President & VP Fighting

Words such as "fighting" and "combat" may not always mean the same thing to all of us. Are they physically shoving one another or trading punches? Or is it just a lot of loud talk and insulting words? Regardless, it is hard to convey in words precisely what happens during a verbal argument.

If you feel that the bickering is disruptive to the meetings I would suggest that you videotape the confrontation(s). At the first moment you feel that the conflict is disrupting the meeting, call the police immediately. Let the police view your video. I would do everything in my power to publicly embarass these two and letting them be hauled off to jail is a good start.

There are a lot of people I do not like and (this is hard to believe) one or two who do not like me. Nonetheless, we all seem to be able to put our differences aside and behave like adults during our meetings. There is no reason why your meetings should be shouting matches.

Now that I think a bit more about it, find others who feel the same as you do. As soon as the meeting is called to order, have everyone whip out their cell phone cameras or video recorders and start taping. If someone on the board asks what you are doing you tell them you are collecting evidence for the disorderly conduct complaint you will be filing when the police arrive later. When people know they are being taped they sometimes start to behave a little better.

Where is your chairperson in all this ? Obviously you are not folowing Robert's Rules of Order or any other standard procedure when it comes to meetings. What is there to argue about to that degree anyway. Don't your bylaws specify that the majority vote of the board rules ? Everyone states their view, you all vote and the majority vote rules, end of discussion.

The chairperson should be controling the meeting. Everything should be done through that person. Members should not be discussing anything between themselves.There are many versions of Robert's Rules that are designed to suit any size meeting and almost any situation including yours. You can easily find these on the internet.

A change of culture needs to happen. Believe me, there is probably nobody more on this earth than I absolutely dislike more than my Ex-Vice President. He's a conman who ripped off the HOA and elderly people. A real scumbag. However, most of the HOA members probably had no idea my feelings toward him. Matter of fact, most people thought we were friends. The fact was that I was more "Protecting" the HOA from him as he tried everything to con his way to the HOA funds....

People need to change their way of how they react to this person. The President may now be so lost in the situation they can't see it anymore. It's up to a third party to maybe step in and re-direct attentions TACTFULLY. Say something "I appreciate your opinion but we need to move forward from this point. Please continue the meeting..."

It's time for some distraction action and then get it back on track to focus on the HOA's needs. Try to do some HOA operations education. Just a little bit of change or direction of energy may just change the whole lot.