Ineligible Board Members Serving

I recently discovered that our property manager and board are not background checking new residents OR board members. We have at least two people who appear to be on mugshots.com on the board; and we have one man who sits on the board and votes but they will not list his name with the state (I have been told he has a criminal record but he's not in the public domain stuff like mugshots.com). How do you compel your property manager to do his job when he works for the person he's covering for? I have reported him to the state and they say he's just an employee and the board must do better...?

The property manager is most likely NOT a HOA member at all. They are usually HIRED contractors by the board to assist in running the HOA. The HOA usually does not have an obligation to run any kind of background check. That is up to the landlord of the property. The HOA can not interfere with the contract of an owner.

There is a separation between HOA responsibility and PERSONAL. If someone is breaking the law, it's a police matter NOT a HOA. A convicted person is NOT breaking the law. They have been convicted of a crime, served their punishment, and are returned to society. No need to keep punishing them as everyone is INNONCENT until proven guilty. Having a record means at one time you were guilty. After that, your just as innoncent as anyone else till found guilty by a court of law.

Providing names of Board Members to the State is typically done in the Corporations Annual Report. Since your Association is incorporated, you may check the status of your Association by going to the Florida Dept. of State Corporations Division website:

http://www.sunbiz.org/

What is the stated position of the board member who's name does not appear on documents filed with the state? Is it a position specified in your documents? Was he elected to that position?

Seems like good folks at sunbiz would be interested to know that the paperwork has been intentionally misrepresenting the organization, especially if that person is legally ineligible to serve

If your not involved in your HOA and serving on the board, etc, and you get criminals on your board, you get what you deserve. Want to have a good, functional HOA? Get involved!

So there is your answer. If you decide not to do it, it's on you. There is no reason you couldn't mail out post cards, and start an online web site for free at blogger.com If you're not willing to do anything, you will simply have to live with it.

Karen,

Not the same situation, but we had a non-member, non-resident "appointed" to our Board by the tightly controlled Board headed by our developers. Let's just say he was in a position of legal authority and wore his uniform to the first, and only meeting he attended. After missing the next 3 meetings I called his office, twice, before he called back. I informed him of his legal fiduciary responsibility to represent the HOA membership and e-mailed him a copy of the Finance Committee report that was prepared during a brief period in which the developers did not sit on the Board. I also asked him to meet with several residents as we would give him a different perspective than what we were sure the developers and their friend had fed him and let him know that we were not going to be bullied. He promptly resigned.

Obviously sometimes it will take litigation, and it still might in my community. But, broadcasting to everyone inside and outside the community can at least make it uncomfortable to at least hopefully slow their shenanigans down.

Best wishes.

Steve,

Can you elaborate on remove proxies? Do you mean initiate a change in our covenants? Again, I think a complete collection of ALL proxies would be required first so that a new management company could be hired. The PM instigates most of this and spends his time onsite visiting with a few of these people on the board...they love him like a son.

Ahhh, ok. Still a door to door endeavor to make the request. It seems as if it all just comes down to boots on the ground community organizing and direct confrontation for all these matters. That's a difficult task when all your neighbors are within 300 yards of your driveway (in my case).

Door to door? LOL. There is a much more efficient way and it's been around for 238 years. Its called United States Postal Service. For the price of stamp, you can communicate to anyone. Dont want to bear the burden of buying stamps yourself? Find a group of 6 people who feel the same way you do, split it. As you gather support it will become easier.

The PM sends a letter with a proxy attached. The letter states that it is very important to return the proxy so that the meeting can take place. On the proxy itself, the small print states that if you do not write a name on the proxy it defaults to the current president. Thus, any resident that just follows the directions to "sign & send in" the attached proxy is automatically giving the current president authority to pick themselves and a new board and vote on all matters. I didn't figure out what was happening for a few voting cycles and then saw the small print. I expected a ballot sheet to go out so I could "vote" for candidates. I didn't realize that it would just be done in a meeting. There is never a ballot here because they just pick who they want and have a vote in the meeting with the President having the majority already.

I will perhaps contact the state with the other issue. We had the police chief at our last meeting and the man behaved very badly, even with two cops in attendance. The PM and he are close, which is why I think the board keeps him sitting as a board member even though he's not listed with the state.

Karen,

It sounds like our situation is more alike than I first thought. It sounds like they are trying to intimidate you. Do not back down and do not be afraid to invite the press to one of your meetings.