Recall or resignation? Any help would be appreciated.

We are in Calif. I am a new board member and the gentleman I was elected with to *clean up the mess*, would like to recall 2 other board members. As the management company continues to make getting financial info difficult for us, as the treasurer has several contracts with the builder (at twice the going rate AND he made a police report for stolen property here that no one could verify BUT the assn OKeyed the payout of 4000.00- his business insurance should have covered it) (the 3rd board member also works for the builder), as they continue to make decisions NOT in the best interest of the community and they also are allowed perks that the rest of the community is fined hundreds of dollars for doing, the list goes on and on.
Bottom line, its not good. The majority of the community does not want these other board members in, but as the homeowners are shut down and ignored whenever they attend meetings to express their concern....they are frustrated and disgusted. As new board members with one meeting under our belt, we have a hard road ahead of us. We know that.
Ultimately we would like to get these 2 board members off, fire the management company that also ONLY contracts with our builder (and has their offices 3 hours away). There are many cozy contracts among the management co and the 2 board members.
We would also like to work with local companies (the majority are out of the area because they are connected to the builder and management company AND are paid much more than the going rate for the same services).
How do we begin? Resignation signatures? a recall petition? (I realize this involved an election etc). I believe their plan may be to thwart our efforts to get all of the financials we need to be up to date on the current situation, then try to get one of us newbies off the board. This way they could continue to shut down every effort.
I came from an HOA community for 24 years that was fantastic. I guess I didn't appreciate them anough. I had not idea how corrupt a board COULD be.
Any help would be appreciated. Thank you.

Its been an interesting road.
We have asked to receive financials. They have given us some. But we keep pressing on.
The management company sent us (by accident!!) some financials from other communities they manage (all connected to one builder) and we found this board member is connected to all of them (with his contracts). He has been paid an extraordinary amount of money over the past two years without explanation. We are asking for invoices. They are very selective as to what they share. None of these invoices are ever supplied. He is paid under misc repairs, although no one remembers any repairs being done. Crazy.
When we were elected, we took 2 builder seats away, there is one left. 2 homeowners, 1 builder seat and the two of us (newbies). The builder is still building homes so they do have a vote.

I will search the site for resignation and recall info.
Thank you so much for your help.

Loree,

You can find authoritative answers to your questions at the Adams Kessler law firm's Website. Adams Kessler specializes in California HOA law. One of its associate's co-authored California's Davis-Stirling Act--the most significant body of law affecting California HOAs.

Begin by going to the site's homepage--http://www.davis-stirling.com/

Then, on the the site's homepage, use the scrolling menu on the left to find (and click on) links like the following: "Recalling directors," "Conflicts of interest," "Records," "Fiduciary duties," "Treasurer," "Ultra vires act," "Small claims court," "Bidding policy," "Certification of managers," "Open forum," and "Free speech."

Most of the resulting pages will contain links to additional Web pages that will get you right to the kind of information you need. When you find a page that is useful, print it out, make copies of the page, and at board meetings distribute the copies you made to the other board members.

Remember that, as Francis Bacon wrote, knowledge is power. Get to know California association law. Insist that the laws of California be obeyed. If necessary, threaten to take violations of the Davis-Stirling Act to small claims court and to call criminal offenses to the attention of California's Attorney General.

Good luck!

I am a new board member trying to help this community suffering with a corrupt board and management company. Thank you for everyone's help.

Loree,
FIRST, follow Roger's advise. Find out who is in control of your HOA. If you have not had turnover and you are not registered at the courthouse, as a Owner controlled HOA, you are in a hard place and it is going to be difficult if all this stuff is going on. Pay attention to George when he tells you you need to know as much about the legal proceeding as your adversary.

If you are under the control of the Homeowners and you were elected in a proper election and the same for the rest of your Board, you need to convince the majority of the Board they need to step up and learn their job. And it sounds like get rid of your management company, your manager, turn the problem Board members and move on while picking up the pieces. You, are on the spot because you asked, but all this could fall to you, so if you have any way to build support, do it now, and get some interested owners and turn the Board around by whatever way gets the best results.

In the event you are just a figure head on a developers board, spend your time learning all you can and be absolutely ready to step in and up when transition time rolls around. There are advantages to having owners on a developers board and the main one, I think, is to learn the ropes, I doubt you are going to effect the bottom line of the developer, especially if he is in trouble and many are right now.