Election of Board Members

Started by RandalR • 12 replies • 1464 views

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RandalR (Tennessee)
Posts: 98

Posted:

Our Association is voluntary in nature and usually we only have about 80% (~220 our of 263) of the neighborhood join in any given year. This year I opted out of joining because the Board closed their monthly meetings and would not let residents sit in on them. To add insult to injury, when they finally did get around to posting their meeting minutes it would be months late and inevitably did not discuss a lot of the key issues that we knew they had to have discussed and voted on!

One of the seven Board members quit a couple of months ago and they decided not to appoint anyone to replace him since the annual meeting would be in January. This will now put 4 vacancies on the ballot. If there's an organized initiative and we can seat the right 4 people then we'll finally have a chance to take back our neighborhood! This will allow us to once again open it up to the residents as well as take our pool back from the swim team which has always managed to close it in the evenings so the swim team can have both morning and evening practices! A costly privilege to our neighborhoods bottom line.

My question is this. Can the Board prevent me from running for one of the vacant positions? The Board has only allowed previous years members to vote at the annual election but if those persons elect me and I pay my 2008 dues then I don't see how they could legally stop me. Something like this has never happened before and our Bylaws are written in such general terms that the Board feels they can interpret them at their whim. I know for a fact that three years ago the Board President was six months late paying his membership dues. Anyone know of any precedent for trying something like this? And how to respond when the Board does try to stop my nomination which I'm sure they will as I've been trying to hold them accountable for their actions?

CharlesW1 (Georgia)
Posts: 826

Posted:

RandalR

Many of your concerns can be found in your associations documents (by-laws/CC&R, etc.

I’m not familiar with a volunteer HOA? My association is MANDATORY to all who reside here, so we have different controlling documents. I can only speak on behalve of my association here in Georgia.

Are members who “opt-in” only allowed to sit in on meetings? I would think that would be a requirement.

“IF” you are indeed interested in being a board member, it would benefit you, to know if proxies could be used, (voting purposes/establishing quorum). I can’t imagine they wouldn’t be, but then again I’m not certain they would be either.

If proxies can be collected, I would suggest soliciting for as many as possible, Pretty much a shoe in at that point if they are valid in your state and you appoint someone you trust, to vote for you. I know in my association a candidate can not vote for him/her self, during an election via proxy.

To reiterate it sounds to me as though you need to read, read and read once more your governing documents. Some of the questions you seek answers to can only be found in those documents, and state law.

I have several questions that would help me/others to help you.
1.) Does a board member need to be a member in good standings?
2.) Does quorum of member need to be present (by-laws)?
3.) If quorum is necessary, how many are required?
4.) Is there a term (in office) once elected, 1, 2 or 3 year?

Best of luck and keep us posted
Chuck W.

Charles E. Wafer Jr.

RandalR (Tennessee)
Posts: 98

Posted:

Chuck,

I've served on this Board for several years until just recently. Had ongoing conflicts with other Board members over how the Board was managed, which essentially means the controlling faction pretty much did as they wanted without regard for precedent.

Was hoping the new members would take a stand against some of the stuff that was going on but they pretty much deferred to the "experience" of the others. Our Bylaws are so generic they're pretty much worthless which is what allows the ruling party to interpret them anyway they want. Even when the Bylaws specifically address an issue they'll completely ignore it anyway. A good example is that our covenants specifically require that you be a property owner in order to be an HOA member. So this year the Board decided to sale HOA memberships instead of Associate memberships to people outside the neighborhood that wanted to use our pool. They're now going to try and claim the money they collected as "exempt" from taxes.

On the meetings, members are only allowed to give a 2-minute presentation to the Board on whatever their subject is. They then are asked to leave the meeting and not even allowed to sit in on the discussion. The subject may or may not even be reported in the meeting minutes (when they do finally get posted on the website months later).

A quorum at the annual meeting is determined to be whoever shows up, which is usually only <25 households. We did manage to get over 50 households at last years because of all the issues that had been brought up.

Terms in office are 2 years. As for being a member in good standing. You pay at the first of the year for that year so I don't see how they can make an issue of that. The Board has been trying to change the covenants to go to mandatory dues and have been trying to collect signatures now for well over a year and a half! As for state law, Tennessee doesn't have any that would apply unless we were to be receiving money from them, which we don't.

R

RobertR1 (South Carolina)
Posts: 5,164

Posted:

Randall,
I think you are looking around to find out things you can charge the board with, and they seem to be able to screw things up pretty much by their public actions. Call a townhall meeting with a set agenda and see if you have the support you meed to effect change according to your documents. Keep the meeting on point, which is: is the Board acting improper and what the membership will support in ways that will make change. Get some support to hold this meeting and look for more support at the meeting.
If the Board tries to stop you from having an open meeting, demand a meeting between them and your group. If that don't work start going door to door to build support. In other words the chance of you personally effecting change is slight, you are going to get mired in the mud with the Board and solve nothing. If the Board has a reasonable member that listens and is open you might be able to get the ball rolling through him/ Keep your issues to a minimum and looked for mutual agreement.

CharlesW1 (Georgia)
Posts: 826

Posted:

RandalR

I’m not sure if you are asking me something or what you are implying. From what you had written, I would think a new board would be a good thing for the entire association.

As far as changing the governing documents to have mandatory assessments. I would NEVER impose that on members of a voluntary association. All residence residing in the community choose to live in a voluntary HOA, with assessments being an option. It is beyond me WHY any HO would ever want to live in a voluntary HOA! Those who do, “want their cake and eat it too” IMHO.

How many board members do you currently have? Do you vote (as a board) on these particular changes? Apparently you are being “out voted” at every secession!

Chuck W

Charles E. Wafer Jr.

PaulM (Pennsylvania)
Posts: 1,347

Posted:

RandalR: I do not have personal experience with a Voluntary HOA, though my understanding of it is that the residents can 'opt in' to pay the dues.

..."The Board has been trying to change the covenants to go to mandatory dues and have been trying to collect signatures now for well over a year and a half"

What would be the reason for a resident to opt in to pay dues? And, for those who don't pay dues, are they still considered members of the Assn. and allowed to attend meetings, etc.? Can they vote?

RogerB (Colorado)
Posts: 5,067

Posted:

Paul, in a voluntary HOA all owners are subject to the CC&Rs. Only those who elect to pay dues are members of the HOA. Non members are usually allowed to attend meetings but may or may not be recognized by the Chair.

The owners who join the HOA do so to improve their community, including the enforcement of restrictions. Several months ago I started a thread on converting from a voluntary association to a manditory association. It is extremely difficult to achieve but has been done.

RandalR (Tennessee)
Posts: 98

Posted:

Paul,

Being voluntary, residents can decide on an annual basis whether they want to pay their dues or not. If you want to use the recreational facilities then you have to join the Association. The rec area is nothing elaborate just a decent size pool with a diving board and two tennis courts. In the past the rec fees were a separate payment. This past year they sought to mimic the terms of the mandatory covenants that they wanted to pass and rolled the Association and Rec fees into a single (reduced) payment. The two fees separately would have been $430/yr but the "new" inclusive rate was set at $215. By my calculations this experiment is going to reduce our reserve by over $20K! But how will we ever know since the Board is not releasing any financial information in what meeting minutes it does finally post. This also managed to confuse a number of residents into thinking that the covenants had already passed and no disclaimer was ever posted by notice or on the website itself.

If you don't pay your annual dues then you're not considered a member of the Association and not allowed to use the rec facilities. At the annual meeting, only those residents that paid the previous years dues are allowed to vote in the election for the coming year. As for the monthly meetings of the Board, members aren't allowed to attend them either. They can only come to the start of the meeting and are given a couple of minutes to bring their issue before the Board, then they're dismissed. No one but the Board members are allowed to sit in on any discussion that are held on the subject. One would assume someone would get back to the member on the subject that was brought up but I know of a couple that were never responded to. And if you were to read the meeting minutes there is seldom a mention of a resident bringing a concern up, even though you know someone went to them with a problem.

Roger commented that there have been some neighborhoods transition from voluntary to mandatory but I seriously doubt it's legal for a Board to drag out the campaign as long as this one has! They changed the wording in the proposed covenant after one resident threatened a lawsuit over the enforcement clause yet they're still counting the votes of the residents that signed before the change. There are also residents that signed that have moved out of the neighborhood and I seriously doubt that they've gone back to factor them out of the totals. I wouldn't have any problem signing up for mandatory dues as long as we had something in place to keep the different Boards from operating at their own discretion. You need a solid plan in place to guide the neighborhood into the future. You need clarification as to what a Board can and cannot do and they must be accountable to the membership. Right now our Board can change the Bylaws without any input or approval from the members. This year they started selling Association memberships to people that live outside our neighborhood (primarily to use our rec area) despite the fact that our covenants say you have to own property within the neighborhood to be a member of the Association. That decision was never discussed or explained in their meeting minutes but I know their plan is to claim all this "outside" money as exempt income when they file taxes for 2007.

It gets frustrating to stand by and watch things like this happen but your only recourse is to file suit in county court and that comes out of your own pocket while the Board has the neighborhoods checkbook at their disposal. You comment that things are not being done properly and you're cast as just trying to settle a score since you're no longer on the Board, so you're fighting an uphill battle no matter what good motives you have.

R

RobertR1 (South Carolina)
Posts: 5,164

Posted:

RandalR,
I posted a comment a little while back and offered some suggestions.
I will sort of repeat what I said inview of what you told Paul and I am sure Paul will also comment. Paul will respond with some information that you can take to the bank. He knows his business and that is what makes HOA's tick and they all depend on a few basic values.
You need and are entitled to communicate with you governance.
You have a right to know what your money is being used for.
You have a right to voice your opinion in front of your peers.
You have a right to participate in your government.
You have a right to live in peace and harmony with you neighbors.
You have a right to peaceably assemble to enter into a political process.

There are more but if any of these rights are breached you have the right to do something about it.

Filing suit against your HOA is not the only solution you have and it probably should be the last thing you do, unless you are filing in criminal court.

Not all of us can step up and form a neighborhood action committee but it is obvious to me you need to build a power base. This is done by canvasing your neighborhood to find out if other folk want to make a change. The change MUST come from within. You have lots of places you can go to if you are so minded. Your legislature, be it local, city, state of county. This requires a public exposure as does Newdpapers, TV etc. But you want to shine a little light on what is going on or if necessary a bright spotlight.
Take this as good advice: You need support.

I suggested a public townhall meeting. This is a difficult task if you want results and is best planned by a group of people.

You have to expose yourselve to all kinds of stuff, it can get messy, but you DON"T have to stand around and watch. Make some noise and always be ready to compromise for the Association, and "for" the association is what you want top be doing....always.

MaryN (Virginia)
Posts: 125

Posted:

Voluntary HOA members that have CCR's that state they must pay an equal share of road maintenance..are required to pay..they may decide not to join the HOA. If they decide not to join they loose their vote if the HOA decides to make some big changes..or purchases. This is per our attorney.
MaryN

PaulM (Pennsylvania)
Posts: 1,347

Posted:

RandalR:

To quote,..."If you don't pay your annual dues then you're not considered a member of the Association and not allowed to use the rec facilities."
You also stated, ..."only those residents that paid the previous years dues are allowed to vote in the election for the coming year."

How can you, then, expect to be nominated and possibly elected to the Board if you are not now a member of the association? Be careful of your critique of the Board and association 'from a distance'. If you are truly concerned over how the Board/association is being run, then get with the program, jump in and pay your $-dues, and get on the Board to do the work from the inside out! You need to show your commitment to the community by serving and perhaps you will then have a better understanding of what is going on behind the scenes. Good Luck to you!

RobertR1 (South Carolina)
Posts: 5,164

Posted:

Good advice Paul,
You must have, above all, a committment to the community (association), (Real property), they also are part of the community.

I wonder if your "work from the inside out", really means; we work from the inside out," the law , "works from the outside in?" Hmmmm!

SusanW1 (Michigan)
Posts: 5,202

Posted:

Non members have non of the rights granted to "members" of an organization, as defined in the Bylaws.

As unhappy as he is, if he is not a member, he can't do much . . .

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