President Resigns - board worried about documents

Started by BetsyA • 6 replies • 1592 views

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BetsyA (Maryland)
Posts: 2

Posted:

I am a member of a neighborhood association in Baltimore City. It's not a HOA but a community group. I didn't really know where to go for advice.

I am looking for counsel or advice or just wild thoughts.

Our President resigned very suddenly and under tense conditions. Accused a another board member of something, didn't give him a chance to respond and said "that's it, you will get my resignation in the mail"

It took a week to get that.

We are concerned about getting documents and legal paperwork back from her. These were stored at her house during her term.

Our email account for the group was cleaned out of any communications.

Is there a legal counsel that specifically works with neighborhood associations?

Thank you

DebbieW2 (Tennessee)
Posts: 33

Posted:

We had this happen to us. That was over a year ago - we have never received a single document, bank statement, receipt - nothing. I think the only way would be to go to small claims and file a Summons & Complaint in Order to Produce Documents. It's a fairly simple Summons to draft, you don't need an attorney. The filing fee would be small, have it served on the person. That will more than likely scare her into giving the documents. Worse case - you go in front of a Judge, show proof that you have asked for HOA documents (HOA property) and let a judge decide. the Judge can impose damages that can be waived if she give you documents. It's quite a simple thing to do.

Other than that, have an Attorney send a letter with a deadline.... either would be scary enough to her to work I'll bet.

Our board just gave up, decided not worth it.

BetsyA (Maryland)
Posts: 2

Posted:

Thanks for these thoughts.

We are mentally getting ready to just move on but I personally would love to scare her a bit.

She accused one of our members of doing something that was not even illegal just annoying (fliers in the neighborhood) and then before we could even respond - she just got up in a huff and walked out. I was surprised she didn't try to get that member removed from the board, but we all think this was a very planned out event as she took 3 other board members (her bobble head crew) with her.

We are all going thru emails to find what has been sent in the last couple years to put together files but are worried about what we may have missed.

One board member said he felt like we were 'rubes' and that she knew about something bad that was coming and wanted out.

TimB4 (Tennessee)
Posts: 21,059

Posted:

As for the records, I would have two or three of the Board get together and knock on the door asking for the records. You might not get them all but you should get some of them.

You should also take this as a lesson learned and make the necessary changes so things like this (allowing one person to control so many items) can't happen again.

I suspect that any attorney that works with HOA's would work with a civic association.

JoK2 (California)
Posts: 198

Posted:

Without knowing how long ago this happened, you should give yourselves and her some time to cool down. It is very easy to assume the worst of a situation. You really don't want to scare her some, do you? Don't you just want to do what's best for the HOA?

You may have to kiss them goodbye, but if this happened very recently, maybe the VP, should reach out to her, give her a chance to talk with them, and them only as a way to get the lines of communication back open. Goes as a neighbor and as a VP, offer help in getting them organized or something. Just don't DEMAND the box.

At the end of the day, you've no way of knowing just what could be going on in her personal life. And now after the outburst, she may feel kind of silly or ashamed. We've all acted out in a similar fashion right? Give her a way of getting out with as little of embarrassment as possible, and you may get your box back.

Pollyannish to say the least, but at the end of the day, most people want to get along, and can, if given the room to do so. Too much wine with dinner I guess.

JohnC46 (South Carolina)
Posts: 14,265

Posted:

Jok

Your advice is sound. In others words open up an back channel. Someone who can talk to the "insulted/mad" party to smooth it over and move on while all save face.

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