Advice needed dealing with a difficult HOA Board

I've been in my home for few years now and my first year in the home I served on the HOA Board. It was pretty uneventful but gave me a lot of insight on the dealings of the HOA and neighborhood. Recently, I've started to receive a lot of ill will from a few of the board members (I'm no longer on the board, decided not to run again).

Here are a few of the issues I've had:

I emailed the board if the neighborhood sign would be updated and if so when. (The sign is at the front of the neighborhood and we do announcements like pool is open or movie night coming up. There was an event that was a month old still on the board). After waiting a few days of with no response, I send another email to the board and property manager asking for an update. I received an email from one board member stating "realize that there are more important things to worry about".
Another board member write to m that if I had so much time that I should form a committee and make suggestions to the board as to what to put on the sign because they had more important things like work, their own lives to worry about instead. A little back story on the board is that the newsletter was cancelled by the board a year ago, so the sign is the only way of communicating with the neighborhood about community garage sales, movie nights, etc.

A few months go by and I submit a request for the approved HOA meeting notes (the meetings are closed to homeowners). This request was ignored for over 2 months and the notes were never sent to me. They recently decided that sometimes they talk about private homeowner personal information (the waiving of fees for a short sale, etc) and have voted that it's best that they not release the meeting notes to anyone including homeowners.

The reason this concerns me is that we have a member on the board who does home improvement/contract work and he and his company have been getting a lot of no bid contract work from the HOA (annual fees collected by the HOA are about $225,000 from 490 homes). The same board member is an avid tennis player (the only board member who plays) and this year the four tennis courts were resurfaced and new tennis tables/chairs/nets were ordered last year). Another board member works with pool maintenance, chemicals, etc and the nearly Olympic sized pool the neighborhood has was resurfaced this year as well. Since I don't have the meeting notes, I have no way of knowing if his company received the work or even how many bids were received.

The yearly dues are $425 and the HOA (3 of the 5 members have been on the board for 5+ years) are very difficult to deal with. We've also had 4 different property managers (same property management company) in the last 12 months. The HOA have used this same property management company for over 5 years.

What is your advice on dealing with board members like this?
If I ask anything from the board members, I'm just getting insulting emails back. The meetings are closed off and they will not release the meeting notes.
Is there a conflict of interest having board members benefiting by being on the HOA?
Is there anything I can do?

Thanks for any insight given!

They MUST give you requested minutes of the meetings.
You may have to pay for copies, but you are entitled to these.

You are entitled to the minutes. I'd suggest that you keep politely asking and following up.

But, you should get elected to the Board again and get your info that way. It's easier to get info and change things from the inside than from the outside.

It's hard to know if the Board Members have an illegal conflict-of-interest or not. You simply don't have enough info. No bid contracts, in and among themselves, are unwise but not illegal. Liking tennis and voting to fix tennis courts is not illegal.

Victor, make a copy of the pertinent portions of your governing documents. Attach those portions to the relevant sections of the GA code for non-profit corporations:

TITLE 14. CORPORATIONS, PARTNERSHIPS, AND ASSOCIATIONS
CHAPTER 3. NONPROFIT CORPORATIONS
ARTICLE 16. RECORDS AND REPORTS
PART 1. RECORDS

O.C.G.A. § 14-3-1602 (2010)

§ 14-3-1602. Members' right to copy and inspect records

(a) A corporation shall keep a copy of the following records:

(1) Its articles or restated articles of incorporation and all amendments to them currently in effect;

(2) Its bylaws or restated bylaws and all amendments to them currently in effect;

(3) Resolutions adopted by either its members or board of directors increasing or decreasing the number of directors or the classification of directors, or relating to the characteristics, qualifications, rights, limitations, and obligations of members or any class or category of members;

(4) Resolutions adopted by either its members or board of directors relating to the characteristics, qualifications, rights, limitations, and obligations of members or any class or category of members;

(5) The minutes of all meetings of members, executed waivers of notice of meetings, and executed consents, delivered in writing or by electronic transmission, evidencing all actions taken or approved by the members without a meeting, for the past three years;

(6) All communications in writing or by electronic transmission to members generally within the past three years, including the financial statements furnished for the past three years under Code Section 14-3-1620;

(7) A list of the names and business or home addresses of its current directors and officers; and

(8) Its most recent annual registration delivered to the Secretary of State under Code Section 14-3-1622.

(b) A member is entitled to inspect and copy, at a reasonable time and location specified by the corporation, any of the records of the corporation described in subsection (a) of this Code section if the member gives the corporation written notice or a written demand at least five business days before the date on which the member wishes to inspect and copy.

(c) A member is entitled to inspect and copy, at a reasonable time and reasonable location specified by the corporation, any of the following records of the corporation if the member meets the requirements of subsection (d) of this Code section and gives the corporation written notice at least five business days before the date on which the member wishes to inspect and copy:

(1) Excerpts from minutes of any meeting of the board of directors, records of any action of a committee of the board of directors while acting in place of the board of directors on behalf of the corporation, minutes of any meeting of the members, and records of action taken by the members or the board of directors without a meeting, to the extent not subject to inspection under subsection (a) of this Code section;

(2) Accounting records of the corporation; and

(3) Subject to Code Section 14-3-1605, the membership list.

(d) A member may inspect and copy the records identified in subsection (c) of this Code section only if:

(1) The member's demand is made in good faith and for a proper purpose that is reasonably relevant to the member's legitimate interest as a member;

(2) The member describes with reasonable particularity the purpose and the records the member desires to inspect;

(3) The records are directly connected with this purpose; and

(4) The records are to be used only for the stated purpose.

(e) This Code section does not affect:

(1) The right of a member to inspect records under Code Section 14-3-720 or, if the member is in litigation with the corporation, to the same extent as any other litigant; or

(2) The power of a court, independently of this chapter, to compel the production of corporate records for examination.


Along with this:

TITLE 14. CORPORATIONS, PARTNERSHIPS, AND ASSOCIATIONS
CHAPTER 3. NONPROFIT CORPORATIONS
ARTICLE 16. RECORDS AND REPORTS
PART 1. RECORDS

O.C.G.A. § 14-3-1604 (2010)

§ 14-3-1604. Court-ordered inspection

(a) If a corporation does not allow a member who complies with subsection (b) of Code Section 14-3-1602 to inspect and copy any records required by that subsection to be available for inspection, the superior court may summarily order inspection and copying of the records demanded at the corporation's expense upon application of the member.

(b) If a corporation does not within a reasonable time allow a member to inspect and copy any other record, the member who complies with subsections (b) and (c) of Code Section 14-3-1602 may apply to the superior court for an order to permit inspection and copying of the records demanded. The court shall dispose of an application under this subsection on an expedited basis.

(c) If the court orders inspection and copying of the records demanded, it shall also order the corporation to pay the member's costs (including reasonable attorneys' fees) incurred to obtain the order unless the corporation proves that it refused inspection in good faith because it had a reasonable basis for doubt about the right of the member to inspect the records demanded.

(d) If the court orders inspection and copying of the records demanded, it may impose reasonable restrictions on the use or distribution of the records by the demanding member.

And, for good measure:

TITLE 14. CORPORATIONS, PARTNERSHIPS, AND ASSOCIATIONS
CHAPTER 3. NONPROFIT CORPORATIONS
ARTICLE 16. RECORDS AND REPORTS
PART 2. REPORTS

O.C.G.A. § 14-3-1620 (2010)

§ 14-3-1620. Furnishing financial statements to members

(a) A corporation upon request in writing or by electronic transmission from a member shall furnish that member its latest prepared annual financial statements, which may be consolidated or combined statements of the corporation and one or more of its subsidiaries or affiliates, in reasonable detail as appropriate, that include a balance sheet as of the end of the fiscal year and statement of operations for that year. If financial statements are prepared for the corporation on the basis of generally accepted accounting principles, the annual financial statements must also be prepared on that basis.

(b) If annual financial statements are reported upon by a public accountant, the accountant's report must accompany them. If not, the statements must be accompanied by the statement of the president or the person responsible for the corporation's financial accounting records:

(1) Stating the president's or other person's reasonable belief as to whether the statements were prepared on the basis of generally accepted accounting principles and, if not, describing the basis of preparation; and

(2) Describing any respects in which the statements were not prepared on a basis of accounting consistent with the statements prepared for the preceding year.
_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Send the above with your request to view the documents. Then wait your five days and see what happens. Surely you can't be the only member that's ever asked for this stuff.

I'm not sure where you're getting your 67% majorities for special meetings and replacing Board Members. 5% for calling the meeting is required by law. May be around 20% in your docs. 67% only for amendments.

Are HOAs in the State of Georgia required to be registered as a non-profit corporation?