Holzberg tried to block home builders and owners to conect to the sewer line. Public Service Commision Rosane Gervasi already denied to Holzbergs action. Holzberg do not have proof ore deed for the ownership of the sewer lines. He proclaim with a oath of attorney his sewer property right.
http://www.psc.state.fl.us/library/filings/05/07835-05/07835-05.pdf
Swan R. Fritze
1 1522 Forest
Mere Drive
Bonita Springs , FL 34135
Facsimile:
239-947-4338
Email:
sfritze@msn.com
239-495-3559
August 7,2005
Director
Division of the
Commission Clerk and
Administrative
Services
Florida Public
Service Commission
2540 Shumard Oak
Boulevard
Tallahassee FL
32399-0870
Dear Director and
Commissioners:
I am writing this
letter to file a formal objection to the application for authorization, filed
by Gistro, Inc.,
with the principal owner, Mr. Fritz Holzberg.
As
this is a closely
held
corporation, with
little other utility operating experience, I would ask you to consider this
an authorization
for Mr. Holzberg, the principal of this organization, unless my research
is in error and
Gistro, Inc. has held other such authorizations for similar operations. The
character and
other business experience and reputation of Mr. Holzberg should thus be a
consideration.
Mr.
Holzberg has been
involved in various schemes in the Bonita Preserve/Forest Mere/
Spring Lakes
development for a number of years. I would hope that you have thoroughly
researched this,
including the possibly fraudulent manner in which the assets of this
utility,
including the property, plant and equipment, may have been obtained by Mr.
Holzberg or his
corporation. Tlus may have included misrepresentation in a bankruptcy
proceeding. This
also appears to involve the transfer or assets, including real property,
from "Forest
Mere J.V." to "Gistro I.N.C." in March 2002. This particular transaction is
in question as
there are no legal entities with these names, and an entity named Forest
Mere Joint
Venture, Inc. was legally voluntarily dissolved in 1995. It appears Mr.
Holzberg
continued to act, in 2002, through a corporate entity which was no longer
legally in
business and transact the transfer of property many years after its dissolution.
Page 1 of3
Page
2
These actions
have the appearance of misrepresentation and possibly fraud. In
association with
this transaction, Mr. Holzberg may have filed, or caused to be filed,
documents which
contain an error in the legal description of the property, such error
grossly
overstating the subject property. I would suggest that such actions are not
appropriate for
a prudent business operation.
Additionally, I
would ask that you receive satisfactory evidence of this firm’s ability to
properly measure
or meter, bill, and provide customer service. Those should be at least
equal to the
level of such services that are currently provided by Bonita Springs Utilities,
Inc. (BSU). I
currently pay a sewer charge to BSU and would not want this charge to be
duplicated by
this new entity seeking your authorization.
The sewer
services that have been provided, in the past 14 months, since I have
lived at
the address set
forth above in the letterhead, have been unsatisfactory on several
occasions. The
first incident was at the time of Hurricane Charley. We were very lucky
in this
neighborhood to have minimal damage and to have been without electric power
for only about
5 hours. Despite the fact that the power was off for only that short
time,
we did not have
proper sewer services for a number of days. As I was new to the area, it
took several
calls and e-mails before I could find anyone responsive to my concerns
about sewage
backing up through the “sanitary” sewer covers in the streets in this
development.
Once I did reach Mark Johnson in Lee County, with the Florida DEP by e-
mail, he came
out, inspected the sire and was able to contact a company to correct the
problems. (I am
attaching a
2
page copy of the
e-mails I had with
Mr.
Johnson. Recall
that Hurricane
Charley was in this area on 8/13/04 and this was a week later before this
matter was
resolved.) It is unacceptable that this problem was undetected by Mr.
Holzberg, or
others acting at his direction or under contract to provide service, on a
timely basis. I
do not believe this should go on for days when this is an issue of public
health. Talking
with several other neighbors at the time (including a couple members of
the homeowners’
association board), was no help; none of them knew how to contact the
operator of the
sewer system.
Since that time,
there have been several occasions, usually after there are heavy rainfalls,
that I noticed
(when
I
walked my dog)
there is odorous water and bubbles that come out
at the sewer
covers in the street. This
has
the appearance
of a neglected, sub-standard
operation. This,
combined with the experience last year with the hurricane, causes me to
be concerned
that the applicant does not have adequate operating experience, does not
have adequate
staffing available to perform regular monitoring of he operations, and
apparently does
not have an adequate (or effective) emergency or disaster plan in place
for this
business.
Further, since
January 2005, there have been occasions where the lift station across the
street from 1
1560 Red Hibiscus has had a door to the pit area(?) left up/open, and/or,
electrical cords
may be strung around. If the owner, or those acting at his direction, have
not done this,
then they have let vandals access this equipment. There is no fencing or
Page 2
of 3
Page
3
other manner of
limiting access at this station, which is of concern, especially when the
metal door to
the pit area is open. This could be potentially hazardous to children or
animals, as well
as
provide an easy
opportunity for sabotage of the facility. In addition to
considering such
a careless manner of managing this equipment,
I
would expect
that your
review of this
application has considered whether both the liability and property
insurance
coverage held by the applicant is sufficient. I
am
concerned that
if the
insurance
carrier knew how this property is sometimes left, such insurance coverage
might be
cancelled.
This inability
to manage the existing facilities, or to provide adequate customer service,
should provide
evidence of the inability of Mr. Holzberg, or the corporate entity under his
directiodmanagement,
to provide adequate utility sewer service for he is seeking
authorization. I
am
concerned that
there may not have been necessary maintenance of the
existing plant
and equipment, and that the applicant, instead of maintaining these assets
on a timely
basis, may seek to rectify that, and cover the past neglect through a special
assessment or
rate increase once the authority is granted
For the specific
reasons set forth above,
I
ask that the
application of Gistro, Inc. be
denied.
For the record,
please note that
I
have anecdotal
evidence that, in the past, Mr. Holzberg,
when he has had
reason to be upset with an individual property owner in this
development, has
tried to retaliate. I do not know the facts of each such instance, but his
actions appear
to indicate an arbitrary and capricious nature rather than that of one
experienced in a
service or utility business. I have been told that Mr. Holzberg has made
threats to
withhold utility service. I have no idea if this is possible, as I
am
not familiar
with the manner
in which the sewer lines are connected to a property, but such actions by
Mi.
Holzberg
certainly could be intimidating and expensive to contend with should one
need to employ
legal counsel. Note that I am concerned that by filing this letter,
I
may
become a target
for similar actions by Mr. Holzberg, or others acting at his direction.
Sincerely,
L
Swan
R.
Fritze
cc: Kathryn G.W.
Cowdery
Ruden, McClosky
215 South Monroe
Street, Ste. 815
Tallahassee,
FL
32301
Page 3 of 3
Page
4
Suzan
R
Fritze
From:
To:
<sfritze@msn.com>
cc:
Sent:
Subject:
"Johnson, Mark"
<Mark. Johnson@dep. state.fl. us>
"Ahmadi, Abdul"
<Abdul.Ahmadi@dep.state.fl.us>; "Kleinmann, Keith"
<Keith.Kleinmann@dep.state.fl-us>;
"lglehart, Jon" cJon.lglehart@dep.state.fl.us>
Friday, August
20, 2004 4:07 PM
RE:
Please provide
some information
or
assistance
Ms. Fritze ,
A site visit was
conducted this morning to the Bonita Preserve
neighborhood. While
in
the area, I
observed
overflows from the sanitary sewer collection system. As a result of my findings,
I
contacted Graley
Mechanical, Inc. who services the sanitary sewer collection system. Roy Graley
arrived on-site
at 11:30AM to investigate the situation. I
spoke to Mr.
Graley again at 3:30PM
and he indicated
that there was an electrical problem causing the pump station
to
malfunction.
Mr. Graley had
contacted the electric company to correct the problem.
In
addition, Mr.
Graley
was instructed
to spread lime in the areas that were impacted by the overflows. Feel free to
contact me with
any further questions.
Mark Johnson,
ESIII
FDEP South
District
Domestic
Wastewater Compliance and Enforcement
239-332-6975
ext. 117
239-332-6969
Fax
SC 748-6975
ext. 11 7
-----Original
Message-----
From:
Kleinmann, Keith
Sent:
Friday, August
20, 2004
8:06
AM
To:
Johnson, Mark
Subject:
FW:
Please provide
some information or assistance
Please see me on
this. This is Mr.. Fritz Holtzberg again.
-----Original
Message-----
From:
Ahmadi, Abdul
Sent: Friday,
August 20, 2004
8:OO
AM
To:
Davault, Charles
Cc: Kleinmann,
Keith
Subject:
W
:
Please provide
some information or assistance
kk'
-----Original
Message-----
From:
Iglehart,
Jon
Sent:
Friday, August
20, 2004
7:55
AM
To:
Ahmadi, Abdul
Subject:
FW:
Please provide
some information or assistance
8/3/2005
Page
5
-----Original
Message-----
From:
Suzan
R
Fritze
[mailto:sfritze@msn.com]
Sent:
Thursday, August 19,2004 8:51 PM
To:
Iglehart, Jon
Subject:
Please provide some information or assistance
I
live in Bonita Springs (Lee County).
I
moved here June
1, 2004. Since Hurricane Charley,
the manholes
(marked "Sanitary Sewer") in the Bonita Preserve neighborhood
I
reside
in have been
bubbling up sewage.
I
live at 11522
Forest Mere Dr. ( Bonita
Springs , FL
34135) and the
closest manhole where this is a problem is several houses away
(in
front of
what
I
believe is 11506
Forest Mere Dr.). This sewage runs across the street and into the
swale in front
of the property. This is also occurring at several other locations
in
this
development.
I
attended a
homeowners' association (there are approx 140 homeowners) meeting tonight
(8/19/04) and it
was suggested that your office might be of some assistance in this matter.
It is my
understanding that the sewer system in this area is owned
by
an individual
(although there
apparently is a lawsuit in that regard).
I
certainly do not
understand how
an individual
can own a utility but regardless,
I
am hoping that
your office might either be
abie to take
corrective action or force the appropriate individual or utility to
correct this
problem.
If
you are not able
to provide assistance, please provide information as to whom
I
should
contact to
receive assistance with this problem, which certainly would appear to have both
health and
environmental issues.
Thank you.
Suzan
R.
Fritze
11522 Forest
Mere Dr.
Bonita Springs FL 34135
Telephone:
239-495-3559
Facsimile :
239-947 -43 38
8/3/2005
Why file a report here? Ripoff Report is a permanent record! Other complaint sites copy our content then remove reports for money.
