Violations of Florida Statutes and HOA Governing Docs by Board Members

I just joined your Forum this morning after reading what has been taking place in other developments.

I've lived in an HOA since 1995 and served as a Director and independent consultant for several years. Here's what's taken place in our Association lately. Your comments and recommendations will be much appreciated.

In 2009, I was the Secretary of our HOA. We were in the middle of a road repaving project, and in spite of numerous notices to residents before commencing, one of our streets was entirely blocked because residents parked in the street, in violation of our rules. Our development is a posted tow-away zone. Firmly believing that a safety issue had developed, I contacted another Director and we agreed that two cars needed to be towed. As a result of that decision, and what a handful of homeowners believed was my "nasty personality," a recall effort began. Our Association President received the recall petition: several pages did not state the purpose of the recall, the petition was signed by people who were not even residents of our community and the documents appeared to be a "cut and paste" because my neighbers signed a blank page after being told the petition was for something completely different. We immediately forwarded the petition to our attorney who informed us that it was not legitimate but that to fight it would involve costly arbitration. We decided to allow the recall to proceed - the biggest mistake we ever made. The homeowners who initiated the petition did not provide a replacement as is required by our documents, and intimidated homeowners into signing the petition telling them they "had to sign" and slandered me in the process. The remaining Directors made several attempts to fill the vacancy with a qualified individual, but were not successful. They signed me to a contract as an independent consultant to provide administrative support to the Board.

In March and April 2011, these same individuals organized an election campaign to "overthrow" the current Board (same Board as in 2009, without a Secretary of course). One homeowner went door to door, collecting proxies, calling the current Board "illegitimate" and stating he was an attorney and knew the law. The man is not licensed to practice law in Florida, and has not had a license to practice law anywhere for several decades, but no one bothers to check his credentials. He has been giving legal advice to homeowners and HOA Boards for as long as I've lived in the development.

With all the ill-gotten proxies, of course we have a completely different Board, made up of people who are completely unqualified to be Directors. We recently became aware that they committed several violations of Florida Statutes and our governing documents, and mismanagement of Association funds is quite possible as well. Depending on their responses, we will decide whether to report them to the State of Florida, retain an attorney, or initiate a recall. In the meantime, if anyone has any helpful suggestions or similar experiences, I'd love to hear them.

Mary, what is your question and how can we help you?

It sounds like a proper process was applied at your HOA to first recall one member and later replace the board. They might have done certain things wrong, but remember they are volunteers just like you were. What was important is the intent. There was enough votes in your association to pass a recall and new elections. If that doesn't send you a message, I don't know what will. I am sure you disagree with their reasons and their ways, but that's how HOAs work.

As far as them being inexperienced you should really give them some time. I am sure when you got elected for the first time you were as inexperienced as them.

If you suspect any rules being broken or money problems you can request all records and investigate the issue. Until you are certain there is a problem I would refrain from accusing anyone of anything.