HOA President

Heather

The democratic way would be to gather up enough support to place one or two like minded candidates on a ballot and essentially vote that individual off the Board. To have a majority, with a board or three, all that would be needed is one other person.

Heather

The information you need would be in your Bylaws. Your Bylaws should state that you have an annual meeting of the members, which generally elections are conducted. It should also state which month the annual meeting should be held. If a special meeting of the members is to be called, there is a procedure outlined in the Bylaws also. Generally, the president, two board members or a percentage of the members can petition the board to call for a special meeting. This is different than a Board meeting.

Although it's common to blame the President, the real responsibility falls on the entire Board.

Officers (President, VP, Secretary, Treasurer, etc.) only implement the decision of the Board. Directors make the decisions and that is done by majority vote.

Even if you voted to do something, with a three person board, this means that it required two people to vote against it.


Are these things being brought up at a Board meeting or outside of the meeting?
They should be brought up at the meeting and recorded in the minutes.

Are you volunteering to do the work or just bringing up that the work has to be done?
I've discovered that many people are willing to approve things if they don't have to do the work.

As a recent example: I saw that our contract for trash/recycling was ending. It did have an automatic renewal but I felt we should obtain bids. Therefore, I drafted a RFP (request for proposal), researched 4 companies and brought the issue up this way: "Our contract is ending, here is a draft RFP and I propose that the Board authorize me to obtain bids." One Director actually said that they were ok with letting the current contract renew, but since I RFP is already written, it doesn't hurt to get bids. End result is that the Association will save almost 9K a year with the new contract. I truly believe that had I simply said that the contract is ending, what do we want to do, the Board would have voted to simply let it automatically renew.


As others have said: gather support, find a candidate and simply don't reelect him.
The other option is to gather support and do a recall.

If there is support within the Board (i.e. the other Director) the Board can remove the individual from being President but not from the Board. Note: if that individual is removed this way, you shouldn't expect them to serve in another officer position. Therefore, this could cause problems if some offices can't be held by the same individual.


ONLY with approval of the Board. Without prior approval, you would be personally responsible for paying the contract you entered into without authority.

Again, please remember that Directors each have one vote and decisions are made by majority vote. Officers, implement the decisions of the Board.

Often, Officer positions are filled from amongst the Directors. When this happens, it's the same as if that individual has two jobs. Each job has it's own responsibilities and it's own authority.

When you say "vote him out", then you would have to do a recall election. Typically this would start with the petition for recall (which must be a certain percentage of owners). If the Board President refuses to recognize the petition then the next step would be a request for arbitration with the Florida Department of Business and Professional Regulation. The Division of Florida Condominiums, Timeshares, and Mobile Homes has authority to arbitrate election and recall disputes under Chapter 720, Florida Statutes, and homeowner associations were required to register with the division by November 22, 2013 (refer to information available on the division's home page). However, the division does not have authority to investigate complaints under Chapter 720, Florida Statutes.

The other option is to remove him as President but he would still be a Board member (ugh). Whatever happens, you need to get people to volunteer for the next election. Unless the owners are happy living with the neglect, perhaps they might volunteer.

I agree with all, and you do have to "bother" the other board member regarding this issue. For the simple fact that you are assuming he doesn't care about his position on the board. Certainly has a good reason to feel that way, however, unless you specifically ask him if he minds, don't assume it.

Most people in that situation want desperately to maintain some type of normalcy when facing a dying spouse, but since we all think they don't want to be bothered, they are left with nothing to distract them from what they are facing everyday.

It's not what you say, but how you say it right?

Assuming makes an as=s out of you and me and this fits here because that is what you will end up doing if you leave him out of it, you both look bad if you let this President continue. Follow your documents and call your fellow board member. He will either tell you, go to hel+l, or thanks for keeping me in the loop.

Heather, I have some ideas too. But, first, I want to know what (good!) advice from others you'll follow. What steps will you take?? I need to know if you're still with us and if you really want to be "part of the solution."

Heather, I urge you to follow the first few pieces of advice that you received above. Read YOUR bylaws. There you're likely to find that:

The Board can vote the president out of office.

Two directors other than the president can call meetings. If that's not in your bylaws, check your state's relevant codes. If two of you may call a meeting, tell the president that you understand his situation, but that business must be conducted, so you're & director X are calling a meeting. Check your bylaws or state law for how much notice must be given.

Your board can appoint owners to fill the vacancies. How many are supposed to be on your Board, Heather? That should be in your bylaws too.

Please let us know what you've learned. Btw, do you have a property mgr.? What size is your HOA?

If you're incorporated, Heather, and most HOAs are, there are bylaws. I'm not sure what other document you're referring to that you're calling "bylaws" Do you mean Rules and Regulations?

Copies of bylaws should go to all owners and they cover the organization of the HOA, how often you should have board meetings, voting procedures for owners (members) to vote for directors (annual meetings), how officers are elected (generally by the board itself), which officers are required, how to have meetings of members and give members notices of meetings, etc., etc.

Do you have the document that discusses those things?

Your Covenants, Conditions and Restrictions (also called CC&Rs or covenants or declaration) probably have the duties and obligations of the Board of Directors, but not much about the above that's found in the bylaws. The CC&Rs are recorded and are a public record.

Your HOA's size, Heather?

Trying to get my hands on a copy of the CC&R. I have a copy of the bylaws given to owners. They are very vague. I'm wondering if they were ever updated.
Also, trying to survive the last week of school.... The more I hear from everyone the more I realize how disorganized our board is... I also plan on going to the City to request a complete copy of the blue prints for our development.
This week I am contacting the accountant handle our financials to find out if a reserve study has ever been completed. If not I will have my husband do one.

I don't know the exact number (I know, I should). Probably between 100 - 150 houses. We do not have a club house or pool. Just a tennis court, roads and landscaping. At the end of last year we were $3,000 in the red.