petition

Hello everyone,
The majority of board members are planning on signing another contract with our current management company. The members have started a petition to stop this since most of us feel the management company has breached their fiduciary duty and has lacked in services to us. Also, a majority of the board voted for verification of the managers salary from them that we reimburse separately for. They have refused. Due to this petition, there is now a special meeting in 4 days to sign the contract. We havent had enough time to gain the signatures and are still working on it, by the way a violation was written against each person with the petition for solicitation. We are also wanting to secure an attorney to file a breach of fiduciary duty against some members of the board. Do we have any recourse?

Georgia

Well, first as the Treasurer, per our bylaws my signature along with the President, is required on all disbursements. He disbursed 70,000 to a contractor recently that is in breach of their contract for switching the materials without my knowledge. 2 other board member, one had unit done by this contract before they started, and another getting his done soon, for the support to continue this contract. Have another board member whispering to vote yes, it is recorded for minutekeeping, for a motion to give money to another board member for flowers for our pots, this board member has been found to have created a fraudulent invoice with a friend through a company that doesnt sell the items we were invoiced for. The majority of the board will not pressure him to produce verification of the purchase of the items nor ask him to resign. The management company has denied records to members repeatedly violating the laws. Works only under the direction of the President and violates board action by refusing to contact our attorney to get involved with the above contractor, shall I go on?

The petition is only to vote against the current management contract. Not to remove any specific board members. Is there any recourse if the majority of the board signs the contract and the members get 2/3 of the total vote against it?

Georgia

Hi Georgia,

I'm not sure I can follow every thing going on here but usually it is the board who votes on the MC, not the membership. While special meetings could be used for a varity of reasons they are often associated with removal of one or more board members. I've never heard of a rush to sign a MC contract. It looks like you'll be stuck with for them another year.

Denying records or the memberships right gather and discuss the actions of the board (i.e. petitioning) is illegal in a lot states.

Since you are on the board you should have access to associations attorney, did you contact the him yourself? Hopefully, he's not associated with the MC as he should review the MC contract on behalf of the association.

Good luck.
Tracy

I recommend associations always require a Management Agreement which includes: "This Agreement may be terminated without cause by either party by giving 30 days written notice."

Illinois, and the new contract has the "no cause" clause completely removed.