update regarding Special Owners Meeting Question post

Hi! Thanks again to everyone who had a comment regarding my last post entitled "Special Owners Meeting Question". John had the most similar situation to mine and his advice hit the nail on the head on several points Please read that thread to get some background 'cause I don't want to waste space re-discussing. John supported my intention to send owners the notice of Board vacancy and I did so, explaining that "the Board had directed the PM to send this out on July 25th, but for whatever reason he had not done so" and that it is of "high concern to the Board that all owners be aware of the vacancy in order to offer, if they choose, to serve for the remaining term". I also made it clear that on several occasions the Board had discussed it's intent to make communication between the Board and owners more open, that I was not speaking for the president on this occassion and was sending this of my own volition, in good faith, as their representative of the Association so that ALL owners were aware. I also said that the appointment was the first order of business for the next regular Board meeting. It hit mailboxes today.

There has been a new development and I hope to get some feedback regarding it:
Our president resigned last night before he had seen that I sent the vacancy request to owners directly. I am now the sole Board Director (1 of 3) with 2 vacancies. Our Special Owners meeting for the FHA change is to be had this Saturday, but now we have no president to precide over the meeting. Our doc's do not address officer changes - they call for the "remaining Board Director(s) to appoint a Director after removel, death, or resignation to serve for the remainder of the term" which is our annual owners meeting in January. There is no mention of officers changing positions after a vacancy. If you read the last thread, you know that I want the FHA change to be made by written ballot anyway.

So my intent is to direct our PM to notify owners that the meeting will be replaced by a written ballot for this specific change, then to actively discuss with owners individually if they will serve so as to get a full board. I am fully prepared to tell everyone their options for a new PM and that this can happen at the next Director meeting. BTW, owners are completely misinformed of their options, but I have the results on paper to prove this is fiscally responsible and a duty for the Board to replace our PM. Furthermore, I am fully prepared to tell the PM to either send out the notification that I have written as Secretary or to hand over the email contact list immediately. I feel like I am in the home-stretch, but does anyone see any bumps based on your experience?

Lauren,

I agree with Susan, you can run the meeting. With no other board members, you are the interim president,

Regarding Susan's suggestion to cancel the meeting: I'd say that would depend on your membership. In many (if not most) cases, the board would appoint new members to replace those who have stepped-down, etc. Assuming this is the case in your docs, being the only board member, you would be entitled to appoint the new members.

In our case, we have one empty seat which the board is entitled to appoint. I do not want to do so until our nominating committee has had a chance to bring a few candidates before the board. The reason being, this was commonplace here even to the point of manipulating the term of the resigning board members to ensure a maximum term for the new member. Our general membership was so distrustful of the board and these practices that had we done so we would have lost a lot of the ground we have gained. On the other hand, this was a little easier for us since 8 out of a 9 member board is better than 1 out of 3.

Apathy is a big problem in many communities. If you don't get the support of the membership you will have little choice but to appoint board members. However, the problem with blaming apathy is that apathy is often caused by a sense of futility.

If I were you, I would weigh the alternatives in light of your membership. Will your membership respond at all? If so, to which option will the respond the most favorably. Yeah, it's a guess, but your guess is better than ours.

You have an ideal chance to make significant changes for the betterment of your community. If you can get the membership behind you, all the better. I wish you the best with it.