Residents of the Village of Dunedin are calling on the Community Development District 10 Board of Supervisors to end the anonymous complaint system when it comes to deed compliance.
“It has created suspicion and animosity in the neighborhood,” said Paul Bova, acting as a spokesman for the dozen residents attending the board meeting Thursday afternoon at Savannah Center.
He described a situation in which neighbors are no longer speaking to each other over suspicion regarding an anonymous complaint.
Villager Johna Randa compared the anonymous complaint system to the Studebaker automobile, which eventually sputtered from existence.
“It was really forward thinking at the time it was introduced, but it has seen better times and has gone away,” Randa said.
The Dunedin residents pointed to Community Development District 5 which earlier this year voted to end the anonymous complaint system. The residents encouraged CDD 10 supervisors to consider a similar move.
Randa said “trolls with clipboards” have “soured us on the anonymous complaint system.”
CDD 10 Chairman Don Wiley dismissed the trolls as “urban legends” who only exist “online” and suggested the data do not support their existence. That was despite documentation provided by Community Standards there was an anonymous complainer in 2019 who turned in 107 violations in a letter.
“That person must have been angry,” said Supervisor Christine Bradshaw.
You can review the data from CDD 10, originally reported in October, at this link: Deed_Compliance_Comparison_October_2020
Residents offered ideas, such as requiring the complainants to provide their name as well as their Villager ID number to verify their identity. It was also suggested to give more validity to complainers who live within the boundaries of CDD 10.
The residents said it isn’t fair to homeowners to be subject to complaints from outside their area and even from outside The Villages.
The chairman countered that the name and the address of the complainant are not relevant.
“Whoever makes the complaint is irrelevant. The fact is that you are not in compliance. I don’t see much use in providing a name when it is only going to provide more discontent in the community,” Wiley said. “You have your deed restrictions. You know what they say. If you follow them, you won’t have a complaint filed against you.”
