Bad Board Wants to Return

When we moved to into our neighborhood I decided to get involved in the HOA. In 2012 I got on the HOA Board and discovered that their was $135,000.00 in uncollected assessments owed to the Association. The last board never looked at the financial reports so they had no idea. My board hired a new lawyer and began collecting that money. Some of the money is gone forever, because there were no liens placed on the houses and people moved away. So far my board has collected $65,000.00, and there isn't much more that we can go after.

I looked into suing the last board, but our insurance will not cover the board's neglect. We would have to sue the individual board members. Doing that is not even on the table, we want to be good neighbors and this is a small community.

This year we hired a new property management (PM) company. They are excellent! Always profession and very knowledgeable. Our Pm discovered that we had no ARC guidelines in writing! It took months for us to write an ARC where we included what was already on the property, things like storm doors that were in place. We were careful to not make residents retro fit anything. The rules were sent out to all residents. Our next HOA meeting was like the villagers with pitch forks and torches. These are all people who NEVER come to a meeting. We told them that if you read the guidelines, you'll see that nothing has changed. They just don't want the pages of rules. We told them that if you go to court and don't have it in writing, then it doesn't exist. Word-of-mouth rules don't cover you in court. So basically we were a deed restricted community with no restrictions.

Now the people who were on the bad board that lost all of their money wants to come back to rule by "the will of the people". They are dis-spelling the lost money worries by saying that it was the old PM's job to watch the funds. So many people do not understand the work of a board and so, they believe them! The BOARD is responsible for watching the money. In particular, the Treasurer and President...period!

My question is this: Should they even be allowed to run for board positions? Their "crime" is one of neglect. How would you stop them?

Is there authority in the C&Rs that grant architectural control? Or is this all in rules and regulations?

Am I missing a step here? Seems they have to be VOTED into office before they come on to the board. Who is going to vote for someone with their record? Seems to me the issue is how people are elected to your board. Is it just because they want it or do you all vote them in? Once elected do the board then elect within who gets what positions? In our HOA once elected to the board, it's the board's vote that elects eacother to officer position. You don't just run for President. You run for the board and then you nominate as President.

Your are right, Nina it IS the board's responsibility to watch the money. The bad board failed and your board did a wonderful job collecting what was possible to collect!

But neglect can't keep them from trying to take over again.

As other wrote, you & the rest of the current board and your supporters need to educate the Owners. First, see if you can straighten out the ARC mess. Is there a way you can send owners a "summary" instead of pages & pages? Or try a bullet point letter that states what changed> And then say everything is the same as we've been practicing for x years.

Tell them in a civil, friendly letter how much was owned when your board came in and how much was collected. Tell them how much you like your new(ish) PM.

How many homes are in you HOA? What size is the board? Do the badies want to recall you? Or are they waiting for the next election?

Thank you all for your input. One thing that I did not mention is that the old management company did not follow FL Statute as to how elections were run. This year will be the first time that we will have a Nomination Committee. I have spoken to as many people as possible about the past problems. The new board will be elected on October 27th. In the meantime, I am out of State until October 23rd. The votes are by secret ballot. Two people from the property management company and two audience members will open and count the ballots at the OCT. 27th meeting.

Over the years that I have been on the board, I have beat the drum whenever I can, telling people to come to meetings and be a part of the process. We have 132 homes in the community. There are only four regulars at the meetings. We always ask their opinion and they never had a problem with what we have done. They understand the process because they saw it happen from the start.

At this point, it's out of my hands. If anyone from the old board comes back, I will be there to watch them like a hawk. Better yet, I will remain on the board and make sure they actually do some work!

Thanks again everyone!

Nina

Yes, our C&R says, "The Board may promulgate design and develop guidelines, application and review procedures and building criteria. This shall be binding upon all owners, builders and contractors. The Board shall have sole and full authority to prepare and to amend from time to time said Guidelines."

When I came on the board in 2012 we had mismatched umbrellas at the pool. The pool furniture was 10 years old and showing it's age, peeling paint etc. The more you looked, the more we found that had not been done properly if at all. Even with the loss of $135k, we managed to improve and/or maintain the property so that our home values have soared above other communities in the area that are similar to ours.

The bad board was all about popularity. Everyone liked the people on the board. They are great to sit and chat with, but if you had a problem (people using visitor parking for vehicles that should be in their driveway or garage), they would say "We'll discuss that and get back to you."...Never!

The boards that I have been with worked on improvements and people have told me that because of our work, they decided not to move. Other people who left and rented their places have come back to live here because they could see that we weren't all talk.

BTW, in 2012 I held the office of Secretary from October 2012 to March 2013. The guy who was President was so bad (from the old board)that he got kicked off and they gave me that office. I did not want, or ask for it, but along with some great people, I have done my level best for the community.
This will certainly be an interesting election!