Having a vote nullified

I am no lawyer not even close to a lawyer, but I believe a vote can be considered invalid.
We had a case like that at our annual meeting. A vote was taken to "amend" our documents, but there was no letter sent informing the entire membership a vote would be taken to "amend" the documents. It was an invalid vote and did not stand.
We were petitioned later by the membership to have a special meeting for a revote on the subject. Proxie letters were mailed to the entire membership, a meeting was called, votes were taken and the outcome was quite different from the original vote.

Each of the sections had their won board, bylaws, CC&R's, etc... Initially Section 4 voted to merge with Section 1 and assumed the bylaws of Section 1. Then Section 3 voted to merge and accept the bylaws of Sections 1 & 4.

I am pretty confident that in both elections there was not a quorum present and even if there was I am even more confident that they don't have the documentation to support it. Since I am in Section 3 I am hoping I can hire an attorney to prove these beliefs true which would force us back to individual HOA's and give us freedom from the dictatorship in Section 1.

Mike

Wheere is Setion 2 in all this?

Tnaks

Section 2 was never activated when they built those homes, so they have never actually had an HOA.

Mike

Did you buy into Section 3 after they had agreed to merge with Section 1 and 4, which had already merged?

Thanks

Mike,

I have been trying to follow your posts. Apparently is no Section 2, and you are in Section 3.

And so the consolidated CC&R’s recently amended and recorded are for sections 1, 3 and 4.

The pdf that you provided a link to, is the Bylaws - Is that Document that you are thinking was not properly voted for? What about the consolidated CC&R’s – any problem with that document or vote?

I just scanned the Board Meeting section of the Bylaws that you reference and I did not see anything particularly unusual. What specifically are you objecting to? How were the “old” Bylaws different?

Also just quickly scanning, it appears that your bylaws can be amended by vote of the Board or by 67% of members (although the 67% does not seem particularly clear). Since it can be “either or” – do you know “who” supposedly voted to amend?

And just a comment - in Texas apparently Bylaws still have to be recorded - interesting because in many states this is no longer necessary.

The issue is that the new bylaws are significantly different than the ones we were originally under prior to the merger. If we were going to be asked to changed the bylaws which we were going to be governed under after the merger, the new bylaws should have been made available for us to review prior to the election. I as well as several others, would not have approved the merger if I had seen the new bylaws.

Myself as well as four other people I trust are running for the board in the upcoming election. However, the new bylaws reduce the number of board members from seven to five making it very difficult to get a majority of seats on the board. Being on the board and not having a voting majority of the seats would keep us exactly where we are, powerless. So I am looking to have the results of the vote tossed out on the basis that there is no documentation of a quorum, a vote count, or evidence that the members voting were made aware of the change in bylaws.

The whole vote and bylaw issue is simply the straw that broke the camel's back. This board has been a huge detriment to our neighborhood. While most members in other HOA's complain that there board is to strict, ours is the total opposite. Our property values have tanked the last five years above and beyond what those in surrounding communities have. They are not proactive in any type of enforcement and if a complaint is filed they may or may not respond to it. They pick and choose what CC&R's they will enforce and they pick and choose what members to enforce them on.

When seats have become vacant on the board, generally because people get frustrated and resign, instead of holding an election the President hand picks replacements and assigns them a title. We finally convinced him that this was in conflict with the bylaws and got approval to hold an election. Per the bylaws we got an Election Committee formed and the Committee was in the process of identifying and vetting the candidates when the board took the list of candidates and decided to bypass the Committee and type and distribute the ballots themselves. This probably doesn't sound like such a big deal but the ballot included one person's name that cannot be identified as a homeowner or resident, one name was misspelled, and one of the current board members that is running for re-election told the Secretary to be sure and put her name at the top of the ballot. Then they decided to mail 1/3 of the ballots and the remaining 2/3 were hand delivered, door to door, and if the person wasn't home it was left stuffed in the door jam. Not to mention that the board member running for re-election was one of the people hand delivering ballots. As if this wasn't bad enough, this same person went around and taped blank ballots to each of the community mail boxes.

This is just the big stuff, trust me I have a lot more, but I think it would display why we need to either gain a majority of seats on the board or have the original vote thrown out.

MikeG6,

You wrote “the ballot included one person's name that cannot be identified as a homeowner or resident”. However, the Bylaws that you posted states that: “A director need not be a member of the Association”.

Also those Bylaws state that “Directors shall serve two-year, staggered terms”. How many positions are being voted?

Or, are you going about setting up a “new” Board of five “at the next annual meeting following the adoption of these bylaws”?

As Susan wrote – “it sounds like there is much confusion”.

You wrote that you are questioning the vote of your Section 3.

Since your Consolidated Declaration was approved by at least a 2/3 vote of owners of each section, and attested to by the then President - in September 2011 – not that long ago - it seems that, “that President” should be able to show you a tally that the required number of votes were obtained for your Section.

Have you specifically asked for that vote count information?

Curious – does Sections 1, 3, and 4 each have about the same number of homeowner members?

The bylaws we were operating under at the time did not have that stipulation that a director need not be a member. (another issue I have with the new bylaws).

Because all of the current directors, with the exception of the current president who is resigning, were appointed to the board by the president and not actually voted in per the bylaws all seats are open.

I have specifically asked for the meeting minutes from the vote as well as documentation of the vote results. I was told he was not going to dig through the records for my pleasure. I have since submitted a second informal request for those records. If he denies me again I will file a formal request for a review of the records per Article X of the bylaws.

Yes, all three sections are within a handful of having the same number of homes.

And yes, there is much confusion. ;O)

Is that the new Bylaws or your old Bylaws? Either way should never have used "and/or" and should have been definative.

Why are you asking the president for these minutes. (That's like asking the pastor about paperwork for the church0

The SECRETARY is responsible for all meeting records. The vote talley should be in those minutes.

As a member you are entitled to see them. (They should all be in one binder, anyway. I don't see what the problem is)