Disciplining Rogue Board Member

Started by JosephS16 • 9 replies • 3362 views

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JosephS16 (California)
Posts: 3

Posted:

Our board has an obligatory troublesome member who disagreed so strongly with a recent majority decision that he sent several letters to all homeowners (at his own expense) voicing his opinion and stating biased allegations against his fellow board members. Homeowners do this all the time and it's certainly their right. However, in this case, his letters had the letterhead of the HOA, contained misleading language such as referring to himself as "we", and closed with his position as an officer on the board and the name of the association again. I showed one letter to my wife and asked her who sent it. She replied, "The board."

I can't remember any time in the history of our community that a board member sent an unauthorized letter to homeowners purporting to be from the board yet attacking his fellow board members. What discipline do you think would be appropriate for such behavior?

MelissaP1 (Alabama)
Posts: 13,836

Posted:

You could contact the postal service and get the postal inspectors involved. This may be an illegal offense perpertrated by mail fraud. This could be in the area of a FEDERAL offense. However, I am NOT familiar enough with those laws to say for sure it falls into that area. It's just a good idea to do some research and ask questions to the proper authorities which would be the Postal service. The local police most likely won't do anything but take a report since mail delivery issues isn't in their realm except for vandalism.

This may scare them off a bit to not use the postal service to vent out their issues. It should ALL be done at the Board meetings in front of everyone or kept behind their own closed doors...

Former HOA President

JosephS16 (California)
Posts: 3

Posted:

MelissaP1,
Thanks for your response. I should point out that he delivered the letters himself to each homeowner's mailbox; however, this in itself could get him in trouble with 18 USC 1725: "Whoever knowingly and willfully deposits any mailable matter such as statements of accounts, circulars, sale bills, or other like matter, on which no postage has been paid, in any letter box established, approved, or accepted by the Postal Service for the receipt or delivery of mail matter on any mail route with intent to avoid payment of lawful postage thereon, shall for each such offense be fined under this title."

TimB4 (Tennessee)
Posts: 21,062

Posted:

1) The board needs to send a letter stating that the previous letter was the opinion of a single member acting on his own and should not be considered official communication from the Association.

2) Send a certified letter to the individual reminding them that he has the right to voice his opinion as a member of the Association but may not imply or claim to be representing the Board or Association.

3) If the individual is holding an officer position, the Board might consider removing them from that office.

4) If the behavior continues, you may need to have the attorney write a cease and desist letter and/or call a special meeting of the membership to remove him from the Board for cause.

SusanW1 (Michigan)
Posts: 5,202

Posted:

Sorry - but this is grounds for removal.

Investigate how to remove a board member. The directions would be in your own documents.

He misused his role as a board member and misrepresented the board's opinion. And he committed postal fraud.

Do you have the votes to get him off? He's a loose canon!

JosephS16 (California)
Posts: 3

Posted:

SusanW1 & TimB4,
Due to our cumulative voting and the results of our past election, it would be next to impossible to remove him from the board. Removing him as an officer is certainly an option, though, since he can be removed with or without cause by a majority of the board.

Do we have the votes to get him off? This question gave me a chuckle. He has completely isolated himself after starting his one-man civil war.

BradP (Kansas)
Posts: 2,640

Posted:

my 2 cents...as Susan said he needs to be removed as an officer if he is one. He should be reprimanded by the board in executive session at your next meeting. There are certainly a whole host of things you could do to him:

1. either he took hoa letterhead without approval or used the logo and created his own without approval, either way he did wrong
2. sticking letters in mailboxes without stamps is against the law
3. misrepresentation of himself and the board in the letter is wrong.

I would almost direct this to your attorney now depending on the severity of the situation. I would also certainly address this letter at your next meeting as well.

SteveM9 (Massachusetts)
Posts: 3,699

Posted:

Quote:

What discipline do you think would be appropriate for such behavior?

Oh give me a break. Just send another letter to everyone on HOA letterhead saying that letter was not from the HOA and was only the opinion of "one" person, John Doe. Sorry for any inconvenience this may have caused.

As far as the board member discipline? 50 pushups? Just kidding. If you think he needs to go, follow procedures at your HOA for board member removal and re-election.

CarolR11 (Colorado)
Posts: 2,563

Posted:

If your documents permit, you also could fine him for placing stuff in members' mailboxes. it is against HOA rules. You'd need to call him to hearing, with proper notice, etc.

JohnH31 (Texas)
Posts: 2

Posted:

I think you should take the high road. Send a letter to all the members saying something like this and try to difuse the situation instead of escalating it. Some people may agree with him and you do not want to alinate them.

We the majority of the board of directors would like to clarify that, while this individual is a member of the board, his opinion on this matter is not the opinion of the board. Since this is a democratic organization the majority rules. The majority opinion was different than his. He has the right to his opinion and to vote his conscious, just like everyone else, but it would be much better if he would make it clear that he is stating his opinion as a board member and that he disagrees with the majority opinion of the board. In the future I hope he does this so we do not have to spend your money to send out a letter like this in order to clarify things. We wish him the best and appreciate that everyone does not always agree with the majority. We hold nothing agasinst people who disagree with us as long as they express their opinion as being their own.

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