Drama Makes Up for Tedium at the Woodlands Annual Meeting

By: Sharon Aron Baron

The Woodlands Country Club in Tamarac held their annual Homeowners Association meeting on February 12th, where according to Steve Culotta, President with Ambassador Management, 157 households were represented which was 17.5% of the Woodlands.

Although there wasn’t an election or association business to discuss, the WHOA determined beforehand that there would be no politics allowed at the meeting, even though this would be the first appearance at an HOA meeting by the recently reinstated city commissioner, Patte Atkins-Grad, a resident in the Woodlands.

Instead of being a place where free speech would prevail among residents, the elephant in the room was the impending recall and the presence of the commissioner who either wouldn’t even stand up and take the microphone or was forbidden to speak publicly.

Atkins-Grad, who In 2010, was charged with accepting illegal payments from father and son developers Bruce and Sean Chait to lease a BMW and pay for her election victory party in exchange for voting for their project, was acquitted by a jury in December.  Many residents felt that her “incompetent” and “naive” defense didn’t add up, and no longer wanted her to represent them.

Atkins-Grad was passing out flyers at the meeting hoping to block the recall efforts which by then, had already exceeded the required amount of signatures.

One resident, who parked his car at the meeting with political signage on it caused some controversy and not only had to cover up it with a cloth but almost had his car towed.

Atkins-Grad who was distributing flyers at the HOA meeting is asked by a resident if she would like to sign the petition.

Atkins-Grad’s flyers said the recall would cost residents $200,000 for a new election. This amount was disputed the very next day at the City Commission meeting by Interim City Clerk Pat Teufel where she said the cost was more in line with $61,000.

Section One resident Phyllis Kelley isn’t sure whether Atkins-Grad is staying because she wants to keep her paycheck from the city or if she’s doing it in the best interest of her constituents.

“If she truly cares about the constituents, then she should step down.  She should save them the money,” said Kelley.

Since being reinstated back into office by Rick Scott back in December, the commissioner has not acted as a public official.  Residents overheard her making disparaging comments out loud about speakers at the HOA meeting to people within earshot of others. Other residents complained that she yelled at them upon discovering that they had signed the petition to recall her.

At last week’s City Commission meeting, Commissioner Pam Bushnell told the commission that Atkins-Grad told her to “Shut up you bitch”  at the groundbreaking of the Mainlands Park.

“What I’ve learned from after knocking on doors and getting signatures is people aren’t after her as a human being,” said Kelley, “They just want the behavior and corruption stopped.  They have great compassion for her, but that does not mean they condone her public outbursts and her lack of ability to behave like a respected public official.”