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Sparks Fly During Westchase Board Meeting

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By JASON GEARY | The Tampa Tribune

Published: September 14, 2007

WESTCHASE- The first meeting of the new board of directors for the Westchase Community Association spiraled Thursday into personal attacks before ending with one member resigning.

Board member Jim Mills said he became involved years ago with the homeowner association because he wanted to do something about the board's "bickering" and polarizing "agendas."

"I'm not going to be part of what I've heard tonight … Good luck, you're going to need it," Mills said, who resigned after a vote was taken on a contested issue.

Most of the more than four-hour meeting ran smoothly until discussing the divisive topic of whether to build office space for the deed-restricted community's property manager and her staff.

The issue is expected to be a controversial subject at Saturday's budget workshop. Voting members, residents who represent the various Westchase neighborhoods, are expected to decide whether to put aside funding for such a project.

Some of the seven WCA board members object to the project as expensive and unnecessary. They favor looking into other options.

For months, Gene McArthur has spoken out against building office space, saying it could cost as much as $200,000.

He said he didn't think that the community's voting members would approve a budget with such an expense. "I want to look at alternatives," he said.

Speaking from the audience, Stephanie Georgiades, a former board member who chose not to seek re-election this week, commented that McArthur's views had been discussed before.

"Please show your courtesy by keeping quiet," McArthur said.

For a portion of the meeting, McArthur continued debating with board members while standing with his arms folded. When another audience member told McArthur that his standing up while talking was disrespectful, he replied, "Shut up."

McArthur accused board member Carlos Quiros, who was part of a committee exploring where to build an office, of pushing forward with his own agenda.

"It was your way or no way," McArthur said.

Quiros replied that he was only doing the will of the board, which was to find a suitable location for office space.

Currently, Westchase's property manager and its two community development districts share space in an aging warehouse off Linebaugh Avenue.

The previous board had been pushing forward with the idea of building office space near the Village
Swim and Tennis Club. In July, the board agreed to hire an architect, saying $20,000 had previously been budgeted to begin planning.

Patty Stewart, Westchase's property manager, estimated about $15,000 has been spent so far.

Ben Reinhart, who was elected as a board member earlier this week and was also part of the office space committee, said more analysis should be done to determine if such space is necessary.

"I don't believe we've totally exhausted the evaluation of do we need a building," he said.

Both McArthur and Reinhart said they wanted to suspend any further spending until more research was done and voting members could decide whether to build the office space.

Mills suggested that Saturday's budget workshop would settle the matter because either voting members would agree to continue spending money to build an office or they wouldn't.

But when the debated raged on with tempers continuing to flare, Mills demanded a vote be taken so the meeting could end.

The motion to suspend spending was passed 4 – 3, with those in favor including McArthur, Reinhart, John Schmidt and Ruben Collazo.

Afterwards, Mills announced his decision to quit. McArthur repeatedly pleaded with Mills to reconsider, but he refused.

"I'm going to take my leave," Mills said. "This is my last board meeting."

The contentious meeting continues a power struggle this week in Westchase.

During Tuesday's election, Brian Ross, the former WCA president, was ousted when his and two other seats were up for grabs.

Mary Griffin won enough votes to stay on the board. Ross did not.

Speaking earlier at Thursday's meeting before the ruckus, Ross spoke to the board members, indicating he wouldn't attend Saturday's budget workshop but wished them success. "I mean that quite genuinely," he said.

Reporter Jason Geary can be reached at (813) 865-1505 or jgeary@tampatrib.com.

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