Can a board member get copy of the Ballots and all the other documents?

You may be in luck as Art recently started contributing to this forum and he's studied IL HOA legislation a lot!

If you were in CA, almost none of what your PM told you would be correct.

can you read your stet legislation for yourself, Vel? And make copies to show your Board? Undoubtedly, your request must be in writing. Is it?

In addition, of course, how did this director become PM? Is s/he certified in any way (may not be required in IL)?

If your attorney was present (yes?) why not get him/her to write a letter to the Board & PM demanding access to the materials that IL law permits al Ownrs to review?

I know you've posted before, Vel, but I don't recall the content. How many directors are there? How many homes or condos?

Vel

The HOA Attorney is not your attorney. I expect there is a BOD procedure for contacting the Attorney thus unlikely that you as an individual BOD Member can contact him.

I expect the only way you can fight the elections results is to hire an attorney (as in you pay) to do so.

You got elected to the BOD so at least it should give you a better picture/information on what goes on and maybe next year aid you in getting like thinkers elected to the BOD. It often takes hard work and years for a faction to take a BOD over.

Yes.... she is both a Realtor, a property manager for our HOA, the Board of Director and the Treasurer.

In early 2015 these BODs started to spread rumors that the HOA is going to put cap on rentals. But nothing has been discussed or approved by the homeowners. When someone want to sell their unit and contact the HOA, the PM will tell them verbally that the HOA is considering rental cap and no rental will be allowed for the new buyer. If the seller's agent ask for written confirmation, they don't give anything in writing. So the property sale has been pretty much stalled for some time. Among the very few units sold last year, three were purchased by these BODs for themselves as rentals while they are acting against others from buying them. So what I am thinking is; they are deliberately spreading this rumor and using their powers as HOA and PM to list the properties as "No Rentals" and stalling the sales and owning them by low-balling the prices with the sellers (mostly banks). This is a deliberate attempt. I know two buyers backed out from the contract because of this issue (though there is nothing that can stop a buyer from renting per the current Bylaw)

I currently have a purchase agreement pending since September with a Bank. They just don't issue a paid assessment letter to the seller because they knew that I am the buyer. We wrote a letter to the homeowners about what is going on at the HOA and with this PM. In a rebutting letter, the HOA issued a letter just days before the election. They even wrote details of my purchase contract (including the price I offered) in that letter to the homeowners in an attempt to make me look bad by accusing me of asking giving exceptions to the seller from his liabilities to the associations and even telling the homeowners that I asked for exceptions from village's lien on the property. I have no clue about the seller's liabilities to the association or to the village.

The bottom-line is I am dealing with a group of extremely dishonest people in this HOA. They go any length to win it and use all of the HOA machinery for their purpose. Last year they starting dipping their hand into the funds we collected trough special assessments for finishing the life safety projects. In an attempt to appease the homeowners, they are spending that money on sidings and parking lots. I am sure that the million dollar will be gone by the end of this year. I believe there are direct and indirect financial benefits involved in this case.

Please contact me at 5136520660 or [email protected] if you think you could help me in getting rid of these crooks.

It appears that the original poster has already retained an attorney and in that case it would make sense to obtain from that source advice as to how to proceed. The attorney will have (or will obtain) more detailed information concerning the key facts and their surrounding context.

I don't practice in this area of law and have focused on the Common Interest Community Association Act rather than the Condominium Property Act because CICAA applies to the association where I live. Many of the provisions of the two acts are similar, however, and one of them is a rule permitting any member of the association to examine and copy ballots and proxies after an election. If they say no, you can take them to court, and a failure to respond within 30 days is treated as saying no.

I don't know if there's an outright prohibition on having a board member serve as the property manager, but the conflicts involved in that dual role are so extensive that I don't see how it could ever be appropriate.

Vel, you've already stated that you got bad advice form the attorney you brought to the election.

You need to engage an attorney who specializes in HOAs, their documents & IL law about condos.

And, again, I urge you to ask IN WRITING fr the materials that you want. You want a reply IN WRITNG TO YOUR REQUEST.

NpS is right, Vel, you want to ask in writing only for materials that you'r permitted by law to review. The laws also might say if wonrs are permuted to observe the ballot counting. We are, by law, in CA.

A request is already made and its in their hands how.

I wish if I could post here what I asked for. Will it create a problem?

Vel,

I'm going back to the original question: "Can a board member get copy of the Ballots and all the other documents?" NP and Art already touched on this. I'm providing the references.

The answer to your question is yes.

Per IL Common Interest Community Association Act, specifically 765 ILCS 160/1-30, the Association must maintain "ballots and proxies related thereto, if any, for any election held for the board and for any other matters voted on by the members, which shall be maintained for not less than one year."

Per that same statute, "Where a request for records under this subsection is made in writing to the board or its agent, failure to provide the requested record or to respond within 30 days shall be deemed a denial by the board." Also please note that a reasonable fee may be charged.

The Statute also states what you must do if the Board denies such request, which basically says to take the Association to court:

"(4) If the board fails to provide records properly requested under paragraph (1) of this subsection (i) within the time period provided in that paragraph (1), the member may seek appropriate relief and shall be entitled to an award of reasonable attorney's fees and costs if the member prevails and the court finds that such failure is due to the acts or omissions of the board of managers or the board of directors."

This is also supported by the IL General Not For Profit Corporation Act of 1986, applicable if your Association is incorporated (most are but check to be sure). See 805 ILCS 105/107.75.

Tim/Art & everybody else... thank you so much for the help!!! this is great.

Here is the request for information I made to the HOA. Please note that I have not provided an intended use of the information. If required, I can add them against each of them. PLEASE SUGGEST.

Dear ,

This is FYI only.. No need for your response back to me. Thank you!

Dear HOA,

On 12/30/2015, I met the property manager (xxxx, xxxxxxx) at the HOA club house office and requested for access to information regarding the HOA board election and HOA financials. XXXX told me that as a board member, I have NO privileges over any other homeowner.

As an elected board member, I request to provide the following details and copies of the documentation as soon as possible within a reasonable amount of time stipulated by law.
All responses must be in written form. Also if any of these requested items cannot be met, you must explain why the request cannot be accommodated.

1. Provide copy of all the election related documents:

a. All ballots and Proxies received.
b. All proxies and ballots rejected,
c. Rejection reason on every ballot and proxies
d. Documentation on Ballots received at the office.
e. Provide copy of the election meeting minutes.
f. Copy of Voter Signing Sheet

2. Provide the fully executed contract with the current property manager, business license, and insurance the property manager shared with HOA.

3. Provide meeting minutes of the meeting in which the decision to appoint the current property manager is made and a decision on property manager compensation is made. If the decision to appointment and the compensation are taken on different meetings, give me both meeting minutes.

4. In the letter to the home owners, HOA stated that HOA evaluated 8 property management companies. Give the name and evaluation notes of the 8 property management companies that HOA evaluated prior to selecting the current property manager.

5. Provide all vendors and their contact information. I also need a copy of the executed contracts with each of these vendors including union vendors.

6. Provide an explanation of the Governing Documents we follow. I do have copies of the Condo Declaration and the Bylaws. Are we following anything else other than IL condo Property Act? Please give me copies of them.

7. Provide a list of employees we have and copy of the employment agreements.

a. Give the resume of the employees we hired and currently on payroll
b. Please explain the job functions of each employee on our payroll

8.1. Provide meeting minutes since Jan, 2015 (also include resolutions as well).
8.2. Provide financial documents since Jan, 2015.

9. Explain the current and planned projects underway and how we are planning to fund those projects?

10. Explain what you have discussed with homeowners on budget for 2016 and approval minutes on the 2016 Budget.

11. Give me an overview of each lawsuits in which HOA is a party. Share a copy of these original lawsuits AND EVERY communication HOA made or received on these cases.

12. Provide the following financial documents

a. Balance sheet (monthly and year-to-date)
b. Statement of income (monthly and year-to-date)
c. Cash receipts and cash disbursements activity
d. Unit owner balances
e. General ledger activity and journal entries
f. Schedule of accounts payable
g. Bank statements and bank reconciliations
13. Provide current status with the Sprinkler System Company and next steps.

14. Share detailed information regarding the installation of common doors.

15. Disclose any units purchased during the last 12 months where any board member was a buyer, agent or attorney of the buyer. Provide details of the financial purchase transactions detailing what was owed to the association and what was paid.

16. Explain where the money is coming from for the 2016 budgeted projects that was distributed in December 2015.

17. Explain your understanding and expectations regarding the lawsuit with the Village of . What are you proposing in case we loose and have to pay fines and install the sprinkler systems and other safety requirements?

18. Provide copies of the all the financial documents that (the prervious Property management company) shared with you at the beginning on 2015.

19, In a letter to the home owners in December, HOA stated the following” Lastly, Mr. XXXX has contracted on a two bedroom unit for $XXXXXX. As part of the deal, the association is being asked to remove the Village liens on the condo. Why is Mr. XXXX’s new property singled out as the only one not subject to Village code violations? Who is asking for special treatment and trying to bring down the prices of our condominiums?” Provide copy of the communication received from Mr. regarding the whole deal.

20, HOA choose to communicate to the homeowner’s via emails. I need the complete list of home owner email address for validating their participation in election.

Thank you!

Board Member - Condo Association

Tim, I get your point. And I realize this is a long list. I have reason why I am asking all these right away. We are not dealing with normal people who respect other homeowners or even a board member. Unless I ask I don't get anything. Last year they shared nothing with a board member. They don't even included him in the HOA communications. My primary aim is to know what exactly they did during the election, why ballots are missing and what kind of irregularities they introduce. I know that they rigged and won the election. Once I see them first hand, I can challenge the election. The good thing is I have copies of the ballots I submitted and counted on the Election Day.

Secondly I have to get a good handle on the financials and projects

Velappan
IMO, your thinking is flawed.
Your #1 objective is to create the impression in case this goes to court that your request is reasonable. No judge is going to think that your "give me everything you've got" approach is reasonable.

If you decide to sue them and take their depositions, you can ask them to "explain" things all you want. But I find no basis at all in your thinking that you have a right to written explanations.

Go for the docs that should be readily available, not the explanations - which someone would have to prepare - and no one is going to.

Your anger isn't helping you at all. Get smart about how you are going after the results you want.

I respect the views and I get the fact that this is an exhaustive list. I am going to look at it judiciously and decide what is relevent immediately.

The reason I wanted to go right at the election documents is I have collected and handed over 75 % of the votes casted to me and several of the votes never showed up while counting. The remaining 25% is from the floor. On the first day they managed to delay the election so that they could do whoever they can to rig it. The next day when the votes are tallied in open floor, I was putting them in excel spreadsheet and I know who voted for whom. There is no issues for me about who voted for whom. I am only going to question the basis of rejecting ballots /proxies and votes and the unaccounted votes/proxies. I also wanted to know the genuiness of the ballots introduced towards the end of tallying when the other party was loosing.

I have a very large support group and I can manage get some of the information that I asked through them as well.