The Battle has been WON. Now on to win the WAR!!!

For the past several years, we have not gotten a quorum at the annual members meeting. No election has taken place since the first HOA meeting 4years ago. The only people on the BOD right now are a group of complete ******. It also seems every time someone steps down from the BOD, they appoint one of their friends. It has gotten worst, and I will spare you the details.

Anyway, at the members meeting Wednesday night this is what happened…

We did not get a quorum; the PM made an announcement and said “we don’t have a quorum, no election. The BOD stays for another year.”

I raised my hand and said “I would like to motion (I, being a non-bod member) to reconvene the meeting in 30 days or less to get a quorum.”

PM; “that is not how it works, the BOD have to make that motion. They have to decide. (Looking towards the BOD) Would you guys like to do that?”

BOD; “No way, it cost us $700 to hold this meeting. It’s clear we are doing a good job or else people would be here to vote us out.”

Me to the PM; “I know you have many communities you look after; I think you have our by-laws confused with another community. I suggest you look over our by-laws and read them to the members that are present.”

Once the BOD and PM got done with picking their jaws up off the ground from shock; the PM announced “Yes Heather you are right, but we have to have someone second the motion.”

Five people raised their hands and said “I second that!!!”

PM; "Then we have to have a majority of members present vote to hold another member meeting."

We had EVERYONE IN THE ROOM RAISE THEIR HAND!!!

Here is information about the quorum, we have to have 30% and we have 325 in the community. We had 85 HO show up and 9 proxies. We were soooo close to a quorum. Of the 325 houses, about 100 of those are in foreclosure, up for sale, or rental.

Another side note. Another HO stood up at the end of the meeting and said this to the BOD. “Just to let the BOD know, Everyone in this room is here to vote you guys out of office. We have 5 people ready and willing to step up to take your place. If I was in your position right now and sitting behind that table, I would step down, EVERY SINGLE ONE OF YOU. We WILL get a quorum for the next meeting and you guys are complaining about spending $700 to hold the next meeting. If you guys appoint the people who are willing to run, we can cancel the next meeting and save everyone $700. You guys look like a bunch of idiots up their unwilling to do what is right for the neighborhood.”

Did they step down? NO.

So on to winning the war.

I had most of people in that room say to me “Heather, thank you for knowing our by-laws, this is how they have been playing for years. I hope your run for office (which I am).

We have another meeting scheduled for March 17th. I will keep everyone updated.

BUT also, we are going door to door collecting proxies. Any advice???

Anyway, I feel good about this and wanted to brag a bit on here, because you guys have helped so much!!! Thank you.

For all future posters in almost all future threads, Heather here is a prime example of the advice you will always get first from everyone here:

First, know your documents. Read the by-laws, covenants, restrictions, codes, etc. then read them again.

And secondly to Heather, nicely done. Good job giving the PM the "i am sure you are just confused" out. that shows some tact.

Well that is the way our BOD rolls. One of the reasons we want them out.

Welllll our club house only holds 50, and thats not comfortable.So, they rent a ballroom at a hotel down the street... $400

letters mailed out to homeowners... $150

Cost of the PM and voting officals... $150

Spending that twice to get our BOD out...Priceless!!!

Letters have to be printed and mailed out and the voting officals is a must. We cant get around that. However, their are other options for the venue.

Eeek! Glad there are other options to look at for the venue once you get the current board out. I think our local library has us spoiled - it's huge and has several rooms with lots of space, and it's free for non-profits.

And here I was upset that my board pays $50 to have chairs and tables setup in our clubhouse for our board meetings. lol

Our plan is we are going to go door to door with a copy of the proxxy in hand. Have them sign one and tell them if they end up coming, proxy will invaild. Like what janet said.

Do any of you know if it is illegal to do proxies that way?

Our proxies are sent out on a speical blue paper by our PM. We would really like them in hand to say "Oh you dont have one? thats ok... I have one right here." while we go around the neighborhood.

Our PM is not going to supply these for us, and of course the BOD would never approve. Ideas? I am going to post this also to get everyones feedback.

Up-date!!!!

We had our new members meeting tonight. This is what happened leadin up to tonight and what happened.

We re-covened our meeting from Feb.

3 homeowners including myself walked around and collected proxies. We got a whooping 150!!! Out of a community of 325.

Some homeowners said they would attend the meeting, and we asked them to sign a proxy anyway. Once they attended the meeting the proxy will become invalid. Most said yes. That way if something happened and could not come, their proxy will be there waiting.

We had 77 homeowners show up and 89 proxies that where submitted and valid. 98 where needed.

WE GOT OUR QUROUM!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

4 board members were up for reelection. 1 was not.

One board member that we all wanted to stay, got reelected.

AND we got 3 new board members......

INCLUDING MYSELF!!!

During the walk around the community, I got to talk and meet my neighbors. I think that is the best thing that came of this, at least for me selfishly. I also talked to my neighbors and I got to ask them what kind of changes they wanted. This information proved valuable during my speech tonight.

Now my work has just started and on to the hard part... Making my community a great place to live for my neighbors (now friends) and myself.

Congratulations, Heather!

Good luck to you!

Fine job! It's great that there are other new like-minded directors, and that a "good" one was reelected. An, yes, the others are right; now you need patience, and setting priorities is crucial.

My PM said the same thing at our last meeting just a few days ago. I asked when the next meeting will be to vote on the board but was told there will not be one and the board will stay. In my CCR it says we need 60% for a quorum and if we don't get that then another meeting will be held within 30 days and the quorum will be cut in half. I know Fl law trumps the CCR on this and we really only needed 30%. But our PM said we don't have the right to another meeting because it is not in the statutes. But I see you have a similar covenant. Does an association have the right to ask for another meeting when the quorum is not met or is my PM correct?
It is great what you did. Most people would not have the heart to stand up to the BOD or PM.

Jessica, how many homeowners showed up at the meeting? BECAUSE… quorum requirement from the FL 720 state this…

(1) QUORUM; AMENDMENTS.--

(a) Unless a lower number is provided in the bylaws, the percentage of voting interests required to constitute a quorum at a meeting of the members shall be 30 percent of the total voting interests. Unless otherwise provided in this chapter or in the articles of incorporation or bylaws, decisions that require a vote of the members must be made by the concurrence of at least a majority of the voting interests present, in person or by proxy, at a meeting at which a quorum has been attained.

So, unless your bylaws state a lower quorum number, your quorum is 30%.

If I were you, I would send the PM and your board a very nice, short email asking what was the attendance number was at the meeting. If they state that the number was over the required 30%, then and only then, I would very nicely state in another email…

Dear Board and PM,

It has come to my attention that the member’s meeting held on Feb X, 2011 had enough members present to establish a quorum. An election was not held. This is against the law because the FL statues indicate this..



If a new member’s meeting is not held in 30 days or less, I will be making efforts to correct this mistake outside of your power.

Thank you,
Jessica

If not enough people were present, you might want to send an email that states this…
Dear PM and Board,

According to the by-laws of the association, it states…



PM, I understand you might have many communities to look after and this tiny detail has been overlooked. It is very important to me and others in the community that this mistake is not overlooked. A new meeting should be called and the quorum requirements for the reconvened meeting will be, according to Florida statues, set at 15%. You see, not only missing the fact that a new meeting can be called with the quorum requirements half of the original, FL statues says our meeting quorum shall be set at 30%, not 60% as our by-laws state. Am I correct that FL law supersedes all governing documents?

Furthermore, if a new member’s meeting is not held in the next 30 days or less, I will be making efforts to correct this mistake outside of your powers.

Thank you,
J

BTW, I live in Clermont and I am curious to know what PM and company you guys have.