Welcome back, David Friedman

I’m pleased to announce that International Village Property Manager David Friedman, who had to undergo heart surgery several weeks ago, has made a full recovery and is returning to his duties as manager today. 

We’re very happy and grateful that David is coming back healthy and strong to continue the great job he was doing. As we welcome David back, I also want to take this opportunity to thank our interim manager Richard Sayre for filling in for David during his recovery. We wish Richard good luck as he starts work at another property.

Former property manager Jason Levy in prison for grand theft

Former Manager Jason Levy

Former International Village Property Manager Jason J. Levy, who was fired by the Board of Directors last April for gross misconduct along with the association’s former management company American Management Group (AMG), has pleaded guilty to first-degree felony grand theft and money laundering charges for embezzling more than $1.5 million from Dezer Hotel Corporation, a Miami Beach-based hotel chain that he managed before coming to International Village.  Mr. Levy was booked into a Miami-Dade County jail last month and was transferred to a state prison facility on December 29. (See recent prison photo.)

The embezzlement scheme for which Mr. Levy was convicted was carried out over a four-year period from about 2005 to 2009, during which he created fraudulent company invoices for purchases or work that never took place and then pocketed the money for himself. After being fired and sued by Dezer Hotel and arrested and charged by the state, Mr. Levy filed for bankruptcy in an attempt to avoid paying back what he had stolen.

In 2012, despite being under criminal prosecution, and despite the overwhelming evidence of his guilt, Mr. Levy was hired by AMG and the previous Board of Directors to serve as International Village’s property manager. And unfortunately, though not surprisingly, Mr. Levy’s crooked habits continued unabated during his two years here.

But when the current Board of Directors fired Mr. Levy and AMG last April for the reasons I explained in my April 16, 2014 blog post, we had no idea just how far his fraudulent activities went. Since that time, our search and review of the association’s records has revealed that Mr. Levy, while managing International Village, engaged in an embezzlement scheme similar to what he was convicted for in the Dezer Hotel case, in addition to other misconduct designed to defraud the association of hundreds of thousands of dollars. Amazingly, some of these activities took place with the full knowledge and cooperation of at least one former Board member, which I will elaborate on in a future email/blog post. The Board of Directors has been in consultation with legal counsel about this serious matter and we are taking the appropriate steps.

Among the questions that need asking: Why was Mr. Levy hired by AMG despite being under felony prosecution for embezzlement? Why did the previous Board of Directors under former Board Presidents Marvin Tow and Charles Fitzpatrick hire AMG (in a secret March 2012 meeting that was improperly closed to unit owners) without conducting a simple background check on the company or its candidate for property manager, in gross violation of their fiduciary responsibilities? And how much did former Board members know about and participate in the fraud and misconduct that took place while AMG and Mr. Levy were managing International Village?

It is rumored that Mr. Tow, who was soundly defeated for reelection last year, has decided to run for the Board again this year, with the apparent goal of rehiring AMG. After all, bringing back AMG – despite their obvious wrongdoing – has been Mr. Tow’s mantra since the company’s contract was terminated. He even started a pro-AMG blog to praise the company and Mr. Levy (describing him as “exceptionally talented”) and to attack the current Board for firing them. When AMG vindictively sued me for doing my duty as a Director to expose the misconduct that led to their firing, Mr. Tow cheered and claimed that AMG’s bogus lawsuit (which it has since dropped) was “personal,” and just last week he repeated his defamatory lie that the association had paid for my “personal legal bills,” despite knowing that the association’s insurance carrier covered my defense in the case as it was obligated to do because it dealt with association matters.

Marvin Tow, let me make this perfectly clear: I’m proud of my role in helping International Village rid itself of AMG and Mr. Levy by blowing the whistle on their malfeasance. Getting rid of these crooks has saved the association more than a million dollars over the last year (as I have previously reported), and I would gladly do the same all over again – lawsuit or not. I’m not intimidated by AMG and its tiny but vocal corps of defenders, and I’m certainly not afraid of you.  Should you decide to run for the Board, let me also put you on notice that your unwavering support of a now convicted felon and the company that hired and continued to defend him to the bitter end will certainly be made an issue in this campaign. Your complicity and cooperation in some of the fraudulent activities that AMG and Mr. Levy engaged in while you served as Board President also will be an issue.

John Labriola

International Village Treasurer

Merry Christmas!

On behalf of the Board of Directors, I’d like to wish all unit owners a very Merry Christmas, and to thank you for helping make 2014 a great year for International Village. Without your steadfast support, we would not have been able to accomplish all we did over the past year. Let's continue working together in 2015 to build on these successes, and may God fill your new year with good health and prosperity!

P.S. Thank you to all those who attended last Saturday’s Latin Christmas Party, which drew a record-breaking crowd of well over 115 attendees. To see a slideshow of pictures from the party courtesy of John Henderson, click HERE.

Lower maintenance fees and 40-year success story Part 2

International Village unit owners will be getting their first maintenance fee reduction in decades. Of the more than 340 owners who submitted their proxies before our budget meeting last Tuesday, about 97 percent of you voted “Yes” to paying a little less in maintenance starting in January. The Board of Directors heard you loud and clear, and I was very happy to cast my vote for a budget that will make that happen.   

Cutting maintenance fees even modestly was no easy task given the significant challenges we faced this year: First, we inherited a situation in which over half of the community’s residential buildings still had not been renovated after more than two years’ delay due to the previous board’s neglect and mismanagement of funds. Second, the association’s Hurricane Wilma loan with Wells Fargo was coming due, with a $2 million balance. And third, due to the actions of our former property management company AMG and a small group of disgruntled unit owners, we faced a premature and potentially costly 40-year certification. 

But we overcame these challenges by keeping a tight rein on spending, which not only allowed us to pass some of the savings on to the owners, but also put enough money in the bank to enable us to resume the building renovations without a special assessment. These savings also were instrumental in recently helping us obtain an 18-month extension (with 6-month renewal option) on our Wells Fargo loan, which required a $250,000 principal reduction payment at the signing. 

But the 40-year certification threatened to overwhelm all our other efforts, since AMG and Criterium Inspection Engineers (the engineering company AMG brought in) insisted that more than a $1 million would have to be spent to complete all the repairs they claimed were needed to pass the County-mandated inspection. Of course we now know those claims were completely false.

As I reported back in September, International Village saved approximately $220,000 on the first phase of our 40-year certification by getting a reputable engineer to re-inspect our three oldest buildings, which came due in the summer. And I'm pleased to report that we just completed the second phase of the certification last week by passing inspections on seven more buildings using the same well-respected engineer from Ace Flood & Inspections. How much did we save by getting this crucial second opinion on those seven buildings? Almost $600,000! That means we saved a total of about $800,000 on 10 buildings by NOT blindly trusting AMG and Criterium Engineers. Combined with the approximately $300,000 in operational savings that we have achieved this year, that brings our total savings for 2014 to well over $1 million!! And more than a million dollars in savings sounds like a pretty good Christmas present to me.  

John Labriola

International Village Treasurer

Want a maintenance fee reduction? Send in your budget proxy!

It has been brought to my attention that a number of unit owners have not yet turned in their budget proxies. It is very important that owners submit their proxies immediately and vote “Yes” to waive reserves in order to receive a maintenance fee reduction next year. Your proxy must be received by the association by the Dec. 9 deadline, which is the date of our budget meeting. Some of you have told me you never received your proxy or perhaps you misplaced it. No problem. Click HERE to download and print one. You can also pick up a copy at the International Village association office.

Others have asked me for specific instructions on how to complete the proxy, so here goes:  Fill out the very top part where it asks you for your unit number and building. Leave the line just below that blank (as in this sample proxy); Board Secretary Colbert “Carl” Simmonds will act as proxy-holder and is required by law to cast your proxy just the way you voted it.  Just make sure you check "Yes," date it, sign where it says "SIGNATURE OF VOTING REPRESENTATIVE" and print your name below that. Leave the “SUBSTITUTION OF PROXYHOLDER” part at the bottom blank.  If you own more than one unit, fill out a different proxy for each unit you own.

You can bring your completed proxy to the office in person, fax it or scan and email it. You could also mail it to our mailing address, but considering that the proxy must be received before our Dec. 9 meeting, it might be safer to use one of the other methods.

To email it, just scan or capture a clear, legible image of the completed form and send it as a PDF or jpeg attachment to ASSISTANT@INTLVILLAGE.COM.  Double-check the email address to make sure you have spelled it correctly, include the word “Proxy" in the subject line, and request a reply to confirm that it was received.

To fax it, send it to 954-739-1604.

If you have any questions or need any assistance to get your proxy in, please let me know.

On an unhappy note, I’m sorry to report that our property manager David Friedman has stepped down for health reasons. David has been a trustworthy and hard-working manager who can point to several important accomplishments in the last several months, and his presence will be missed. Please keep him in your prayers as he recovers from open heart surgery which he unexpectedly had to undergo last week. 

Our interim manager Richard Sayre has several years’ experience working as a property manager and brings an impressive background with him. Please help me welcome him to International Village.  I also want to say a big “thank you” to our staff and the folks at Campbell Property Management for working extra hard these last several days to make this unplanned transition a smooth one. Your efforts are greatly appreciated.

John Labriola

International Village Treasurer

Lower maintenance fees among reasons to be thankful

International Village has a lot to be thankful for this Thanksgiving. Thanks to a cost-conscious Board of Directors and honest new management team committed to avoiding wasteful spending, the association has saved approximately half a million dollars so far this year without cutting back on services.

Not only has this been accomplished in the midst of a 40-year certification, but the really good news is that these savings have put enough money in the bank to allow us to resume the renovations of our residential buildings after a nearly three-year delay without resorting to a special assessment! And to top it off, the association still has enough money left over to give some of it back to unit owners in the form of a modest maintenance fee reduction in 2015!  Because of the significant investment that will be involved in completing the long-overdue building renovations (which are now underway in the Orleans building), the maintenance fee reduction won't be as big as we would like, but this is undoubtedly the first time in International Village history that you the unit owners will actually see your maintenance fees go DOWN instead of up, and that’s definitely something to be thankful for!

The maintenance fee reduction will be discussed at our upcoming budget meeting on Tuesday, Dec. 9 at 7 p.m. in the clubhouse. The 2015 budget package has been mailed to all unit owners, and it is very important that you open it as soon as you receive it because it requires your immediate action. If you want the REDUCTION in maintenance fees that we are proposing, you must vote “Yes” to waive reserves and send in your proxy in time for it to be received by the association before Dec. 9. You can either bring it in person to the office, mail it, fax it to 954-486-5677 or scan and email it to admin@intlvillage.com with the subject line “Proxy.” If you have any questions, feel free to let me know. 

In another positive development, I’m happy to report that AMG, the association’s former management company, has formally dropped the lawsuit it filed after its contract was terminated by the association in April. As I explained previously, the lawsuit had no merit as AMG was fired for good reason, and I hope this predictable outcome will serve to discourage others who may be inclined to abuse the legal system in a vindictive attempt to harass or inflict financial harm on the association, this board, or its members. Fortunately, the association’s insurance carriers covered our legal fees in this case as their policy required, while AMG apparently came to the realization that it was throwing money away in pursuit of a meritless lawsuit.

On a less positive note, it has been brought to our attention that Alliance CAS, the collections company that the Board of Directors fired in September for lack of performance, last week sent letters to an unknown number of owners whose accounts are in arrears. In these letters, Alliance falsely claims to represent the association and instructs owners to pay any unpaid balances to Alliance. PLEASE NOTE these letters WERE NOT authorized by the association and you MUST NOT send any payments to Alliance as their contract has been TERMINATED.  If you received one of these letters, or if your account was previously placed with Alliance as a result of a delinquent balance which remains unpaid, you must make your checks payable to International Village Association Inc. and mail them to:

Campbell Property Management

8010 N. University Dr.

Tamarac FL 33321 

Thank you, and have a happy and blessed Thanksgiving!

John Labriola

International Village Treasurer

Feel the difference

What a difference a year makes. 

Flashback to December 2013: As we all too painfully recall, that was the month the previous Board of Directors approved the 2014 budget that raised our maintenance fees 7 percent, saying the increase was needed despite the previous year’s 18.5 percent maintenance hike and $1.3 million special assessment. When some of us proposed finding savings to avoid digging deeper into owners’ pockets, the old Board told us it couldn't be done, because there supposedly wasn't an ounce of fat in the budget to cut. 

Well, they weren't just wrong – they were dead wrong. As Board President Marcio Jaspan and I announced at our last regular Board meeting on Sept. 23 (see 9/23/14 video here), the association is now coming in $30,000 under budget every month. That means we're spending $30,000 LESS in operating and administrative expenses per month than what the old board said we needed to get by on. And best of all, we've done it without cutting back on maintenance and other services, but by simply operating more efficiently, eliminating waste, and avoiding dishonest contractors and rip-off artists. Since the beginning of the year, we've already achieved a whopping $200,000 in operational savings compared to the spending projections that were built into the budget. That’s on top of the $220,000 we saved on the 40-year certification for our three oldest buildings by getting a second opinion from an honest engineer – Murat Kizikli P.E. of Ace Flood & Inspections. (See my last blog post titled “40-year certification success story.”) When you add those two figures, you’re looking at almost half a million dollars in savings so far in 2014, and the year isn't even over yet! 

As Treasurer, I’m quite hopeful these very significant savings will allow us to actually cut maintenance fees when budget time comes around again at the end of the year. But we must first await the results of the second round of building inspections. Last month, the city notified the association that seven more buildings are now due for the 40-year certification. At our last regular meeting, the Board again engaged Ace Flood & Inspections to conduct the inspections to determine if any safety-related repairs are needed, and once we get the results, we'll be in a much better position to start planning next year's budget.  

In another action on Sept. 23, the Board appointed unit owner Hayden Joseph to fill the seat vacated by former board member Marc Richman.  Mr. Joseph, who also serves as Chairman of the Sales & Leasing Committee, is a Certified Public Accountant and holds a Community Association Manger’s license. His financial expertise and in-depth knowledge will prove a tremendous asset to the association as we continue to explore further ways to save money and achieve even greater operational efficiencies. Please help me welcome him to the Board.