On February 22^rd, an article was posted on the Regency Tower web site that addressed the retrofit issue and called attention to a City of Fort Lauderdale program designed to enhance municipal revenues at the expense of our snowbird neighbors. In summary, the new red light camera enforcement system being installed at the City’s ten most dangerous intersections will funnel about $1.8 million into the City Treasury, primarily from unsuspecting visitors and “snowbirds,” who statistically comprise the majority of vehicle owners tagged at camera equipped intersections. In addition to listing the sites selected for surveillance by Fort Lauderdale, the article reveals additional nearby locations chosen by the City of Oakland Park for a similar, as yet undisclosed, set of camera traps.

Representative Ellyn Bogdanoff

Of course, the threatened retrofit assessment portends a far greater impact for Regency Tower residents. It entails the installation of a sprinkler head in every unit foyer as well as certain common areas. It was rated by the insurance industry as offering no life safety benefit, rendering it ineligible for any premium reduction. In fact, the prospect of flood damage from false alarms and system malfunctions will increase premium costs. Assessment estimates run from $500,000 to over $2 million. Fortunately, House Bill 561 filed by Representative Ellyn Bogdanoff could return the sprinkler retrofit decision back to the homeowners who must live with and pay for that decision. Unlike previous retrofit relief bills, instead of simply postponing the installation deadline from 2014 to 2025, the new bill would empower high rise associations to fully opt out of any installation and the attendant assessment. The bill also contains a litany of insurance and operational “fixes” that will lower costs for associations and unit owners. The provisions of this bill were unanimously approved by the House and Senate last year, only to be vetoed by Governor Crist, whose approval ratings were at their zenith when he chose to support the Sprinkler Associations and the Plumbers and Pipefitters Union over nearly 2 million voting association members across the state.

Governor Crist and Marco Rubio

Since then, Crist’s Senatorial campaign has suffered serious reversals, given the heated competition for the Florida Senate seat by former Statehouse Speaker Marco Rubio and Democrat contender Kendrick Meek. After losing 16 straight County Republican Committee polls (including in Pinellas, Crist’s home county), Crist was bypassed by Rubio in the Quinnipac University and Rasmussen polls in January.

Shortly after indicating support for the new relief bill, Governor Crist executed one of his classic “flip-flops”, suggesting at a briefing that he may again veto the legislation. The Governor’s political handlers are weighing the impact of his retrofit position on his Senatorial campaign. The Sprinkler Associations have offered campaign finance access to their deep pockets while assuring the Governor that most association members aren’t deeply concerned about the $multi-million assessment required to fund a sprinkler retrofit. In short, the Governor’s political bean counters are tracking feedback from the associations like ours to determine if the damage to his Senatorial aspirations is far-reaching - as stated by lawmakers and association advocates - or negligible - as claimed by Sprinkler Association lobbyists.

Along with the 1,800 associations in the Community Advocacy Network (CAN) and the 4,000 associations in the Community Association Leadership Lobby (CALL), Regency Tower has joined with other Galt Mile associations in a campaign to contact the Governor and indicate support for this legislation. The contact information for Governor Charlie Crist is posted following the article. Also posted are email links for Governor Crist, Lieutenant Governor Jeffrey Kottkamp, Florida CFO Alex Sink (the State Fire Marshal and Gubernatorial candidate) and Division of State Fire Marshal Director Julius Halas, all of whom are likely to be consulted by Crist about this issue during the current legislative session.

The Bottom Line: Whether or not you will have to pony up $8,000 to $18,000 to subsidize a big-time payday for the Sprinkler Associations is in your hands. If YOU ask the Governor to support HB 561, we could avoid a huge assessment. If you leave it to others... we might not. Take sixty seconds to help send this pork project to the Tallahassee bone yard. Send an email, letter or fax – or make a telephone call to the Governor and request his support for the retrofit relief in HB 561. After all... it’s your money!

Senator LeMieux and Governor Crist

P.S. After a Town Meeting convened by U.S. Senator George LeMieux at the Beach Community Center this past Monday, the Senator agreed to carry our message to Governor Crist. Fort Lauderdale Mayor Jack Seiler also asked the Senator to pass along a resolution just passed by the City Commission that supports House Bill 561.

GMCA Pres. Pio Ieraci

P.S.S. Two days later, Governor Crist contacted GMCA President Pio Ieraci and asked if he and a small contingent would meet with him the next morning for breakfast at the Riverside Hotel in Fort Lauderdale. Ieraci called GMCA Vice President Eric Berkowitz and Community Advocacy Network Executive Director Donna Berger, two allies whose intimate familiarity with the history and the issues surrounding the sprinkler retrofit statute would prove invaluable for the next morning’s meeting with the Governor.

Riverside Hotel in Fort Lauderdale

On Thursday, March 11^th, we met at the Hotel’s Indigo Restaurant and brought the Governor up to speed about the devastating impact this ill conceived mandate would have on associations and unit owners struggling to survive. Crist said that his office was flooded with thousands of emails and letters attesting to the terrible strain on homeowners and characterizing this additional obligation as unnecessary and unconscionable.

Describing how foreclosures were precipitating fiscal chain reactions that threatened associations with dissolution, Ieraci estimated that “10 to 15% of our unit owners would be forced out by a sprinkler retrofit.” He continued “The remaining owners would then be assessed the resulting shortfall, pushing out another 10%.” After pointing out that the insurance industry (ISO) rated the retrofit as unworthy of any premium reduction – clear evidence that the claimed “life safety benefit” was a myth, Berkowitz added “Placing sprinkler heads in unit foyers and common areas of high rise concrete block buildings was never intended for extinguishing fires – in the past 30 years, not one fire-related injury in Florida would have been prevented by compliance with this statute.”

Eric Berkowitz, Pio Ieraci, Gov Crist & Donna Berger Discuss Retrofit Relief Bill

Every state based its fire code on the “Life Safety Code” developed by the National Fire Protection Association (NFPA). The Florida Fire Protection Code is similarly built around this well respected set of guidelines. Donna Berger, an activist attorney with impeccable credentials as an expert in association law, asked the Governor if he was aware that when every other state incorporated the life safety code provisions into State law, they exempted existing structures from retrofit compliance. The Governor did a double take and asked “Is that true?” Berger responded “Florida is the only State in the union that didn’t grandfather compliance for existing high rise buildings when the statute was implemented.” Evidently, the Florida Fire Sprinkler industry wasn’t satisfied by the prospect of installing thousands of systems in new buildings. They refused to leave $billions in retrofit business on the table.

Gov Crist at Beach Community Center last February - Kills Calypso Gas plant

Governor Crist said that he would continue to monitor the reaction of association residents as the legislation progressed through the committee process although he was considering the retrofit relief legislation favorably and planned to “do the right thing.” As we headed for the exit, he reminded us about a Town Hall meeting at the Beach Community Center last February, wherein he triumphantly proclaimed that he would kill plans to build the Calypso Liquefied Natural Gas plant off the Galt Mile beach. Reminiscing about the 300 attendees who spontaneously bathed him in a 15 minute post-announcement standing ovation, he asked “Do you suppose we could arrange another Town Hall meeting for this?”

Click Here for a review of the retrofit relief provision in HB 561. Click Here for a comprehensive enumeration of all the provisions in HB 561. Click Here for a detailed summary of the meeting with Governor Crist. More importantly, keep grinding out those letters and emails. To do it the easy way, Click Here for pre-formatted email links. Take 60 seconds to save $thousands$...