Bad Board Member

Barb, read your bylaws. Usually board members have to the power to remove an officer from a particular officers position. But to remove a board member from the board takes a vote of the owners.

Just because someone joins the Board doesn't mean they have to give up the rights that they would have as a member. I would assume that other residents can form petition drives for changes that they would like to see addressed in the neighborhood? There's probably nothing that you can legally do about that. But on the other hand, if she's seeking a petition and representing herself as a Board member or stating that the petition is from the Board, then you have a major ethics issue. Most Bylaws that I've reviewed don't go into enough detail to provide you with a remedy for removing an officer for "misconduct". She was elected by the membership and she'll probably need to be removed by the membership.

My personal opinion is to first have a one-on-one with her about the situation, then call a Special Meeting of the Board (don't include the neighborhood at this point if you can legally avoid it) if she continues to involve the Board. Explain to her that she has every right to conduct a petition drive (as long as it meets whatever rules you have for that), but she must do it as a private member since the Board has not approved the issue she is soliciting signatures for. If her position on the Board continues to be used as a selling point then the Board will have to take the necessary action to disassociate themselves from her activities. This may include a special mailing to the membership, mention in the newsletter, or calling of a special meeting of the membership to consider a recall. Emphasize that this is not an attempt to embarrass or humiliate her but the Board does not support her petition and must isolate itself from her activities. She can continue her petition drive (as a private member) and bring it before the Board by established means. If anyone ties her to the Board, she should inform them that her petition drive is a private one.

I kind of ended up being "her" over one of my crusades against a convenient store that wanted to locate the entrance to their 1800 vehicle/day station gas stations directly across from our entrance (without a stoplight). I had led the fight on two previous occasions for the neighborhood (as a member of the Board) without any issues. The third time it came up I did the same as I had before but this time the new Board President (Beware of pompous attorneys that serve on Boards) decided that our Bylaws didn't give us permission to get involved in anything outside the boundaries of our subdivision. He then went on to try and rewrite history to say my first two campaigns were illegal too. The Board then tried to make my life on the Board unbearable as retaliation so I resigned my communications position but stayed on the Board to monitor a number of other questionable activities. The neighborhood network, as well as the website were of my creation and being privately funded by me. I disassociated my email network from the the Board, notified the residents of such, and offered them the opportunity to Opt-Out of my email updates (no one did). I continue to work to ensure the neighborhood is kept informed on any variety of topics, fortunately very little has to do with Board activities other than an occasional notice of meetings (which our Board doesn't post because they don't want to be bothered by people showing up). Having a private email network is still a very touch subject with this years Board though as they want to be the ones to control everything that goes out to the neighborhood. I did try to reconcile the communications issue with them but then I caught them illegally stealing the neighborhood domain name that I had set up, (would have cost too much for me to sue them and they were compensating me for the annual operating costs), and trying to discredit me. So there continues to be two networks even today, mine being the more successful of the two. Moral of this story? Make sure you consider all her possible options before you start making enemies of your own Board members.

Good Luck.