Community Development District 5 supervisors indicated Friday they are ready to revisit their policy banning anonymous complaints.
In 2020, CDD 5 took the bold step to eliminate acceptance of anonymous complaints. It was truly groundbreaking in The Villages, and several other CDDs followed CDD 5’s lead and adopted their own versions of policies banning anonymous complaints.
However, in reviewing statistics from Community Standards in a meeting Friday morning at SeaBreeze Recreation Center, CDD 5 Vice Chairman Jerry Knoll, sitting in for Chairman Gary Kadow who was absent, raised the idea of revisiting the earlier decision to stop accepting anonymous complaints.
“Things are not being reported and over time it’s going to start to show in our District,” said Knoll, a resident of the Village of Belvedere.
He said that by forcing residents to provide their name when reporting a deed compliance violation, residents are being opened up to the possibility of retaliation from the violator. Knoll said he also suspects violations are not being reported because residents don’t want to risk making a report to Community Standards and making their name a part of the public record.
Other supervisors were open to the idea of revisiting the subject, but Supervisor Mark Schweikert said a public hearing on the topic should be heavily publicized to make sure residents of CDD 5 could have their say.
Village of Bonnybrook resident Jim Shields advised the board not to poke a potential hornet’s nest.
“I thought you’d put it to bed. Let it rest,” he told the board.
