Proper Format to "Petition" Against a Perspective Board Member

Not being qualified is not the same as having an opinion that they should not serve on the Board.

Qualifiers would be listed in your governing documents, typically the Bylaws.
If there are no qualifiers or if they meet the listed qualifiers, then they are considered qualified to serve.

The best things you can do to prevent someone from serving are:

1) Gather support and proxies so you control the vote.
2) Have others volunteer, perhaps yourself, in order to give the membership a choice.

If you can't achieve having others volunteer, and there are an equal number of candidates as there are available seats, then it won't matter how much support you have to keep someone off the Board because they will still be elected (even if it's by one vote - their own).

If you desire to bring this information up, you ask if you may ask the candidates questions. Then, to be fair, you ask the same question of all candidates.

The proper way to deal with this is to share your opinion with other members and ask that they do not vote for this candidate.

Gregg

I am not one who lives in a world of wishful thinking. Rather than letting nature take its course I would set what course things need to take.

Sitting back hoping things work out is in my view foolishness.

It's called politics. You express your opinion based on what you learned as a board member you present that information to the owners and let them either show up and vote or sign a proxy over to you or a like minded person. You then make sure your have enough candidates to fill the board without her having a position.

Now myself I would have begun the process already. How sure are you she plans to run? Then put together a flyer with facts and evidence and make it available to the owners prior to this meeting. In many cases the outcome of the election can be predetermined before the election actually takes place.

It she is running I am sure her efforts have started already. I removed three long term board members who had served for more than 2 decades. They felt their reelection was automatic. They were mistaken. But time, effort, and information is essential to succeed. And the sooner you start the better.

Good luck.

If the reckless history has been corrected with positive results perhaps a newsletter showing the changes and the results would be beneficial. You can add dates. Example June-Oct over budget $0.00, Nov-Feb under budget$0.00.June-Oct 200 complaints, Nov-Feb 50 complaints, or do it by year. No need to mention name. Then the real work is finding others that will step up, run and have a good bio.

During my 10 years on the board, we had one member who I was skeptical of, because he often rented his home to people who weren't always nice (and that's putting it mildly). There was also the matter of a ratty old fence he had around his patio - wood fence with vinyl (!) gate.

When he volunteered, I very politely asking him about his ability to enforce community rules, as he'd been the subject of various board inquiries in the past. He blustered and made several excuses, my fellow board members didn't say much and since we needed people, guess who got appointed (and, no, I didn't vote for him)?

Overall, he didn't cause that much trouble - mostly because he'd attend one meeting, miss the next two, show up at the next two, then rinse and repeat. Our documents state if you miss consecutive meetings, you're automatically off the board and at one point, I had to remind everyone of this because a few other people were starting to do this and we'd barely make quorum. Eventually, the man's tenants started behaving badly again, prompting one of his neighbors to take over the resident forum at one meeting, where she cussed him out in front of everyone! After that, he wasn't so enthused about serving and soon quit coming altogether and that was that.

Moral of the story? As others have said, the best way to keep off idiots is to rally around other candidates so they'll get elected and this lady won't. I'd also have some sort of meet the candidates meeting where people could ask questions of all the candidates - that's where you could ask the same pointed questions of all the candidates and see what happens. After that, people have to do their due diligence and vote accordingly - unfortunately, that may mean an idiot gets in. Which is why one doesn't stop after the election, you have to watch these people to see what they do. Often these people will dig their own grave - the ones who shout the loudest usually slink away after they're elected and find out (much to their surprise) that things are not nearly as simple as they thought. You actually have to WORK in finding solutions, apply careful thought - and you will be held accountable by everyone. That's too much for simpletons and after a meeting or two, they drop out.

It's NEVER EVER a good idea to bad mouth someone. You will find the number of fingers pointed at someone else is triple pointing back. Plus it proves everything they may say about the board NOT liking her. It's best NOT to play into the "victim of the HOA" rhetoric. It's best that she stand on her own 2 feet and prove herself. Why not? It's the "be careful of what you wish for, you may just get it".

It is a team effort. Ding Dong does not have that much power on a board. Majority rules. Plus they have be elected into an office position by the board. Not very well going to happen.

Give a squeeky wheel all the oil it can woller in and it will slip on through....

I am so impressed with every post in this thread. Naturally just today a situation similar to this one arose at my HOA. The matter involves past conduct by a director/officer/board appointee and includes being a convicted felon. The latter has been covered at hoatalk.com, but there's more. I am not comfortable sharing it here, lest the person google and discover this thread. As interested, could anyone who has served on a board for at least one full year email me at augustin1919[at]gmail so I can email you the specifics and get your thoughts? Once again I would appreciate the reality check. TimB4, Shelia, KerryL, BobD4, Larry, Jon, Joyce, NPS, Melissa, Richard, JohnC, DanaT, LindaS, James and so many other regulars: This is a shout-out to you all for any help you are willing to offer.