HOA Fined by State for non-compliance

I am a resident of a HOA controlled development in Jacksonville, FL. We are having some real problems with our HOA. To start off we have repeating problems with two of the five retention ponds in our development as they continue to fail repeatily and has dumped millions of gallons of contaminated road water into the St. Johns River. After all that is the purpose of a retention pond to keep the rivers free of gas, oil and any contaminants that it collects off our roads so they don't get into our water system. Our waterways and rivers are monitored and controlled by the St. John`s River Management Division of the State of Florida.

With our pond comtinuely breaking and our HOA along with the Management company of our development refusing to pay to fix the ponds and so this has become quite the battle. And the battle starts over and over again every time one of ponds breaks again. It is their position that the two houses adjacent to where the bank broke trough should be the one who should pay for the retention pond to be fixed. And now since its been going on for almost a year from when Irma hit. Now St. Johns River Management Division is getting ready to start fining them until it is fixed.

My question is what rights do we have as homeowners not to be responsible for our HOAs foolish decsion by fighting this when the SJR has provided legal signed documents by the then HOA President at the time when our development was just starting up, as they agreed to the terms of taking all of the responsibilities for the retention pond. Our HOA has also been very tight lipped about these matter and has not shared it with the our community at the meeting. There is so much wrong with this picture. The HOA and management company are in cahoots with each other and the management company calls the shots. There is so much more to this story that you wouldn’t believe.

First off... You and your fellow homeowners ARE the HOA! (Unless still developer owned). So when you say the "HOA refuses to correct/pay" then it's you and your neighbors NOT taking the correct actions. It sounds like the HOA board is making the decisions. Which could result in expensive fines that you will ALL have to pay. Sounds like ya need to get rid of the board and put in a new one that will take the right actions to correct the situation.

You do understand this could mean a special assessment to pay for the repairs. The question could be that the HOA isn't "refusing" to fix the problems. It's probably because they can't pass a special assessment to PAY for the repairs. Has the HOA or Management company spoken of having a special assessment? What was the results? I bet it was "No".

Have to say it sounds like one of those situations where the HOA is saying they have to make a special assessment to pay for the work/repairs. Which have to be voted on by the majority of the owners to agree to. After that special assessment is agreed to, then the other part of the project begins. The actual collection. Well people are belly-aching the HOA is "Doing nothing and in cahoots with the MC" that they are refusing to agree to pass the special assessment.

So what is the "HOA" supposed to do without enough money to pay for the project? Why is the MC responsible? The MC works for the HOA. They may help them find a contractor to do the work. The MC isn't responsible for doing the work. The HOA is the one subject to the fines and expenses. Again, translating you are ALL going to be facing some additional money out your pockets.