Arbomar dispute continues through calls, court

Longboat Key police have been called at least three times to Arbomar condominium, where unit owner Pete DiNicola filed lawsuits earlier this summer against the board of the 31-unit condo and four of its five members.

At 10:42 a.m. Sept. 18, police received a call from Gary Spiezio, whose wife, Judith, is a board member. Spiezio reported that his driver-side tire had a nail inside the sidewall that couldn’t be repaired.

“Spiezio said that he suspects one of the owners living in the condo has done this,” the report states. “This person has just returned from vacation and then this incident happened.”

“This is not the first incident involving a flat tire with a nail at Arbomar,” the report continues. “Three other residents who are on the condo board have had this done to them also.”

Spiezio told police that the flat tire incident occurred Sept. 10, but he hadn’t reported it because he was busy. The report states that he requested the report on the recommendation of his attorney. He told police he could not name the suspect, also on the advice of counsel, however, the report says that “the suspected subject has multiple lawsuits against the condo board.”

Later that day, Kent Lagro, a unit owner who also served as building manager until the board terminated his contract in June, called police to report that contractors were working on the condo’s window project 12 minutes after the 5 p.m. cutoff for construction work in town ordinances.

The window project is a key part of DiNicola’s lawsuits. He contends that board members illegally held meetings in secret and didn’t follow proper procedure when they approved a window project that’s currently underway, which resulted in an assessment of $8,000 per unit owner.

Later, he approached the town about unlicensed contract work by board president Walter “Chip” Major, who is licensed in Maryland but not in Florida, in his unit plus three other residents’ homes, including the Spiezios’ unit, using information from Lagro.

Although the town red-tagged one unit for not having proper documentation, former Building Official Wayne Thorne told the Longboat Observer in August that the red tag had been removed, and the town had issued permits.

Lagro has said he believes his dismissal was retaliatory and told the Longboat Observer Monday that he plans to file a wrongful termination suit against the board. At press time, the lawsuit had not been filed, according to Manatee County court records.

Reports state that the latest incident occurred at 9:57 p.m. Sept. 26, when Lagro entered the Spiezio’s unit and said “sorry, wrong unit” and left.

“(Lagro) stated that it was truly an accident when he got off the elevator at the wrong floor. He stated that he thought he was on the second floor and he walked into what would have been his unit.”

Spiezio declined to comment, citing the advice of his attorney.

Lagro said that he called police in August, after a board member allegedly entered his unit. Longboat Key police were unable to locate an incident report.

A motion DiNicola filed seeking an emergency receivership for the property states that Judith Spiezio entered “under the guise of searching for a leak” and that Lagro, who was on vacation at the time, “returned to find someone had searched through his files relating to this action.”

Lagro and DiNicola both said they believe that Lagro is the intended suspect described in the tire incident report. Lagro had returned to town from Minneapolis around the time Spiezio indicated.

“I think it’s completely false,” Lagro said. “There was a board meeting and reported the same thing in August: four flat tires and multiple other things. It’s part of the harassment thing that’s going on here.”

A hearing on DiNicola’s motion for the appointment of a receivership is scheduled for 9 a.m. Nov. 4, at the Manatee County Courthouse.