7/6/25 CDD Town Hall meeting update
I have reviewed the audio and documents from the town hall meeting and have posted excerpts from that meeting. Anything in red can be clicked on to view or hear the documentation. Anything in blue is a link to the internet. Anything italicized is my recap of what was referenced in the audio. The full recording can be obtained from GMS by making a public records request for the town hall audio. E-mail your request to info@gms.com
If you wish to read my abridged version without any links, click here.
The Harbor Bay CDD held a town hall meeting on July 6, 2025. Dan Leventry, Tim Nargi, Dean Walters and Steve Finley were present. The meeting started with opening comments by Dan Leventry. He threw out key phrases and words like, not a witch hunt, not personal, professional, accountability, fiduciary etc. You can listen to Dan’s opening comments by clicking on this link. As you will see and hear later, Dan was projecting but has done the opposite of his stated intentions.
Less than 3 minutes later, the witch hunt begins. A resident was introduced to the community, believed to be a helpful individual, but he was a paid consultant for one or maybe two companies. Dan said Dean has discovered 73% of all business related to hurricane recovery was steered to these companies. I find it interesting that in the data dump following the town hall on the GMS website, this accusation of 73% was not documented. I also find it interesting that Dan knew Dean had discovered this. Since it was not brought up in a public meeting and the sunshine laws prohibit CDD supervisors from discussing CDD business outside of a Board meeting, how did Dan know this? It sounds like a sunshine law violation, that Dan and Dean are working the conspiracy theory together. Two minutes later, Dan stated that the Board approved $15K for US Shingle to fix the Docker’s youth clubhouse at the February meeting. The February 2025 meeting minutes show no such approval. Dan said a bid was received that was foreign, to our staff and GMS, and Best Price Roofing was paid $29K. Dan said you are going to see a theme here with Best Price Roofing.
Dan was incorrect; the most current financial statements dated May 2025 show only $14,500 for a 50% deposit was paid to Best Price Roofing for this job. The invoice clearly states this was a 50% deposit.
Let me ask a few questions. Why would the accounting function at GMS pay a deposit of $14,500 to a company not approved by the board at any meeting, for a contract not signed by Dan Leventry nor approved by the CDD attorney? Not only was GMS not doing their job, but Dan ignored his fiduciary responsibilities to the community.
Dan continued : in March, only two bids were received. One didn’t meet the scope of work, but up to 15 other bids were received and not shown to the Board. Lower priced bids existed, and we have seen them now.
Who hid the lower priced received bids? How does Dan know this? Why didn’t Dan explain this at the town hall meeting? Why weren’t these “lower” bids included in the May or June meetings when redoing the roofing contract was discussed? Remember Dan said at the beginning of the meeting that this meeting is not a witch hunt. It is not personal. It is about being professional and our fiduciary responsibility. But Dan continues to stoke the existence of the witch hunt. Dan also said the bids didn’t meet the scope of work. First, what scope of work? There was no discussion of any scope of work at any Board meeting and no document was created. So, does Dan just have a bad memory, or is he adding to the conspiracy theory? Remember that this CDD meeting took place on March 20, 2025, over 5 months after Hurricane Milton hit. Where was the Chairman as the clock continued to tick and the tarp continued to disintegrate? Second, the Board did not meet its statutory responsibility to follow Florida statute 190.033 https://m.flsenate.gov/Statutes/190.033 which indicates a job costing more than $195,000 requires it be bid out. In order for it to be bid out, a scope of work has to be defined so everyone who bids on the job is bidding on the same thing, and you receive an apples-to-apples response. Dan Leventry has been on our Board for 6 years and the Rivercrest CDD for 8 years. He should know this. But worse than that, GMS, managing over 250 districts, and our licensed attorney are paid to know this. Neither GMS nor the attorney said anything.
I sent an e-mail to our attorney on April 5th with my concerns that the CDD was not following Florida law. The CDD was charged $158 by our attorney to review my email, and her invoice says the legal issues were reviewed and e-mailed to client. I am guessing the client was the full CDD Board. I made a public records request for the client e-mail on July 10, 2025. Let’s see if all Board members were included in the attorney’s response, or just Dan, and let’s see what the e-mail says. I’ll let you know when I receive it.
The April CDD meeting was cancelled due to a lack of quorum. At the May meeting, Michelle Reiss, the CDD attorney, spoke about the insurance claim. She indicated we need to refute the insurance company report dated May 2nd and hire an engineer whom she had already spoken with. Notice page 10 of the insurance company report states that the insurance meeting took place on December 5, 2024, and we didn’t receive a response from the insurance company’s hired engineers until 6 months later. The insurance meeting of December 5, 2024 to review potential Hurricane Milton damage included the following people:
Individuals present at the inspection were the following:
- Mr. Mark Isley, Field Operations Manager: The Mira Bay Club
- Mr. Judd Hart, Executive General Adjuster: McLarens
- Mr. Kevin Stanley, Construction Consultant: Halliwell
- Mr. Patrick Lenk, Industrial Hygienist: Halliwell
- Mr. Jonathan Clements, Construction Consultant: Halliwell
- Ms. Maritza Perez Hearst, Construction Consultant: Halliwell
- Mr. Jesus Rodriguez, PE, Senior Forensic Mechanical Engineer: Halliwell
- Mr. Athanasios Tom Marinos, PE, SI, Senior Forensic Civil/Structural Engineer: Halliwell
This Board, Management Company and attorney were incredibly patient to wait for a denial from the insurance company.
The attorney’s response to the insurance company is listed here. Six months after the meeting, where the insurance company brings in six hired guns and their agent, the attorney feels we need a structural engineer. Where was the attorney representing us at this December 5, 2024 meeting with all the insurance company hired guns? Where was GMS advising the attorney and the Board to have someone present besides Mark Isley to represent the CDD? See Page 18 of the GMS contract Item F number 3 that states GMS is to process and assist in the investigation of insurance claims, in coordination with Counsel of the District. Why did the Chairman fail to ask for updates at the CDD Board meetings? Again, this is another failure of the attorney and GMS and the Chairman.
Dan continued with his town hall comments, stating in April 2025, the district insurance claim is mostly denied. At that time, the attorney recommended a structural engineer should be hired as well as an independent insurance attorney. The Board approved the structural engineer and delayed hiring the attorney until we get a full report. First of all, as I said above, the April meeting was cancelled. Secondly, no vote was taken on hiring the structural engineer at the May meeting when this was actually discussed. Finally, at the June meeting the hiring of outside counsel to fight the insurance company was not on the agenda and not discussed. Dan talks a lot, makes untruthful statements as fact and fails to follow up.
During the town hall, Dan referenced the June meeting, saying legal counsel recommended terminating Best Price Roofing’s contract. The motion is blocked. But once again Dan was lying. At the June meeting, the attorney talked about bids and specifically stated that it is not her place to say whether or not to delay the roofing contract. The attorney talked for 2minutes 27 seconds. At the one-minute-36 second mark, she said it was not her place to make a recommendation.) She wanted to make sure the Board had the information to make an informed decision. The motion to terminate the Best Price Roofing contract fails 3-2 with Rodriguez, Nargi and Finley voting against terminating the contract. All three supervisors who voted against terminating the contract, discussed it was time to take action, that enough was enough, and the roof needed to be replaced.
Also at the June CDD meeting, Dan talked about the vote to Request Proposals to replace GMS and the attorney (The motion for both RFPs passed 3-1 in the June meeting with Walters opposed. Leventry was off the call and did not vote). He said the attorney has saved us $100,000, and GMS has done a good job. These votes violate chapter 190 and 286 of the Florida statutes that require public notice for a material Board decision.
Dan said the attorney has saved us $100,000. This is a half-truth. The Board has reduced expenditures since this attorney was hired. The current attorney’s rate is $395 per hour. The previous attorney’s rate was $350 per hour. Since this Board hasn’t been sued as much as in previous years, (remember the RedTree lawsuit where we spent $102,000 in attorney and management fees and then settled a $92,000 lawsuit for $150,000, costing us a total of $252,000) the number of hours has been reduced. The cost has not gone down because of some magic by this attorney. The Board finally started to act more responsibly.
As for GMS doing a good job, one needs to ask why GMS, who manages over 250 districts in Florida, did not have a plan for responding to hurricane responses both in terms of getting things fixed and dealing with insurance. You would think many GMS districts have been involved with hurricanes as they have five regional offices throughout the whole state. Where are the best practices? Where was their leadership? Clearly this Board was lost as to what to do, and no one on the Board even asked GMS about their best practices.
Why didn’t our attorney and GMS advise the Board about Florida statute 190.033 requiring bids for jobs over $195,000? Had we put out the bids, a formal scope of work would have been created and that in itself would have eliminated most of this nonsense. The companies we hired to lead us, failed us.
Additionally at the town hall, Dan just made up what https://www.flsenate.gov/Laws/Statutes/2024/286.0114 says. Of particular note, item 8 says “8) An action taken by a board or commission which is found to be in violation of this section is not void as a result of that violation.” Once again, Dan lied to the community in order to subvert a vote he disagrees with. This is what Dan does. He works behind the scenes and fails to follow process and procedure. Listen to the end of the June CDD meeting where normally-reserved Supervisor Steve Finley said how he is tired of Dan going behind the Board’s back. Even if Dan was correct about the vote not counting (which he is not), Dan as Chairman is not the executive, legislator and judicial branch all wrapped into one. He or anyone in the community could file a lawsuit and seek an injunction from a Judge.
Questions and comments were taken from the audience. Dan asked if there is a need for a new roof.
Ten months after the hurricane, Dan and the Board still don’t know if we need a new roof?
Dan then said we were not following the normal acquisition process, and we need an emergency process.
What was Dan talking about? We have an emergency procedure. The Chairman, and if the Chairman is not around, then the Vice chairman can authorize spending in the case of emergency situations which threaten the community’s safety. These emergency powers were used by Dan when Kim was hired to clean up fallen trees in the roadway and to take down potentially dangerous trees which looked like they may fall and could cause injury to residents or damage to buildings. These powers were also used to install the tarp.
The roof was damaged in October. It is still not fixed, and Dan isn’t sure that it needs to be fixed. So, what’s the emergency? The emergency is the community is now understandably frustrated and NOW Dan thinks action is needed. Dan needs excuses and he is making them up as fast as he can.
During the town hall, a resident asked about the $79,638.83 payment that was for a 20% down payment on a $398,194 job paid on May 6th to remediate damaged areas inside the clubhouse. Dan explained that management brought it to our attention two weeks ago. Two weeks ago was June 22nd. The CDD meeting took place on June 19th. At the June 19th CDD meeting, the Board approved the consent agenda items, including all the invoices paid in May, without any discussion or questions by the Board. We have five supervisors who are supposed to look at the money going out the door, but not one of them did. So, what caused the management company to bring it to Dan’s attention 6 weeks after the check was written? I requested public records for the contract and was told that GMS was working with District Counsel on this matter and will report back when the attorney returns from vacation next week. GMS wrote a check for a proposal that was not approved by the Board when they had no contract to support the payment. This is gross negligence.
GMS has never checked the invoices to contracts. They didn’t check Down to Earth underbilling us. They did not check Vesta’s contract which was overbilling us. GMS gave themselves a 15% raise in October 1, 2023 without Board approval. GMS charged us $1,755 for a budget workshop, included in their standard contracted services, but the following year, the company didn’t hold the budget workshop and failed to credit Mirabay. GMS gave themselves another 6% raise on October 1, 2024, also not Board approved. GMS is supposed to staff the receptionist desk whenever the main clubhouse is open. GMS started out with 4 hours per day and then increased it to 8 hours per day, but still hasn’t met its contractual obligation.
But wait there is more. I made a records request for the May bank statement. You may view that file here. You can see there are no outstanding checks per GMS’ bank reconciliation, yet the bank statement shows checks 5056 and 5059 were cashed, leaving checks 5057 and 5058 outstanding. But, there was an electronic payment of $79,638.83 paid on May 2, 2025. The Rightway restoration file shows the electronic payment was sent on May 1, 2025, and then GMS wrote a check on May 6, 2025. The check is not listed as outstanding on the bank reconciliation; therefore, I can only conclude GMS wrote the check to get the expense into the general ledger. Why doesn’t the check in the invoice file say VOID on it? This shows more lack of controls by GMS and is not how accounting should be done. A journal entry should have been made when the electronic funds transfer was authorized, and the check should never have been written. If the check was mistakenly signed and sent, then Rightway would have been paid twice.
In the town hall, a resident complained about his perceived view, how a witch hunt is going on to attack the resident who was trying to help. Dan said it was not a problem with him being a volunteer for the community, but there should be full disclosure when you are receiving money from vendors you are representing. This is extremely rich coming from Dan. In January 2023, the CDD paid Disclosure Services LLC $700. What is troubling is that Disclosure Services LLC is owned by Darrin Mossing—who is the President and founder of GMS. GMS hired a sister company to do this work with no disclosure. On top of that, the CDD bonds were brought to market by MBS Capital. And who is a partner in MBS Capital? That would be Rhonda Mossing. You can see that here https://mbscapitalmarkets.com/about-us/ . Talk about a complete lack of disclosure. What did Dan have to say about this? Absolutely nothing. But now, Dan feels disclosure is required. Why isn’t Dan consistent? What is he hiding? Dan only complains about disclosure when it suits his needs. Dan was irate at the June CDD meeting. "How dare you do this when I’m on vacation," he questioned.
Why is Dan so pro GMS? Can’t he see the forest through the trees? Dan tried to subvert the vote to bid out the GMS contract. What is going on here?
Another resident at the town hall asked about the tarp being removed. Dan says he made that decision with Mark, and he owns it. Dan saw the complaints online, so he acted.
First of all, that was not the Chairman’s decision to make. Clearly it is not an emergency as the torn and tattered tarp flapped on the roof for many months. Dan said he talked to the attorney. What was the emergency? Why didn’t the attorney say this is a Board decision? The resolutions giving the Chairman emergency powers do not apply here. But Dan, who can’t stand to be criticized, decided to act on his own. These actions of both the Chairman and the attorney are unacceptable.
Roxanne Benton, the previous General Manager, explains her view about invoice approval. Roxanne says they code the invoices and send them up to GMS .
Dan responds to Roxanne that not all contracts go to the attorney, and that when the invoice is coded and approved, it goes to the accounting department and Sharon Henning writes the checks.
GMS was hired on March 1, 2022 and to this day, Dan does not understand that no one checks the invoices to a contract. How did the $79,638.83 get paid to Rightway Restoration without a contract? Roxanne says all they do is code the invoice. Accounting says if the invoice is coded it is approved for payment. Both of these parties believe what they are saying is true. Before Roxanne was hired by GMS, Vesta was in charge of the onsite maintenance. Vesta used the same process. There was nothing in Vesta’s contract that requires them to check an invoice to a contract. In fact, GMS’ contract indicates GMS needs to approve the invoices. GMS wrote and signed checks based on the invoices being entered into the system. After bringing up my concerns in the October through December 2022 CDD meetings, that no one was checking the invoices to a contract, I sent this letter to Darrin Mossing. Two years and seven months later, no one is checking the invoices to the contract and our Chairman still doesn’t understand what is going on.
Toward the end of the town hall, Dan decided to read something he received 5 minutes earlier. He asks Tim to recuse himself and then goes on to personally attack Tim—pursuing the witch hunt he said this meeting was not going to chase.
I can’t tell you how much of a pompous jerk Dan is, but the audio tells the story for me. He asks Tim to recuse himself. Who the hell is Dan Leventry to ask Tim to recuse himself as Dan lobs a hand grenade in Tim’s face? Dan will blame anyone to get out of the mess created by himself, GMS and our attorney. I am embarrassed for him, and I am embarrassed for our community.
In summary, what did we learn was the true problem? The Board members made excuses, said they could have done better, said they learned a lot and blamed lots of other people for their mistakes.
1) GMS is our management company with over 250 districts in the state of Florida. Why didn’t anyone on the Board ask GMS for their best practices in these situations?
2) Our attorney did not follow Florida statutes. Had a scope of work been created and bid out per the statutes, none of this would have happened.
3)Dan Leventry is the Chairman. Instead of taking responsibility and saying the buck stops here, he is creating conspiracy theories, dividing this Board and dividing the community.