Out of State President...HELP!!!!..long

This is very long. Please read.

If any of you have kept up with our HOA problems then you know what a mess our President got us in financially by firing and hiring so many times and with each hiring the cost to the Association was greater. Well after placing the HOA is this mess, a mess IMO we will not be able to get out of for a very long time. On Aug.29th she resigned. We then by default had a out of state President. I ask for a meeting ASAP, to appoint a new President, one who would be on hand for our many problems. The new Pres e-mailed me back and said everything was just fine....One Sept 4th our MC sent a e-mail telling us they would be resigning also as of Nov. 5th....Again I e-mailed with the same request, an emergency meeting. I had explained to the new Pres that this had to be done because of end of the year task that needed doing ASAP....Again he didn't respond after I explained the time notifications for meeting, Board/member. Finally he said he would be in town Nov. 14th....

He showed up alright, I was never informed or spoken too. He had had all the HOA files turned over to our newest Board member, a director. I am the Treasurer and I needed those files to perform my duties....He was here and gone (3days) in three days. He sae me sitting on my porch but never bothered to cross the street and speak w/me and I was never offered any files. The files were given to our newest BM and her boyfriend. It was this boy friend that went w/him to the Bank (only to here what I had already told him). NO ACCESS until properly done. He even has this boy friend looking for MC's. He is NOT even a HO's the girl friend is. What right does he have to go through our files?

I had told him (long before his visit)that I had been to the bank and I was told not one of the present Board members were on signature cards and could NOT access the Bank account. That there MUST be a meeting and the new minutes and Incorportation paper must be brought in...Like everything, he thought he knew everything so he ignored me and went to the bank...He was told the exact same thing...duh..so here we are almost three months later and still have no access to our Bank account. The bills can't be paid and I also was not given the key to the POBox so the dues if sent in early could not be deposited.

I have ask this man to Please step down long ago, because he was out of town (in Mass.) and that we needed a Presidnet to be here (there is no VP, that was his position before the Presidnet resigned). I had also ask that he call a meeting before he came down so that a meeting could be held...he did not, so this is where we stand.

I had no choice but to resign because there was no way I could fulfill my duties without Bank access. There was the 2009 Budget, sending invoices, filing taxes and paying our bills....we had plenty of time to have all this straightened out had he chose to do so. Our secretary is leaving in a few days, her husband received his orders. So we now have 2 Board members, this out of town jerk and our newest BM who is just a director who knows absolutely nothing about the CC&R's, FL SS or what has gone on in the HOA.

Since this man will not step down, and we really have no time for a recall what the heck can the HO's do to get rid of him and try and save our Association?...

We have already had vendors call and ask when they would be getting their money...the Termite company said if we do not pay by a certain time that we would lose our contract....What could this guy been thinking, I thing being President has made him feel like the "Great and Powerful Wizard of Oz." at the expense of the community and HO's

Sidney,

I get the impression it's not only the Pres who has a lack of interest, but also the other board members. Otherwise, a meeting could have been called w/o the presence of the Pres to take care of these pressing matters. Considering everything you've gone through, I think you've done the right thing. As Donna said, perhaps it's best to just let the assn go under. If no one gives a darn, there's not much only one person (you) can do!!

Take care!

Sidney,
If I understand right, you are a Board member. Even if you weren't you have a right to call a Special Meeting according to your documents. At least, I hope this is included in your documents. As a Board member your action to call a Special Meeting would very likely be considered an officially sanctioned act, if some other BOD resists. Do it anyway.

Donna, what is the Florida law about special meetings? It is not hard to decide why you should have a special meeting and I suspect you just need a reason and some support. If you can go to the meeting, explain the troubles, make constructive suggestions, have a discussion and come up with a consenus of how to proceed. No doubht a lawyer will be in the picture to get your situation before a judge, where you should have a sympathic ear, and some legal orders.

Your President is going to have a tough road if it gets to the judge the association is going into the toilet because he will not attend to business, and likely all the past resignees, including the MC could be pulled back into this.

Anna.....You know Anna, we only have about 15/16 HO's actually living on the property and out of those only 6/7 have ever been involved in any way. The same ones are/were on the Board, volunteer to clean up or do anything for the community. The rest of the (77) units are leased or empty.

No I haven't informed all the HO's but what I did do was e-mail the 12 HO's that I had e-mail addresses for last night....I have NOT received one (1) reply. Not one HO has shown any concern....We also have 14 delinquent accounts and it's obvious they don't care because they are a big part of our problems.

I have given my all to this community, since we took control in 2006, while on the Board and off the Board. I have every file there is, more then other Board members or MC's put together. I have purchased the FL.SS yearly to keep up w/any changes. I am continually trying to learn but all of this has done no good. There's just no where to go for help....The CC&R's and the State gives us laws to follow but if Board don't, so be it...theres no where to turn. No accountibility.

I did find out our PM had NO CAM license and I did report her, I even had a meeting the the secretary of the DBPR when he came to Gulf Breeze, FL....Her status on file has been changed but I still have not received a final out come, if there was any disciplinary action taken. She was also a part of the problem. She at least gave us plenty of notice and had the "President" acted we wouldn't be in this mess of no being able to access our bank account.

Who does fill vacancies??

You now have a vacancy for the VP position, it can be filled immediately. Your slot cannot be filled until the resignation is accepted and noted for the minutes. Then is could be filled by appointment.

Of course, this all depends on if a quorum is there to conduct the meeting.

I have a feeling that this president and his new cohorts DO have access to the HOA funds - you are just out of the loope and have been squeezed out.

Keep an eye on all things. And there is the election in January. You CAN nominate yourself, you know for any position. The Members vote, not the president. Start campaigning now.

Good luck.

Sorry - the president, as a member, DOES have a vote. It's just one, however.

Mary,
Florida is the same. The remaining BODs can fill any vacancies just by their appointment.

Donna, can the two remaining Board members appoint this Board members boyfriend?....the problem I see with that is that he can't vote...can't be two votes from the same property and he is not on the deed. We need voting Board members.

Sidney,

He is not listed on the deed as co-owner. I would say that he cannot be on the Board unless your bylaws allow non owners to be Board members. Normal bylaws also do not allow 2 members from one household to on a Board at the same time. But they are not married--just cohabitated. If this is a possibility that she would nominate him, the other Board members just have to vote to keep him off.

Sydney,

In many assn's I believe it's an "unwritten" rule that only one member per household may hold a board position. When my former assn was transitioning from declarant control the developer even stated this to me; however, it is not specified in the bylaws and he wrote them!! Frankly, I don't believe it's a good idea, but I'm sure there are some board members who don't agree -- such as yours. Even though this guy is not a member, the fact that he is interested to serve on the board may be an indication that he is really concerned about the assn. Perhaps you can become friendly with him and clue him in on a few things. At any rate, I certainly hope things turn around (for the better, of course ) in your assn ASAP!!

Take care.

Donna - I said it. One vote for one unit applies for HOA membership votes. But for Board votes, unless the HOA governing docs or state law prohibit multiple members from one household from serving on the Board, then if this boyfriend is appointed to the Board he will have a full vote on Board issues. However he still will not be able to vote on HOA membership votes.

As Mary said it is usually an unwritten rule that only one member from a household can be on the Board, but it typically isn't specified in the docs. I have seen HOAs where both husband and wife are serving on the Board at the same time. Usually this is in smaller HOAs where they are having problems trying to get people to serve.

Dwight and Donna,
Not that it matters much in the case, because there seems to be a lot screwed up here, but, do you think the fact that the transfer from the developer to the association, may negate any vote by a non owner on anything, and actually preclude him from being appointed to the Board. Sometimes, the developer may add these little snipets to a set of "cookie cutter" documents, and let the door open when the turn over takes place. I never saw it personally but I have seen some stuff a developers' lawyer has pasted in documents that have a life span only as long as the developer has control. I sure am not suggesting that anyone take up this banner and sic Sidney on the Board to find out. Enough trouble there already and I am sure the changes will come slow and in small amounts unless Sidney can get some support and a good lawyer to rewrite the whole CC&r's. Even then, if this happens someone is going to have to be left standing to carry out the action dictated.

MaryA,
Well, I bow to your greater experience to state that the developer would be so considerate. I wonder why he just didn't take the reference out all together when he turned the property over?

In my experience,once the developer gets finished with the project, and has jiggled the documents the way he wants them, he walks out.......period. It is up to the owners to pick up the pieces. Our documents went 25 years before they were re-written. If I recall right from postings here that is not a record. I certainly agree it is not uncommon for non members to serve on Board and I can see specific instances this may work, but run of the mill, the developer put that clause in there to load up the Board and have control.

Hanlon's razor: Never attribute to malice that which can be adequately explained by stupidity.

And it's not even stupidity. That clause is there because when the HOA "Corporation" was formed, the membership consisted of the developer, his wife, and his brother Earl. If the developer included a "No family members" clause, it would make it more difficult for him to get the development going.

The developer could include a clause to take effect only after turnover to restrict board membership to one titled homeowner per lot. I've seen some documents that do have something to that effect. But I think that just creates an unnecessary restriction that could make it difficult for an HOA corporation to find enough people to serve on the Board.

IMO there is too much concern about this. People are assuming that having both this owner and her boyfriend on the Board will mean that they will vote in lock-step which will lead to bad things for everyone else. Not necessarily true. I know that if my wife were also on the Board with me, there would be a lot of issues on which she would not vote the same way that I do. Not that she would be trying to be contrary, but she has her own opinion on things. And we still sleep together just fine (at least until she starts snoring. )

Dwight,
I think there should be much concern about anyone not an owner serving on the Board. I understand that there are instances that some HOA's and Condo's generate so much money and their responsibility extend to all kinds of amenities and different physical structures that an expert in many fields would prove helpful, so go out and hire the help, same as putting a lawyer on retainer, we don't give HIM the vote. But it happens and I say if the members don't object, I won't either. For me, a husband wife team on the Board is unwise for all the reasons you seem to think it is not a problem. One on board, one on committee, no problem, we have a husband wife managers, but they don't get a member vote. Our documents state we will have 65 members (65 units) 65 votes, no more.
Makes perfect sense to me and I would believe that somewhere back in time this specific was put in there to expressly forbid non members on Board and non members holding vote. Our documents make no reference to having non members on Board and as far as I am concerned, if this rears it's ugly head, it is going to take an amendment of the by-laws and possible the CC&R's.

The old saw, we needed the wife/husband to insure a meeting could be held just doen't make sense. If the associations gets to that point, they should be before a judge to get legal direction, and the judge will probably order everone in the association to be on the Board, and give them 60 days to get their house in order.

The above is not right, just my opinion.

Sidney - there is no denying that your HOA has some problems. I didn't address those problems at all. My suggestion is that you don't turn the boyfriend being on the Board into an issue. Deal with the other problems instead.

Say what??

The out of town President is going back to VP and he appointed a investor who ownes a rental as President(who wasn't even at the meeting) the boyfriend got my job as Treasurer . . .

How does one "go back" to being VP and then appoint someone President?

Ye gads.

Sidney,
I wouldn't know where to start with this mess. I question about the meeting at her house---"He was on the speaker phone and the newest Board member was there (meeting at her house) and the secretary that has left by now was there so they had three " How can they meet at someones house? How about the Statutes requirement for open meetings?

Exactly how many Board members do you require and how many were elected or will stay on the Board from previously? Were there not enough to fulfil that amount and that is why someone got appointed by the V.P? I also think that the names and changing names on the bank account is by far the least of your worries in this mess.

What needs to happen is one of 2 things because the current members do not have a clue on how to fix this. Either you need an attorney to come in and clean house to get things back on track or get a receivership to do things correctly.

Robert My Friend,
Only you could write it out so eloquently. This place is just plain screwed up and Sidney wants to fix it by herself but she surely is only one person. We never will have enough advice for her to use because it would take an entire website to do so.