As you read through the Surfside section of this site, you will often see the term “The Faction”

The Faction is a small group of people in Surfside HOA that have realized that if they come together collectively, they can rule the HOA for their benefit because the majority of property owners in Surfside have no idea what is going on. They can keep people in the dark because they control the Surfside media, including the website, the Facebook page, the public meetings, the weekly newsletter and most importantly the email list. They also control all the Surfside HOA money and thus the Surfside Attorneys. I suspect there are about 40 people who are the central core of the Faction. They use the trees/views issue to unite the other J Place people behind them to keep voting them into office. They tell people that myself and others are trying to take away their views of the Ocean, although none of my proposals did that. This keeps the J Place people voting for them to maintain control on the Board. These are not good people. They rule Surfside to benefit themselves while damaging other people’s property and taking away their freedoms. After becoming a board member a was amazed that something like this could exist in the USA.

Some have challenged the idea that there is a “Faction”. Consider the following:

When the HOA filed the lawsuit against Ottersen and I, they did not bring this decision to the Board. There was no motion to file the lawsuit. If the Board did not make the decision to file the lawsuit, who did. That is what I define as “The Faction”.

When I first propose the idea of modifying the tree covenants, Peggy Olds said to me, “We have put together a $200,000 fund to sue anyone who attempts to take away our views.” Several others who live on J Place have told me the same thing. I don’t see any fund like that in the documentation of the HOA, so who is “We”? That is what I would define as “The Faction”.

I was told by one of the members that a few years back he was approached by one of the existing board members and asked to run for the board. They told him that THEY would guarantee him a spot on the board if he ran. Who is “THEY”? That is what I call “The Faction”.

I was on the board during the time that the asbestos water pipes were buried illegally and the wetlands were illegally filled in. There was no motion to do this, no meeting, no quorum, no vote. Who decided to do this. This is what I call “The Faction”.

Jim Clancy told me, the year the filed the lawsuit against Ottersen and I, that they file lawsuits against Surfside property owners all the time. He said 19 of them that year. These lawsuits were not brought before the board, no meeting, no quorum, no vote. Who decided to file these lawsuits? That is what I call the “The Faction.”

The Tree Covenants clearly benefit a very small group of people, about 300 properties on J Place. The Tree Covenants damage the remaining properties. How is it possible that the Board members all these years have decided to keep these Tree Covenants in place. That is what I call “The Faction”.

When I asked to have complete Architectural Committee reports, indicating every Architectural Committee decision, whether is was approved or not, and how each committee member voted, the Board voted to keep that all a secret. That is what I call, “The Faction”.

When the Board votes to fine people inspite of the fact that they are not violating covenants, as in the case of Durdel, Ottersen, and Johansen. That is what I call “The Faction”.

According to the person that bought my property, Jim Clancy went to them and told them that if they didnt take he shed roof down, the HOA would sue them. There was NO CURRENT COMPLAINT filed against the shed. The HOA had dropped the complaint a long time before I sold the property. No complaint, no meeting , no quorum, no vote, just Clancy going out to threaten the people. Who decided to threaten them? That is what I call “The Faction”.

Read Durdel, Ottersen and Johansen case on this website. How did these complaints get through the Architectural Committee and then the Board? That is what I call “The Faction”.

I have heard many other names used for this secret group such as the clan, the gang, the Surfside Mafia. I chose the most polite name to use, and what seems to be the most commonly used name, “The Faction”.