HOA Board that does not hold meetings

Started by SusanH15 • 17 replies • 2242 views

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SusanH15 (Kansas)
Posts: 4

Posted:

We elected our board last November and they have yet to have a meeting for the homeowners.
I have ask about it several times in the past few months and the MC just tells me they will notify us
when they schedule one.
Sometime after the first of the year one of the Board Members filed suit against the builder finishing out our development.
The president and vice president went with her to the hearing. It was over a drainage issue effecting her house and a new
one he built next to it. She won the suit.
We feel this created a Conflict of Interest for these 3 board members
They are currently dealing with a watering issue with the same builder. Our HOA pays for watering our lawns and does
not want to pay for watering in new sod. Long story short, the homeowners new little about this battle and now have received a letter
from the MC and the board that the builder has filed suit against us. We received the letter last Friday and the court date is this Thursday.
I have to believe the board has know of this for some time.
They also fought the same builder over colors he wanted to paint the new homes. The same 3 board members were against him and
we only have 5 voting members.

Also, our board has been paying an attorney to review our bylaws to see if the HOA has to paint our houses. Painting of the trim and
house was repeatedly told
to all homeowners when they purchased their homes and it is in our closing documents.

All this has been done with out meetings and the word just slipped out because they told someone not on the board.

We have emailed the MC to request an open meeting for the community to express our thoughts.

We would really like to get these 3 off the board. The president also defames residents in
the presents of other board members.

I am not Board Member but my husband plans to run in the fall if we cannot get them off sooner.
We are also talking to other homeowners that are totally on board with this and will be willing to
be on the board.

Does anyone have the exact wording for the Open Meeting Law in Kansas.

Any thoughts
Thanks
Susan
Susan

TimB4 (Tennessee)
Posts: 21,062

Posted:

Hi Susan.

General membership meetings are different than Board meetings. Typically, general membership meeting is only held once or twice a year. It will depend on the requirement in your governing documents.

If you are still under declarant control, the Board is only required to meet twice a year. See Kansas uniform common interest owners bill of rights act section 58-4612

DaveD3 (Michigan)
Posts: 796

Posted:

Start by asking for minutes of all board meetings they have held.

DavidA7 (California)
Posts: 179

Posted:

Good luck - our CC&R require our board to hold an open meeting every 3 months. They don't and the President's reply to me was the previous boards didn't 3 years ago, I was president past two years and held one every month, and she indicated good luck getting the Courts to enforce as there is no teeath in Davis Sterling or any other law that can be held over the Board. We are in California.

RichardP13 (California)
Posts: 1,767

Posted:

David

File in small claims court $500 for every meeting they missed and you will win.

MelissaP1 (Alabama)
Posts: 13,836

Posted:

Suing your HOA is suing yourself and your neighbors. There are other ways to deal with this than court. It is all in your documents...

Former HOA President

FrankS10 (Kansas)
Posts: 276

Posted:

Susan,

I live in KS as well. We fight this in our community. We have an attorney who lives in our community, and I recently asked another attorney about the new KS laws effective 1/1/11. Both have stated all meetings are required to be open and allow for membership input. We will be pushing this at our next meeting. Good luck.

FrankS10 (Kansas)
Posts: 276

Posted:

Here is the link to the legislation mentioned above:

http://www.kslegislature.org/li_2012/b2011_12/statute/058_000_0000_chapter/058_046_0000_article/

SusanH15 (Kansas)
Posts: 4

Posted:

Thank you. I was hoping to hear from someone in KS.
Our board has scheduled a meeting for July 30. It should be interesting.
Thank for you insight.
Susan

JM10 (California)
Posts: 503

Posted:

Frank and Susan:

Good luck. We had the same problem, but eventually moved out. Now I see that at least three others have tried to sell their units (out of 10).

JM10 (California)
Posts: 503

Posted:

Frank and Susan:

Good luck. We had the same problem, but eventually moved out. Now I see that at least three others have tried to sell their units (out of 10).

CarolR11 (Colorado)
Posts: 2,563

Posted:

Good luck Susan & Frank! You & a bunch of your neighbors keep the pressure on the Board. Hold their heels to the fire. But it takes joint effort--not just 2-3 people.

David-- my neighbors & I "enforced" the Davis-Stirling Open Meeting Act. We badgered & pressured the Board. You & yours can too!! Get some support. Lots cheaper & quicker than seeking a court order of some kind.

It seems that a lot of Americans are reluctant to take group action. We're all "individuals." We "go it alone." That's how we're trained. Often not effective.

FrankS10 (Kansas)
Posts: 276

Posted:

Thanks and Good luck!

As advised, keep the pressure up. Document everything. Their inconsistencies will come back to bite them. Ask local authorities for help. They most likely will say "no" but do everything you can to make more people outside of your community aware of what is going on.

I agree with Melissa that suing is a last resort, but disagree that I am suing myself. I would not behave to my neighbors in the manner our Board has routinely conducted itself. Be prepared for a class action that is not limited to just current neighbors if you have had people move out because of dissatisfaction or even harassment from the Board.

Make sure Board members understand that Directors' Insurance does not cover all behaviors. They need to understand that their are actual risks for just going along and not fulfilling their responsibilities to the community. Do not blink!

Good luck!

MikeR15 (Massachusetts)
Posts: 389

Posted:

Susan,

I can tell you exactly how the much awaited meeting will play out.

Homeowners will NOT be allowed to participate in any meanful way.

Due to the absence of any Open Meeting Laws to prevent it, the board will have conspired before hand how to get what they want done.

The meeting will be like some weird Kabuki play, where the prearranged will of the board will play out.

Even if votes are taken and things denied the board...

They will do it anyway later...basicly thumb their nose at those "disgruntled" members.

(Disgruntled means anyone not fawningly sychophantic of the board)

They may even have some psycho who attacks anyone who disagrees with the board in such a vicious manner, that most of your

neighbors will NEVER go back to witness it again.

While the other board members look off into space as if they didn't notice.

You will soon learn that you DONT EVER want to go to one of these vile things again.

Which is exactly what those manipulative, unethical folks want.

Please post after the meeting....I would love to hear how it goes!

MikeR15 (Massachusetts)
Posts: 389

Posted:

Oh,

And when you finally do get to the point where wild horses could not drag you to one of these aberant freak shows...

The 'industry' of services providers have coined a propaganda word for that: "homeowner apathy"

SusanH15 (Kansas)
Posts: 4

Posted:

Mike,
I hate to say it but you were very close to correct.
The meeting started with the Management Company VP telling everyone that no vote would be taken
this evening and she was there to answer our questions.
The board spoke very little with our president chiming in from time to time
One on the homeowners finally called the VP on her tone when speaking to us. She apologized.
We did get to give several ideas and I mentioned several times that our biggest problem was
no meetings and lack of communication.
It seems our neighborhood is split on how to pay for painting our houses.

The builder who is finishing our neighborhood has claimed "Developer Rights" and is
trying to take over the HOA. I'm not sure if this is just a bargaining chip for him as our
board has fought him at every turn or if he really wants to do this to get rid of our board.
It's a mess and not sure how it will turn out.

I'm glad I found HOA talk. I can see that we are not the only HOA with problems.
Thank for your thoughts.
I'll let you know how this drama plays out.
Susan

SusanH15 (Kansas)
Posts: 4

Posted:

Mike,
Dont know if you saw my post. I'm new at this.
Our board met and we got basically nothing, as you said.

Today the new builder sent a letter that he is now the developer under the declarations and
is removing the board because he is unable to work with them.
He and the Temporary Board will be interviewing management
companies and may replace them as well.
At a later time an official board will be elected by all homeowners.
It sound good but it is sad. Our community is only 82 Units when complete and I fear it is fractured
to some degree but it had to be done.
Wish us luck.

TimB4 (Tennessee)
Posts: 21,062

Posted:

Quote:

Posted By SusanH15 on 08/01/2013 4:14 PM

Today the new builder sent a letter that he is now the developer under the declarations and is removing the board because he is unable to work with them.
He and the Temporary Board will be interviewing management companies and may replace them as well.

Susan,

Effectively what happened is your Association recalled the Board and replaced it with a new one. Good! That is typically the quickest and least expensive way to address issues within an Association.

Yes, the recall was done by the Declarant. However, that doesn't change what happened. It just allowed it to happen quicker.

Since you took the time to address the issues perhaps you will volunteer to serve on the new Board. This will allow you to put in place specific policies that may prevent some of the issues you read about on this site.

I'm glad things worked out.

Tim

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