The following resolutions were approved by the Board of Directors of the Concerned Taxpayers of Duval County on February 8th.

A RESOLUTION OF THE CONCERNED TAXPAYERS OF DUVAL COUNTY IN SUPPORT OF ELECTED POSITIONS FOR DUVAL COUNTY

Whereas, it has not been demonstrated that the appointment of representatives of the People by the mayor creates a more efficient or responsive municipal government versus their election.

Whereas, history has demonstrated that the consolidation of the People’s representatives into fewer executive, legislative and judicial offices erodes accountability and responsiveness of governments.

Whereas, residents in Duval County have not expressed a desire of the appointment of offices that are currently elected.

Now therefore:

Be it resolved that the Concerned Taxpayer of Duval County supports the continued election of City Council, School Board, Sheriff, Clerk of Court, Property Appraiser, Tax Collector and other offices as necessary.

A RESOLUTION OF THE CONCERNED TAXPAYERS OF DUVAL COUNTY IN SUPPORT INCLUDING AN ETHICS CODE INTO THE DUVAL COUNTY MUNICIPAL CHARTER

Whereas, the original municipal charter of the consolidated government of Duval County included a code of ethics.

Whereas, the ethics code was removed from the charter in 1972 and Duval County government has operated without an ethics code since that time.

Whereas, the residents of Duval County deserve an ethical government whose elected and appointed officials as well as employees behave in a manner that avoids impropriety and the appearance of impropriety.

Whereas, the legal framework only provides remedies for criminal acts and not unethical acts.

Whereas, the residents of Duval County deserve to have the agents of the Duval County government be accountable to a code of ethics.

Now therefore:

Be it resolved that the Concerned Taxpayer of Duval County supports the inclusion of an ethics code in the municipal charter of Duval County to be determined and enforced in an accountable and transparent fashion that does not burden the Taxpayer with increased bureaucracy.

A PROPOSED RESOLUTION FOR THE CTDC:

To the Honorable Members of the Florida House of Representatives and Florida Senate:

Whereas, Article I, Section 21 of the Florida Constitution guarantees to every person access to the courts for redress of any injury, and that justice shall be administered “without sale, denial or delay;” and

Whereas, under present law, dating back to an act of the Territorial Legislature of December 11, 1824, foreclosure of a mortgage in Florida requires the foreclosing party to file a lawsuit and establish to the satisfaction of an elected Florida judge both that the Plaintiff is the correct party to bring the action, and is entitled to the judicial sale of the encumbered real property for application of the proceeds against the original debt; and

Whereas this judicial foreclosure procedure permits the property owner to raise defenses concerning the validity of the debt, the foreclosure procedure, and the status of the Plaintiff as the correct party to maintain their case within the foreclosure suit itself, and without the need to file an independent legal action, or to incur the up to $1900 filing fee now required to file such an action; and

Whereas, recently litigated foreclosure cases in this state have revealed that in many instances that due to the recent discredited practice of securitization of mortgages the party claiming to own the note and mortgage being foreclosed upon is unable to establish, even by a preponderance of the evidence, either that they are in fact the owner or that they otherwise are entitled to initiate foreclosure proceedings, to such an extent that the Florida Supreme Court has announced that court-ordered mediation shall be required in all contested foreclosure cases; and

Whereas there is now pending for consideration in the upcoming Session of the Legislature a bill prepared by the Florida Bankers’ Association entitled the “Florida Consumer Protection and Homeowner Credit Rehabilitation Act,” which, if enacted into law, would remove the requirement for judicial foreclosure of any mortgage entered into in the past or to be entered into in the future which contains language authorizing “non-judicial foreclosure,” and create a procedure by which foreclosure would take place without use of the courts unless the real property owner paid the requisite fees and filed a lawsuit challenging the non-judicail foreclosure; and

Whereas, in the case of existing mortgages, this proposed change of the law amounts to an after-the-fact reduction of the rights of the citizen who at present is afforded the protection of the courts by forcing the citizen to initiate a lawsuit, at enormous expense, simply in order to merely present defenses against threatened loss of property; and

Whereas, no mere claims by the financial services industry of the need to expediently deal with court backlogs justifies the reduction of the present rights of natural persons and real property owners in foreclosure cases; and

Whereas this proposed legislation is intended solely to benefit a class of litigants who, presented with a need to prove to a judge their right to relief and increasingly unable to do so, have chosen to seek to change the law rather than comply with it, it is

RESOLVED, that the Concerned Taxpayers of Duval County, Inc., opposes the so-called  “Florida Consumer Protection and Homeowner Credit Rehabilitation Act,” and calls for the rejection of this proposed legislation, as well as the rejection of any other proposals for implementation of non-judicial mortgage foreclosure, or of any other limitation on the rights of individual Florida citizens either to the protection of the courts.