How to control a rogue trustee?!?

Hi Jay:

Any action taken alone by this trustee is not an action of the Board, and therefore cannot be done. If she does anything without the Board voting on it (beyond what is simply authorized by budget) that could be grounds for a lawsuit.

Your bylaws should specify two things:
1) How the balance of the Board can vote her "out of office" as an officer of the corporation (she would still be a trusee/board member; and
2) How the membership can recall her.

By the way, why would the rest of the trustees give her the association's checkbook and other assets? As Dr. Phil would say to them: "What WERE you thinking?" They should demand them back.

JayM2 - communication is key - 2 out vote 1- therefore the 2 can vote to send a letter to all owners stating that the board as a majority has conveined and feels it is within their fiduciary responsibility to advise the community they are to disregard the notice distributed to owners from the trustee, the content of which is not in accordance with the process of declaring elections, etc. site the by-laws on the process for declaring the elections and the next anticipated date as some sort of proof. advise the community that the board does not condone unilateral action that speaks for the board as a governing body. this is not only poor business, but may be considered illegal. removal of a trustee is typically done by those that elected the trustee or by the trustee not being elected as an incumbent in an election. removal of the trustee's directorship (Pres., VP., Sec., Treasurer,) can usually be done anytime at the pleasure (or displeasure in this case) by the remaining board members. does the board have an attorney?

I am not sure about your rogue trustee issue. Why can't the trustee have a copy of the bank account/checkbook and other records? It's their right to have access to this information just like it is with any member.
The HOA is a corporation and the members shareholders. That means that the corporation must provide information to the shareholder/members either good or bad. (Collection report are slightly different issue). My question is why is this information being handled so secretly in the first place?
The first thing you must understand as a board member is the money the HOA has is NOT yours but EVERYONE's. A board member is ELECTED to manage the money on a daily basis and/or make major decisions on the behalf of the general members.
My point is that maybe it's not an issue of "control" but an issue of changing the way things are run. I suspect there are other issues here in the way your HOA is managed. The fact that things seem to be "uncontrolled" lately and the assessment denied.
I'd suggest reading other posts here and see if your HOA is experiencing similar issues. You may find solutions. Especially when it comes to hiring legal council. Suing your HOA is suing yourself and your neighbors. So I'd hesitate dragging in legal representation just because a member may be challenging the "Norm".

LanceT, for the sake of brevity, I have not included all of the details. I'm sorry to say your assumptions could not be more incorrect.

Trustees have always had equal access to information (it's now even posted to our web site). But this trustee was NOT asking for COPIES of information, but the checkbook & records themselves. To use your example, shareholders would never be given the checkbook to a corporation. Besides, the other trustee & myself have been the acting treasurer & secretary, we need these assets to perform our duties.

Moreover, she demanded the association's checkbook ONLY after being notified the indentures do not allow funds to be spent on improving PRIVATE property, the private property of her two immediate neighbors. We were concerned association funds would be misappropriated & did not relinquish the checkbook.

Here's some of her recent actions: She DEMANDED to use subdivision funds in a manner which directly violates the indentures; after this notice, she unilaterally "appoints" a new trustee (which the indentures disallow & there was NO vacancy to fill); she refused to tell us when trustee terms started which is required to be recorded [we learned trustee's terms have expired...4 years ago!]; she provided emails to the neighbors who would (potentially) be receiving association funds despite being explicitly told the information was not to be shared, but to be discussed prior to rendering a decision; she re-keys the association's PO box which prevents us access to association mail (despite the fact she has not checked the mail in over a year); she sends notice to the homeowners which are full of false accusations & misleading information; and, has now set a date & sent notice for elections which she intends to preside over.

Hope that helps to clear things up.

GlenL - i couldn't disagree more. Jay and the other board member should absolutely not permit the election to occur, it's not properly convened. this is an attempt at a hostile takeover.

Now that I have a better understanding of your definition of a "rogue" trustee, I can address your issue better. Before it seemed like the person may have had a "wake up call" and was trying to run things differently from the "norm". However, it seems much more like what happened with my new board after I left.
The board that took over after I left, were a bit on the "selfish" side. It was amazing how many "personal items" suddenly got paid for that I had denied while in office. For some reason, they were under the impression that the $5K in the bank at the beginning of the month meant that the was "extra" money and could be spent. They were quick to blame me for "lying" to them about us being broke. There was PLENTY of money for them to hand out to get their private retaining walls, flowerbeds, or redecorate the clubhouse. So guess what they did? You guessed it. They spent that $5K within the first month or so. Can you see the problem now? You are correct to assume that the $5K at the beginning of the month was for the $5K of MONTHLY BILLS!!! So at the beginning of the NEXT month there was nothing in the bank account to cover the bills. Monthly dues don't clear the bank until after the 5th.
I am giving you this example because I have been through a similar situation where board members/president did take control over the "checkbook" and did themselves/neighbors "favors". The result was that they shot themselves in their own foot. I gave them enough rope to hang themselves.
This is my same advice to you. Give some rope to this rogue member. Simply if their ideas don't make sense to the other sane members of the HOA, it isn't going to fly. I say let the other members listen to this person's ideas and force them to explain how they are going to fund the project. Make sure the other members understand the money being used is THEIR money and comes from THEIR dues. If the members are okay with using their money and their neighbors money to fund a project, then let it go. Bite your upper lip, and let stupidity reign.
It isn't easy to enforce reason on someone so unreasonable. So don't even try. Let the other members do it for you. I found that to be the resolution to my HOA's situation. After about 6 months and an illegal special assessment by the board, members perked up and paid attention. Things didn't go through as easily. Questions were asked. Once your "rogue" member is forced to answer a few questions, they may change their tune.