At On Top of the World Clearwater, chaos reigns over retirees

The usually sleepy condo board meeting had devolved into dissension.

At On Top of the World Clearwater, a sprawling retirement complex, dozens of residents packed a cavernous auditorium in July as two sheriff’s deputies stood watch. The attendees were searching for answers and, perhaps, someone to blame.

Since May, the community has withstood two rounds of mass board member resignations. The association’s legal counsel quit, and a new legal team was hired, fired and rehired in a matter of weeks. The complex’s management company sent a letter terminating its agreement and then rescinded the letter without explanation.

At the center of the commotion, residents say, is Kenneth Colen, the longtime board chairperson who owns the community and management company. Colen, whose father founded On Top of the World in 1967, quit in May, setting off a cascade of departures.

The upheaval has divided this retirees’ paradise. Some residents said Colen mismanaged the community for years and that it was time for a change in leadership. Others claimed a “fringe” resident group caused strife and forced Colen’s ouster. Colen said only that he’d long planned to retire.

The root cause of the trouble is hazy, but the outcome is clear.

“All of the people in this community were once a fun-loving group,” said resident Linda Keebler at a recent meeting. “Now, there is only a deep fracture.”

Dissent among residents

Residents call On Top of the World Clearwater a “slice of heaven.”

The complex houses about 10,000 people in 96 buildings. There are pools, tennis courts and manicured golf courses. Fountains and Greek columns adorn palm-lined paths that crisscross the property.

Hope Tera retired to the community more than seven years ago from New York.

Tera is vice president of Resident4Residents, a club that urges transparency and open communication from the retirement community’s leadership. She said neighbors have long complained about slow replies to calls, emails and service requests. She said Colen, as board chairperson, discouraged resident participation and at times declined to answer questions at meetings.

The club had a handful of members when it began last September. Now it has more than 570.

Club members said Colen and his family have controlled the direction of the community for decades. They raised concerns that family allies held the majority on the nine-member board. Colen and four others, including Guy Woolbright, the chief financial officer of On Top of the World Communities, and Gail Sanders, a leasing agent for the company, voted together on most decisions.

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Resident4Residents members weren’t the first to question the Colen family’s authority. In 1992, the then-St. Petersburg Times reported on an attempt to oust board members led by Colen’s father, Sidney Colen. One of the candidates likened it to running against royalty. In 2001, residents voiced concerns about maintenance issues. The Colens’ development company and the Colen-led condo association sued.

Club members began speaking at board meetings last year, calling for greater transparency and accountability. But many people said the group stirred unnecessary drama.

Jim Costello, a resident of eight years, said he wasn’t interested in the club’s complaints about Colen. Who cares about conflicts of interest, he said, when his homeowner’s fees are low and he spends his days at a golf course mere steps from his front door?

“Before them,” Costello said of the group, “it was tranquil. Nobody cared about transparency.”

Chronology of a crisis

In January, residents Maria Avdelas, Stacy Rush and two other women supported by Resident4Residents were elected to the board. Colen criticized the club’s involvement in the election. In the community’s official “only good news” newspaper, which he publishes, he wrote, “The mob was on a mission.”

Resident4Residents members grew vocal at board meetings throughout the spring, asking for direct contact with the board and questioning Colen’s overlapping business interests.

Meanwhile, a chorus of Colen supporters took to Facebook and Nextdoor to oppose the group.

“I only wish the people who are SO unhappy that they cause a constant ruckus would just move to somewhere that makes them happier,” one woman wrote in May.

The Colen-owned management company tried to renegotiate its agreement with the association at a May 22 meeting. The new agreement would have allowed the company to increase service fees up to 3% without approval and gave the board a month to object to price hikes above that rate. The association’s lawyer said the proposed changes were “of concern” before board members delayed discussion for a later meeting.

A series of abrupt departures followed with no explanation. The management company terminated its agreement with the community on May 30. Colen and four other board members resigned the next day. The association’s lawyer quit soon after.

Colen said he had planned to retire for years and did not immediately respond to requests for comment about the management company. The other board members and the lawyer either could not be reached or did not respond to requests for comment.

“As my other interests have grown it felt like the right time to turn the baton over to a new team,” Colen wrote in an email to the Times in June. “I am proud of the levels of transparency and accountability of our board and we have always sought to be as open and responsive as possible.”

Residents lodged a flurry of questions and accusations on the Nextdoor app. Many blamed Resident4Residents. Others said the resignations were a preemptive response to a new condo bill that took effect July 1 and required greater transparency for condo associations, though Colen said the law wasn’t a factor in his choice to resign.

The bill sponsor, Rep. Vicki Lopez, R-Miami, said condo managers must now disclose “any activity that may reasonably be construed to be a conflict of interest.” The law also set criminal penalties for board members who fail to maintain or provide access to public records.

Dozens of On Top of the World residents attended a June 13 board meeting where the board passed a budget and appointed new legal counsel and four residents to fill the vacant seats. Many Colen loyalists said the newly appointed leaders were Resident4Residents members who had “infiltrated” the board.

Before the meeting, one man handed out a flyer to attendees.

“Toxic resident groups have led us to the brink of calamity,” the page read. “The world is watching.”

Stuart Rosenblatt, a longtime resident, said at the meeting that “a small minority of owners” were “prioritizing a witch hunt with unsubstantiated claims.” When Rosenblatt’s microphone shut off, he claimed the board cut his time short. He returned to his seat shouting, “They didn’t let me finish!”

“Healing will take time”

The second wave of resignations came in July.

Avdelas, who became chairperson after Colen resigned, said pro-Colen residents in early July circulated a petition to recall the new board members and hold a general election.

Then, at a five-hour meeting on July 15, during which the board heard proposals from new management companies, Avdelas said another board member criticized her personal finances and character.

Rush, then the vice chairperson, said, “We were publicly shamed with lies about our personal stuff that had nothing to do with the board.” The newly hired attorney, Rush said, “didn’t allow us to defend ourselves” and “was not representing us fairly.”

The pair said they’d worked 14-hour days trying to restore order to the association since May. But at the July meeting, the vitriol was overwhelming.

After the meeting, Avdelas fired the attorney. Then she, Rush and six others resigned.

“With so much unrest, the best thing we could do was resign and walk away,” Rush said in a phone call. “This community was at a fever pitch.”

Only one board member, Katie Bajis, remained.

Colen loyalists favored Bajis, who frequently voted in line with the former chairperson. At an emergency meeting on July 18, Bajis rehired the law firm and appointed four board members. The Colen-owned management company that day rescinded its termination letter.

Residents crowded the auditorium for the meeting, dragging in extra chairs from nearby rooms. A cluster of Resident4Residents members sat on the left side. On the right, separated by an aisle, were Colen’s supporters.

In an email to the Times, Colen said the management company extended the agreement because it “was always committed to a smooth transition.”

Colen also said he was glad residents took action.

“Perhaps the best and the worst thing about a condominium is that in many ways it operates much like a good old fashioned democracy,” he wrote. “The recent events reflect much of that.”

With a near-full board, lawyers and a management company, On Top of the World Clearwater has calmed some. Facebook and Nextdoor have returned to the usual cadence of posts about pets, handyperson recommendations and internet prices.

The schism among residents remains, but there is hope.

“While I wouldn’t use the term optimistic to describe my mindset, I have seen some positive changes,” Tera said. “Healing will take time.”