. We will let you know the new deadline for submitting your proxy once the Board has agreed on a date.

Stay tuned, and thanks again for showing you care about the future of International Village. Together we can make the “Jewel of Inverrary” shine even brighter.

John Labriola

International Village Board of Directors

Vote for continued progress and savings

Only one day remains until the Feb. 24 International Village annual meeting and Board of Directors election. If you have not already done so, this is your last chance to choose between continuing to move forward and returning to the shady past. 

The three candidates who represent continued progress are Colbert “Carl” Simmonds, Luis Jimenez and myself, John Labriola. Each of us wants to continue saving money in order to keep lowering maintenance fees while investing in improvements like the building renovations that are now under way. With last year’s $1 million in savings and historic maintenance fee reduction, we've proven it can be done. 

The other two candidates – Ilan Weiss and Petrina Smith, who appear to be running as a team despite claims to the contrary – have made no promise to cut spending or maintenance fees. In fact, Ilan Weiss – best known for repeatedly filing frivolous and malicious lawsuits against the association – is running on a platform of defending the record of the association’s former management company AMG, which engineered a $1.3 million special assessment and 27 percent maintenance fee increase in 2012-13 and gave us a convicted felon, Jason Levy, as property manager before AMG and Mr. Levy were fired last year. Incredibly, Mr. Weiss is now claiming that Mr. Levy was “framed.”  That will certainly come as a shock to Mr. Levy, since he pleaded guilty in November to first-degree felony grand theft and money laundering in the face of the overwhelming proof of his guilt. It’s now obvious that Mr. Weiss wants to be on the board to undermine our current efforts to get our money back as we continue working with the authorities and our legal counsel to go after these crooks. 

Let’s continue moving forward, not backward to the crooked dealings of the past. For continued progress, please vote for John Labriola, Colbert “Carl” Simmonds and Luis Jimenez. Please drop off your ballot at the International Village office today, as it is too late to mail it in.

John Labriola
International Village Treasurer

Progress vs. Gangsterism

The International Village Board of Directors election and annual meeting is just a week away, and the choice couldn't be any clearer. It’s a choice between continued progress and savings on the one hand – and a return to the high maintenance fees, special assessments and shady dealings of the past on the other.

Only three candidates – Colbert “Carl” Simmonds, Luis Jimenez and myself, John Labriola – have pledged to continue cutting spending to reduce maintenance fees. All three of us want to build on the successes of the last year, during which more than $1 million was saved, maintenance fees were reduced for the first time in decades, and the building renovations were resumed with no special assessment.

The remaining two candidates have not only made no promise to cut maintenance fees, but at least one of them – Ilan Weiss – appears to be running on a platform of rehiring AMG, the management company that gave us a convicted felon, Jason Levy, as property manager and engineered a $1.3 million special assessment and 27 percent maintenance fee increase over its two-year tenure. Not only has Mr. Weiss continued to give AMG an “A” rating even after Mr. Levy’s conviction, but he has repeatedly made statements suggesting he has no interest in investigating how much Mr. Levy stole from International Village or in recovering that money for the association. Listen to his own words HERE.  Apparently, Mr. Weiss wants to be on the board to represent the interests of the people who stole from the association and to interfere with our current efforts to get our money back from them. That shouldn't surprise us considering he was able to enrich himself off the association during AMG's reign of corruption while the rest of us suffered. (Mr. Weiss received $70,000 from the association in 2012-13 to settle two bogus lawsuits. Contrary to his lies at last Tuesday’s Candidates Night forum, he never gave the association back a penny of that money, but used it to line his own pockets and bragged that he had “won the lottery” to sue the Board again, which he did last year to "punish" the Board for firing AMG and Mr. Levy.) The final candidate, Petrina Smith, denied being associated with Mr. Weiss even though he threw an exclusive “Candidates’ Party” on Feb. 9 in the Olde Village Tea Shop to which she was the only other candidate invited. Although she began her Candidates Night presentation fairly well, she displayed some embarrassingly unprofessional behavior during the question and answer session, when she attempted to shout down another candidate.

Finally, many of you have heard that my apartment door lock was sealed with superglue the day of Candidates Night and had to be replaced. Someone apparently acted on Mr. Weiss’ now-infamous blast email in which he gave out my unit number and encouraged people to commit various acts of vandalism to my property, including soiling my entrance with dog feces, splashing paint on the door, and other acts of criminal mischief. When the police came, I showed the officer Mr. Weiss’ email, and I intend to press charges over this thuggish attempt to intimidate me. (The officer found it interesting that Mr. Weiss, who lives year-round in New York, was on the property when this incident occurred, although he comes to International Village only one or two days per year at most.)

Send a message in this election that you reject this kind of gangster-style politics. For continued progress, decency, and further maintenance fee reductions, please vote for John Labriola, Colbert “Carl” Simmonds and Luis Jimenez. Your vote must be received by Feb. 24, so if you haven't done so already, please drop it off at the association office or mail it in immediately. For more instructions on voting, click here. 

John Labriola
International Village Treasurer