The Community Development District 8 Board of Supervisors has decided to discuss the future of anonymous complaints in the wake of the costly little white cross fiasco.
Supervisor Wayne Anderson suggested at Tuesday’s board meeting at SeaBreeze Recreation Center that he and his fellow supervisors delve into the thorny topic of anonymous complaints.
Anderson was the target of an anonymous complaint nearly six years ago thanks to a little white cross on display at his home in the Village of Tamarind Grove. He waged a legal battle against the CDD 8 board for more than five and a half years. Anderson ultimately received a $70,000 settlement through CDD 8’s insurance company. CDD 8 also racked up $173,000 in legal fees due to the fight, which ended after Anderson proposed attaching his little white cross to a planter.
From the beginning, Anderson complained he was the victim of “selective enforcement” since his neighbors were allowed to keep their little white crosses as no complaints were lodged against them.
Anderson, who was elected to the CDD 8 board while his case was still in court, is now pushing for the elimination of anonymous complaints.
While Anderson may be looking to the future, there is still plenty of tension between he and his fellow board members over the bitter legal battle.
Even as Anderson seemed to be pushing the board toward a broad acceptance of little white crosses, his fellow supervisors bristled and insisted that each deed compliance case coming before the board will be judged on its own merits.
Obviously frustrated, Supervisor Duane Johnson blurted out what he and his fellow supervisors apparently think about Anderson.
“We spent hundreds of thousands of dollars because you refused to come into compliance,” Johnson said.
The board ultimately agreed to put anonymous complaints on the February agenda as a discussion item.