PRESIDENT GIVES ONE OWNER SPECIAL PRIVILDGE

Does the President of an HOA have the power to overturn an existing HOA policy for only ONE owner?

Does this not create a special class of ownership? Is anyone familiar with any AZ State Statute that speaks to this?

Thanks again! I also am attaching something that I found on the internet that deals with Board Code of Conduct that might really prove beneficial to those serving on boards. Seems boards think the "gadflys" are just the folks on the other side of the table.HOMEOWNERS ASSOCIATION CODE OF CONDUCT FOR DIRECTORS

The Homeowner Association Board of Directors has approved the following code of conduct for its members in order to ensure that they maintain a high standard of ethical conduct in the performance of the Association business, and to ensure that the residents maintain confidence in and respect for the entire Board.

The following principles and guidelines constitute the code of conduct:

No individual shall use his/her position as a Board member for private gain, for example:

No Board member shall solicit or accept, directly or indirectly, any gifts, gratuity, favor, entertainment, loan, or any other thing of monetary value from a person who is seeking to obtain contractual or other business or financial relations with Association.

No Board member shall accept a gift or favor made with intent of influencing decision or action on any official matter.

No Board member shall receive any compensation from the association for acting as such.

No Board member shall engage in any writing, publishing, or speech making that defames any other member of the Association Board or resident of the Association community.

No Board member will willingly misrepresent facts to the residents of the community for the sole purpose of advancing a personal cause or influencing the community to place pressure on the Board to advance a Board member's personal cause.

No Board member nor his/her agent or employee or family member shall enter into a personal service contract with the Association without previous disclosure of such interest to the Board.

No Board member will seek to have a contract implemented that has not been duly approved by the Board.

No Board member will interfere with a contractor implementing a contract in progress. All communications with contractors will go through management or be in accordance with policy.

No Board member will interfere with the system of management established by the Board and the management company.

No Board member will harass, threaten, or attempt through any means to control or install fear in an Association contractor.

Any Board member who violates this code of conduct agrees that the Board of Directors may seek injunctive relief against him/her and agrees to pay the attorney's fees incurred by the Board in that enforcement effort.

President Date

Vice President Date

Secretary/Treasurer

Date

Hi Melissa.....this is about a process server trying to serve a board member who wrote his own rule about being notified by the gate when in fact there is a standing policy that owners are NOT TO be notified (according to a legal opinion obtained). The president of the board allowed this and when I asked the gate if I were going to be notified should some attempt service to me I was told NO. Therefore, regardless of the circumstances, it seems to me that someone has knowingly created two classes of ownership and I would think that illegal. What do you think?

I seem to recall, Joanne, your lengthy email on this topic. I can't remember: are you on the board or not?

This is one of those areas that crosses HOA and the law lines. The HOA can NOT interfere in the operations of the court system. Which means they are limited in making such a rule NOT to allow court servers into the HOA area. That is the HOA's LIMITATION and LINE.

It is NOW a PERSONAL level when somwone allows interference with the law. It is no longer a HOA matter or policy. It is THAT person violating the law and encouraging others. They are hiding behind the HOA facade.

I would report this to the authorities to investigate. I would also talk to the guards at the gate and advise them to call the police whenever the server shows up. This way they can have the legal police support they need to by'pass this member interfering. This should protect them from liability and record the activity that could very well be illegal. Let the police sort this out and NOT the HOA. The board member is crossing this legal line and does NOT need to bring the rest of you down with it. A board member represents the WHOLE HOA membership..Does this reflect what the owners want? I think not...It may be time to recall this member or give him a jolt of the real world by letting the law know...

Our Board prez has no authority whatsoever to overturn (or make) policy; only a quorum of the board acting at a meeting may make or overturn policy. But maybe there are HOA's where the presidents or other individual directors have that power. If so, I'm very glad that I don't live in that type of HOA.

That the person has had threats against his life has nothing to do with process servers' entry. Presumably your gate guard can prohibit access to your community to any person a resident does not want to enter. But it sounds as though this doesn't apply to officers of the court.

Joanne

I could be wrong, but I thought you had beat this subject to death in another post.
I

Joanne,

As for the authority of the President to change or modify a policy, the answer would be it depends on what authority is given to the President by the Board and/or through the governing documents. Therefore, what do your governing documents identify as the duties of the President?

I'm not clear on this one - There is or isn't written policy specifically about process servers?

As you know, the President is considered the face and voice of the Association. Therefore, if a President does something independent of what the Board desires, the people acting on that word would have been acting in good faith that the instructions came from the Board. Although you are properly holding the President responsible, I mention that point for others who might read this thread and think that the issue should be against those who implemented the instructions vs the one who gave the instructions.

I know that you asked John to ignore the underlying issue but the underlying issue, I believe, is probably behind why the President did what he did.

Per that background, the member who wants to be informed threatened to shoot unannounced visitors. Perhaps, the President was trying to defuse a situation before it escalated into violence. Have you asked the President why they did what they did or are you just forming an opinion based on hearsay?

As I posted, the authority will depend on what your Association allows. Typically the President may not override a board decision or a written policy without prior authorization from the rest of the board. However, as others have posted (and I agree with), there are sometimes extraordinary circumstances that requires modifying a decision or granting a waiver. If the board isn't happy with the Presidents action, they have the authority to reverse it and/or remove the President from office.

Tim

Tim

In Arizona, it is legal for any member to film or tape a meeting of the Board.

Yes, he can show his tape to a judge and claim harassment. Once the judge learns that the "harassment" is that the HOA is not going to violate public policy by warning him of the approach of process servers, the case will be dismissed. Ironically, your board member will have to hire a process server to serve each of the defendants.

Are you really prepared to hire a lawyer and file lawsuit? Because you might lose. So what is the big deal. Why aren't you just happy that the president is willing to do the payless job? So you don't get everything perfectly the way you want it. So what. And if you still don't see my point then why not just become the president yourself and then see what a monster headache you have.

Hi Joanne, a minor point: It's can be difficult following your posts when you refer to an individual director as a "BOD." Many HOA's routinely use BOD to refer to the Board of Directors as a whole. So it might help us, or at least me, if you'll refer to the director with the process serve issue as "the director," or even by a fictitious name. Thanks.

I understand the "that's not fair" nature of this but there's no need for directors to get between another board member being "served" by a court. They'll get this person and the summons will be presented.

Of all rules to go bananas over, a rule actually exists governing how and how not residents can be issued summons. Ugh.

Worry about the flowers.

Thanks for the responses and I do like flowers much more than this kind of stuff. The owner demanded to be alerted when the gate permitted the process server in and that will be addressed in the revised statute. I was not coming from the position of "no one wants a summons" but a position of it is an order of the court. Thanks again and I am certain that he will get served at some point because there is way too much money involved. This site is always helpful as most people cannot afford nor do they want to contact lawyers every time there is a question or dispute. Thanks again.