Board charging the VP for legal fees

Some of you may already know my stories of Board abuse.....Here is the latest.

I always feel the need to give a little background before I go into specifics and I want to keep this short.

Our newsletter committee is made up of 4 women who have helped create our newsletter for the past 3 years under 3 different Boards. Recently the Board voted to remove a member of the committee (this is 4 committee members to date) because the entire committee voted to get a PO box some homeowners could send comments directly to the newsletter committee and not have to send their comments to the HOA PO Box which is only checked by the HOA President.

When the HOA President found out that the newsletter committee had established it's own mailbox, he marched down to the post office and demanded to know who opened the POBox, and that because he was HOA President he was entitled to know. Now keep in mind he never even asked the committee (this may have cost the man at the post office his job).

At a public Board meeting the HOA President handed out copies of the signature sheet that the committee member signed to open the PO Box. The President then went on to accuse the committee member for opening an illegal PO Box in he name of the HOA. The POB receipt he had simply stated the initials of the HOA and used the words newsletter, like if you lived in a development named Stoney Creek, the POB was opened under "scnewsletter" and then signed by the homeowner.

The Board voted in a weekend meeting that they needed to go to the lawyer in the upcoming week in regards to this matter and stated that they would schedule a meeting the next week shooting for a certain date (like the 14th). As the VP I wanted to be present to be sure that the details were given fairly and correctly.

I wrote several emails the next week asking the Board if they had made an appointment. No answer. I asked via email to each member of the Board, at least another three times. Concerned that the rest of the Board would go without my knowledge and distort the truth to the lawyer, I informed the Board if they did not inform me by a specified date (several days in the future) I would call the lawyer myself and ask. Still no answer.

I called the lawyer and spoke with him for about 20-30 min about a variety of subjects including the issue surrounding the PO Box.

I am the VP of the Board and I have been systematically removed from the Board. They have meetings without me, sign motions without me and visit the lawyer without me. Now I have been sent a bill from the Board charging me $125 for the conversation I had with the lawyer. A conversation I had to have in order to find out if the Board held a meeting with the lawyer as they discussed because no one would tell me. The Board goes to the lawyer and gets advice and brings it back to the community and delivers it via word of mouth. They don't get it in writing claiming it would cost another $60 so not getting it in writing is a money saving measure.

How do our residents feel? The have given the President (and his wife who is secretary) a petition with the signatures required by our By-Laws to call a special meeting for a vote on their removal. The President simply wrote void across it and mailed it back stating it wasn't valid, but no other explanation has been given. All of my questions to the Board about this incident have been ignored.

Thoughts?

I agree...a nightmare!
If you didn't sign a contract with the attorney to pay for the phone call...the HOA gets to pay the bill. They might just find it less expensive to communicate with their members..rather than have individual members call the attorney and run up the bill.
Good luck..this situation sounds like one that's going to take time and money to resolve. When do you elect new BOD's? Any chance of getting other property owners to run?
Maryn

ChrisB4 - Your HOA, and specifically you, are experiencing the typical fallout from dictatorship, or relative unilateral Board control. While it sounds like it's time for an overthrow, beforehand there must be willing owners to volunteer to take the place of those they replace. Otherwise the petition to remove isn't really doing anyone a service. The petition to remove should be sent certified return receipt requested with a date and time of the special meeting calling for the removal and an opportunity for those to speak regarding their possible removal. It sounds like it's going to be a hostile takeover so be quick and detailed with all the necessary steps.

Is the lawyer on retainer, does it include a certain number of conversations/phone calls/etc.? Did the lawyer bill the HOA for your conversation, the only way I'd pay a bill to an attorney was if it was on that attorney's letterhead. Until then I would owe and pay nothing.

When the Board approached the committee about the PO Box and asked them to close it, they agreed without a fight.

As Vice President it is my duty to uphold the integrity of the Board of Directors. The Board is clearly acting in its own best interest. I have worked as VP to keep our residents informed and provide accountability to our owners. Now of what I have done is "off-the-cuff. I sent emails and talked in person to each Board member or my intention if they continued to work in their own best interest. I was simply ignored.

I can even begin to explain all of the wrongs done by this board, but I will say this. For the first time since I have lived here there are more than 100 people involved in what is going on. The answer to the question as to whether people are ready to get involved, the answer is yes.

For the record, I haven't been "removed", literally speaking.

When the Board comes back to the community and claims the lawyer made decisions but they have none of the decisions in writing, and then move forward to act on the information they say the lawyer gave them, as VP I called the lawyer to ask knowing that the Board would react the way it did. Someone has to take a stand.

Thanks..

Chris:

It is easy for us to sit here and play monday morning quarterback because we are not in the situation. In hindsight we all would change certain things we have done. It sounds to me like this situation has been brewing for a long time, unfortunately it also sounds like it took a situation like this to bring things to a head.

On the basics of what I have heard I can see how you would be billed. But, I think you might have a legitimate argument for not paying. I don't have much for advice other than good luck!

I think what Brad was trying to say, if I may speak for him, is that it's easy to say what I should have done in hindsight. I did ask for thoughts and opinions. I take everything people have to say, even what I don't like into account.

The situation I'm in now I feel like the second mate on a ship pondering mutiny. I'm either going to be a "hero" or I'm going to take a big fall.

So either I'm brave or stupid, it really all depends on your point of view I guess. I really doesn't matter what I say here in this forum as all you folks have to go on is what I tell you. I could be twisting and distorting the facts. The truth is I could be the real problem.

Having said that I will say this....From my experience, people who think their right don't ask others what they think about things. If they do ask and people correct them they argue as to why they are right (notice I said argue not debate, though I admit there is a fine line between the two).

Read my posts. The most frustrating thing about coming here is putting everything in context for the reader. Most of what is done here (in my HOA), taken out of context is not that bad, but taken as a larger whole shows a pattern of behavior. This thread is about something the Board has done that is clearly controversial. Most of whats done is smaller and harder to get people to raise an eyebrow too. My challenge will be to take all of the small things and wrap them neatly into something that changes the perceptions of our homeowners.....

Wish me luck!