Board members are elected by the vote of the owners. The fact that Joe Gala owns the service that does the housekeeping for FGH was set out in the proxy statement that accompanied the ballot, so most voters weren't concerned. As stated in the proxy, Joe Gala comes to Casa Ybel twice a week, so he is in a position to observe the day to day operations.

Once again at Casa Ybel the tail is wagging the dog!

Lynn, thank you for standing by and helping us out with the news. It's good to know we have a link to the board.
Would it not be a better world if Joe Gala as part of his membership on the board also would speak up for himself by at least look at what takes place in the Forum?
My understanding was that he had sold his business and took the retirement route, and therefoere was not able to oversee the happenings in the cleaning job at Casa Ybel.
Besides I think IJK and the one bedroom units are using another company? Am I wrong?

That indicates how little we know.

or- tells us how little we wish to know about what really is going on?

What, me worry?

The tail is bigger than the dog!

You are not wrong - IJK and the one bedroom units are using a different service.

I would also like to point out that Joe Gala was the Sec/Tres for the last election and as such voted the proxy votes. On several occasions I had voiced disapproval of Joe being on the board due to the conflict of interest, ie supplier on the board. Votes counted and low and behold, I was not reelected. Can you recall when was the last time a sitting board menber was not reelected?

Hey, Paul! Good thought! And, in this Comedy of Errors, wouldn't you like to know exctly how Filthy Boots is related to Sandy Boots?

Usually, I can't resist injecting humor into these jottings, but, where voting and contracts are concerned, I think we really need to get serious about a little foot-wiping!

Joseph Gala - reelected

Susan Walter - reelected

Brenda Pommerenke - new

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Replying to:

Does anyone know the names of the three new electees to our F,G,H Board of Directors?? Walt Shaw

Surely it is the chairman/president of the meeting who uses the proxy votes, not the secretary. Also, wasn't the election subject to independent scrutiny?

Sorry, Sec has the job - not the Pres. "Independent scrutiny" - you have got to be kidding!!!!

Oh! Oh! Oh!

Dale, you are SO right!

This is what I have been complaining about in letters on this site and in person to our Hilton management for three - count 'em - 3 - years! But when you have certain board members protesting that there is no conflict of interest when this major contract holder serves on the board, and when concerned owners don't rise up to demand that this person not be allowed to even RUN for the board, you could have - as we do - an improbable situation where THAT person even ends up in control of the vote count!

My God people, WHY aren't you taking a stand on this? And - please pay no attention to what ANOTHER board member says when he defends Gala's service on the board - even saying that Gala has sold his company. Oh yeah! Sure! Uh huh!

Even if he DID have a legitimate sale - which I very much doubt - do you think that his control of board action went with a sale?

Now to find that he even COUNTS the votes! Good grief! Talk about a demonstration that we have an absolute need for independent vote-counting!

Fellow Owners - Charlie didn't manage to blow us away, but keep in mind that many of our REAL rights blow away when we rely on the belief that we are voting in an OPEN election!

Joan,
Apathy is the name of the game and when bad things happen, no one is to blame. Chris is our manager and he of all people should understand - Conflict of I(nterest!

I am in the minority of those who visit this blog, but I am thankful Carl, Paul, Dale, nor Joan currently represent my interest in Casa Ybel! Perhaps one day that will change.

For know, please inform us (citing specific examples) as to how and why Gala does not represent our best interest, simply because he owns or did own the cleaning business serving Casa Ybel? For gosh sakes this is not IBM. How have you or your so-called investment been damaged? I have checked; sale prices and rental rates are increasing as well as occupancy rates? So where's the argument?

In addition, I am tired of hearing the beleaguered battle cry that all is and was Jackson's fault! For most if not all of the years Jackson was President, Carl sat side-by-side on the board.

Sam,
Perhaps you don't understand - Conflict of Interest! No one has accused Joe of anything however how will he vote when it comes time to renew our cleaning contract? He may abstain but friends on the board aren't going to vote against him. I know, Sam, because I have been there!!!!

Walt
Please refer to my June 24th message.............

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Replying to:

Does anyone know the names of the three new electees to our F,G,H Board of Directors?? Walt Shaw

Dale,

So what?

All I care about is that my unit and your unit are clean upon check-in. If not satisfactory, a system is in place to notify the office, and the condition will be remedied.

Also, I have complete confidence that the board will NOT award the contract based solely on relationships (though is does warrant some merit) nor pricing. Unless Gala's bid is 10% or 15% more than the next, I see no problems. Heck, my 7-year old can figure that out.

As someone has stated in this blog before, thank the board members for a job well done and encourage Gala to continue providing the best service possible at a reasonable contract rate.

Are you sure that your reply wasn't written by a 7 year old? It appears to reak of childish thinking.

Dale, et al

Never once has a proxy vote been cast to elect board members. Do your homework!

And Dale, my 7-year whined less than you when she was wasn't selected for the kick-ball team.

A request for help from Sam deBoot's daughter -

Please tell your father that one of the problems was NOT that Gala used proxy votes in the election, but that Gala COUNTED the votes for the election in which he was a candidate! I'm sure you would agree that for a board to allow such a situation is unheard of!

Also please tell your dad that the conflict of interest we refer to is covered very well in Florida statute law regarding condominium boards and also in our own by-laws. It involves the REQUIREMENT for open bidding for contracts, which most definitely would NOT allow for one of the contract bidders to be aware of OTHER bids.

THAT'S why it's called a conflict of interest, isn't it?

In this case, I'm not sure whether there WAS open bidding! Was there? Ask your dad, because he seems very sure of action that has transpired on our board!

It's really pretty easy to understand, so it would be good for all of us who love Casa Ybel if you would help him with this concept.

Oh, and thanks for your help!

Again Joan, you hit the bullseye!!!!

This website is comical.

Definition of "conflict of interest": A situation occurring when an official's private interests may benefit from his or her public actions.

Anyone that doesn't get this concept should be embarrassed!!! It's never been about wether we like Joe or if his company does a good job (my experience is they do). It's about ethics and what's right and what's wrong. This is wrong and will always be wrong!

I am all for a good exchange of views and opinions. However, when you get people using soppy and obvious "nom de plumes" like San deboots, you obviously cannot take them seriously. ~In any case, why would somebody use a false name unless they have something to hide?

In my humble opinion, San deBoots is Joe Gala writing under an assumed name, because he does not want to be seen to be defending himself! I would much prefer Joe to write here under his own name.

I on the other hand do not think Mr Gala needs to defend anything. He has always fully revealed his posible conflict. I have asked and he does not see the ballots nor does he have any part in counting them. I agree this website is counter productive to say the least and it or most of the coments are comical because of theri increbidle misinformation.

These recent spate of entries with clearly false names is getting out of hand.

I would ask the webmaster to delete them and not allow any entries from people that do not contain an email address.