Can the Board sensor my letter of intent to run for the board?

Haha, and I can't spell censor. Maybe one of the moderators could help me out with the correct spelling. Thanks

I do not trust an official election committee to send out material that is critical of itself. Yes, they should not censor but if they are as corrupt as you think they are I would not trust them.

An alternative is to turn in a bland, inoffensive statement and let them send that out. Then mail out your own more accusatory statement once your name is on the ballot.

My name will go on the ballot either way. I'd have to mail my own copy to almost 500 people, so I'd rather my harsh statement go out with the ballots.

These people know I know they're corrupt. It's total hunger games in our coop.

I'm going to comb over it for accuracy - but I was on a number of committees this year so it's all first hand observations.

I just want to make sure I know my rights should they try to say they won't send it.

Thanks

I tend to agree with Larry. Send a candidate statement that focuses on all of the positive things you want to do and list your accomplishments on committees.

Show your experience and knowledge. Keep it classy. Keep it under 1 page.

I was just reelected to my board and though a competitor's candidate statement was nice and too bland, she distributed a very nasty critique of me under the doors of 100 condos. She also put a stack in the mailroom of `100 other condos. She lost because of that negative and inaccurate letter.

Sure send your draft statement--make sure you redact all names including your HOA name.

Hi Kerry, First of all, sorry to hear that a nasty letter was publicized critiquing you. That's never a good experience. I assure you, mine is a valid compliant of the board's track record. Thank you for agreeing to look over my letter. I don't see a way to private message on hoatalk.com. Should I scrub it of identifying information and post it as an attachment to this thread? I'm really open to criticism, so I don't mind many people seeing it. I'd rather get advice now, before I have it mailed to 500 units.

Thank you for your review of the letter. Here is the 'scrubbed' version:

WHERE DID ALL OUR MONEY GO? OUR PERSONAL INVESTMENTS ARE AT RISK, AND PROPERTY VALUES ARE PLUMMETING. IS THIS THE DIRECTION YOU WANT OUR BUILDING TO CONTINUE HEADING?

OVER THE PAST YEAR, I HAVE OBSERVED THE BOARD POORLY HANDLING ITS FUDICIARY DUTY BY
• Mismanaging a $3 million operating budget to the point where even basic utilities require a special assessment
• Dwindling our once robust reserve to less than $300,000, which is all earmarked for special projects
• Forgiving $113,556 over the past four years in bad debts for unpaid assessments and passing the cost onto us
• Approving exuberant expenses in the finance meeting, e.g., spending $4500 on holiday decorations
• Spending $45,397 last year to maintain an electronics recycling bin located in the garage
• Allowing contractors to personally utilize the dumpsters for complete rehabs at a charge to us
• Frivolously spending Association dollars using our attorney to pursue personal vendettas (rate is $350/hr)

ADDITIONALLY
• Our current board is made up of appointed members to presumably keep like-minded owners in charge of our finances and other special interests– for example, the existing board appointed an unknown owner and overlooked three qualified candidates who are all active on committees, and who ran last year
• The current board president stated “Numbers lie, and liars use numbers” when dismissing a suggestion to survey the building,
• The last election required no voter registration and the auditor accepted all ballots including those submitted by a deceased owner, the building manager, an individual who hadn’t yet closed on his purchased unit, and a bank representative voting for four HUD properties – all votes were for the incumbents.

THE BOARD LETS THE BUILDING MANAGER CONTINUE
• To allow residents and friends to hang out in the office for extended periods, which is a poor use of the money we pay for a salary of $88,036 (building manager) and $50,000 (assistant manager)
• Permit door personnel to leave the door unguarded for extended periods late at night allowing unidentified people to let themselves in to the building.
• To let a robbery of $800 from the front office go unreported to the police and undisclosed to us
• To enforce two sets of rules – one set for the “in group” and another much harsher set for the “out group”
• To partially answer or ignore valid record and financial requests pursuant of the IL Condo Act
• To do a poor job of scheduling our staff by asking them to consistently work double shifts at a cost of time and a half to us
• To take minutes for the Board, which is a clear conflict of interest
As a result, our property manager and supervisor are under investigation by the state for alleged unprofessional conduct

WE HAVE BEEN NEGATIVELY IMPACTED BY
• Reduced property values - Lenders will not finance loans in buildings with dangerously low reserve funds
• Continued special assessments – our reserve is no longer able to cover unanticipated weather demands and general building repairs

It’s time for change. Let’s set a new course and take back control of our building and our finances. I’m an individual who ran for the board last year, and as a consequence was targeted with false accusations, bogus fines, and even death threats – all currently under investigation by the police or in review by court of law. It shocks me to see the extent that people will go to hang onto power, but I’m unafraid of these methods of intimidation. Moreover, nothing can detract from the fact that the board makes terrible decisions, ignores its constituents, and has dwindled our once $1 million+ in reserves.

THIS IS OUR MOMENT to step up and do something to correct our Association’s problems. If you are tired of being ignored by the current board, stand with me and let’s begin the journey together toward making our building the best on Sheridan Road.

I look forward to meeting with you personally and answering your questions, at our December XXX
Holiday “Ugly Sweater” – Chili Cook-off, Doors open at 8 pm
I look forward to earning your trust and your vote

Joe

After reading your draft I would offer this. Many years ago I found myself on the Board with a group of ignorant, self-serving, zipperheads.

But the reality was the numbers were 1 against 8. My chances of success zero.

Rather than taking them on head on I worked to bring like minded informed owners to even the numbers or close.

Then one year I worked to the surprise of the President, VP and Treasurer to vote them out.

After serving more than 20 years they were gone in one election.

My point is showing your cards now serves what purpose? If you get elected you will be a minority of one with little hope of accomplishing anything.

And do you really think a majority of the owners will read what you have written, understand, comprehend and care enough to act?

As with Tim there are a lot of accusations in your draft just not a lot of facts to back them up. People hanging around in an office does not constitute a federal offense.

Writing off bad debt that will not be collected is not wrong in all cases.

You fight the fight by picking the battles you can win when YOU decide to fight them. Alienating the entire Board and anyone who supports them by making blanket accusations of the faults and missteps leaves you few people that in the end might support your efforts.

Good luck.

Melissa,

The OP never thought the letter was going to be private. It's a draft of a letter he wants the Association to include in their annual meeting notice that announces the candidates (from my understanding, every candidate can write one and have it included in the package).

The OP is simply looking for feedback on the letter itself.

I have to agree with the others to avoid a smear campaign. If you were lucky enough to end up with a new board where the majority agrees with you, it might not be too bad. If you get elected but most of the board is made up of existing members, don't expect the time of day from them, much less cooperation in making the changes you want to make.

I would also add that you should get out there and, if your association allows, knock on doors and send letters in order to be named as the proxy for members who will not be attending the meeting.

Always welcome to be here.
In time, you will feel comfortable enough to give advice to others based on your experiences and help them.


That is a key thing to always remember. Being in the situation can put blinders onto the perspective.
If you take the time to look at the issue from a different perspective it will always be enlightening. You may not always agree with the other perspective, but, by seeing the other perspective, you should be able to better explain your perspective.


Yep. In time, and time moves both slower and quicker than you expect.

It took me three years to gather enough support within the membership to be able to make changes.

It took a full year on our Architectural Committee, with the help of other volunteer committee members, to reshape the perspective of that committee (ties now go to the homeowner).

It has taken over 5 years to make changes within the Association itself. However, we now have a solid Reserve fund, are in compliance with all, not just some, of the State statutes and have been able to lay a foundation to address issues that have been around for 25-30 years. We have made changes to the governing documents (not all the changes I wanted to see, but some and that is better then none).

None of those accomplishments could have been done without the support of fellow Board members.

As I said earlier, try not to change everything all at once. Take the time to understand why things are done the way they are, and then propose changes (which may mean that you do most of the initial work).

How common is it that the majority of owners - in any group over age 40 - want to see anything other than pictures of cute critters or recipes ?

Many beefers discover that it is easy for a Board under attack to swing the majority guns around on objections from the floor or even made privately. That majority may have some innate identification with imperfect volunteer Directors rather than the voicer of annoying inconvenient truths, maybe even until the whole building falls down.

Those Directors may enjoy - depending on jurisdiction - qualified "rights" to actually defame the beefer where comment has at least a veneer of fair governance scope. Many beefers face retaliatory ostracism, may even choose to move out if they fail to work up a sufficient possee of well-informed, mutually supportive fellow owners willing to step forward to let dissent be heard.