Update from HOA meeting tonight I went into tonight’s meeting with the goal of addressing the situation with Robert Tankel, the accused child molester and General Counsel for the HOAs of Phase I and II. The HOA board informed the audience, Frederick Hoekstra, that they were aware of Mr. Tankel’s arrest, but that it was the position of the board that no action would likely be taken until he is actually convicted. It is also understood that the process of this trial might take years, meaning that potentially a child molester may be able to continue to make lots of money off of our community for years to come. I agree with the concept of innocent until proven guilty, but I also believe that usually in cases of child molestation, where there is smoke there is fire. I expressed to the board that the concerns of our community go beyond the allegations of child molestation. Robert Tankels firm has a long history of unscrupulous behavior, and he has been disciplined by the Florida Bar as recently as 2011. I shared with the board some of the experiences that some have shared in this forum. We learned that any and all collections cases for this year have already been submitted to his firm (and cannot be withdrawn), and that no more would be submitted until next year. Robert Tankel’s firm will also still be paid for General Counsel services unless the board chooses to sever it’s relationship with the firm. The board did not express a willingness to do that at this time. McNeil (the management company) has agreed to look around at alternate law firms to hire instead of Tankel’s firm. The representative did not seem very enthusiastic about it, but eventually agreed to provide the community with a list of firms that they contacted for information to take over for Tankel’s firm. (I had to specifically request this… As I’ve always been taught: Not documented, not done.) If anyone is familiar with other firms or other HOAs that use different firms, please let me know so I can follow up. The problem is, the board believes that Tankel’s firm is the cheapest option out there. It was expressed that another law firm may charge $90,000 a year for the collections services that Tankel performs for only a contingency (which is why we have heard from so many families who have had to pay thousands of dollars in fees). The 90k figure translates to about $110 per house per year. I am not sure whether this is the best option or not, and I also don’t know that it is the only option, but I do know that it is worth our efforts to explore alternate solutions to this problem. I would like to invite anyone who has had a bad experience with Robert Tankel’s law firm to please send me an email at bigdanoneill@gmail so that I can compile more horror stories for the board to hear. You may remain anonymous if you want. They seemed to respond well tonight, and want to do what is best for our community. I think with continued advocacy on our part, we can rid our neighborhood of this scourge. I am also going to create an online petition requesting the board take immediate action to sever our Association’s relationship with this law firm. Stay tuned, I will post it here. And thank you Frederick Hoekstra for coming tonight! The next HOA meeting is on August 20th, I hope more people will be be able to make it!
Posted on: Wed, 16 Jul 2014 02:34:18 +0000
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