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KP3 (Texas)
Posts: 124
Posted:
We have a board member (position is board member at large) that has gone to several homeowners and has also invited many to their house to discuss ways to register complaints against the newly elected president. There had been a verbal threat made about this president being subjected to "intense scrutiny from the community". This member has even gone so far as to direct another neighbor to accuse this person of an act that never happened and even sent his wife over to this persons house with the neighbor for this confrontation.. That neighbor then called police feigning 'I'm a single woman and scared' act which made what is a 'call for service' note from the police department and is completely one sided. Since then, that neighbor sent a copy of these notes to the management company and again, made a complaint. And the reason the neighbor stated she called the police, had nothing to do with what they were accusing them of..
Advice? Slander/libel?
KerryL1 (California)
Posts: 14,550
Posted:
So....your Board is still a mess. How many of you normal folk are on it? A majority of you?

One thing you can do is form an executive committee of the Board to include everyone except the bad guy/gal. Another is to censor the director for behaving in ways that do not benefit your community (or some such). Read about censoring in Robert's Rules of Order

Does your board have a Code of Ethics?

Does your MC work on the premises, just visit from time to time, or what?

What is the complaint made against the president? Is it something that's against your HOA's rules or covenants? Or against the law?

Please, please make up names for the players--too hard to follow otherwise.

Maybe someone else has ideas, but I'm unable to say if anyone wants to try to sue for libel, defamation or whatever. My understanding is that harm must be shown to have been done to the complainant.

It's be cheaper to hav your Board solve this if they have, uh, the gumption to do it
SheliaH (Indiana)
Posts: 6,964
Posted:
This board member apparently has beef with the president, so I don't know why the rest of the board hasn't told her to stop it and if she continues to behave this way, they need to grow a pair (or several) and remove her from office. Kerry's idea on censure is a good one - if this person continues to misbehave, perhaps the homeowners need to build up their backbone and consider if this person should continue to be on the board.

If it is not right do not do it; if it is not true do not say it. Marcus Aurelius
LarryB13 (Arizona)
Posts: 4,099
Posted:
Quote:
Posted By KP3 on 09/02/2016 1:18 PM
We have a board member (position is board member at large) that has gone to several homeowners and has also invited many to their house to discuss ways to register complaints against the newly elected president. There had been a verbal threat made about this president being subjected to "intense scrutiny from the community". This member has even gone so far as to direct another neighbor to accuse this person of an act that never happened and even sent his wife over to this persons house with the neighbor for this confrontation.. That neighbor then called police feigning 'I'm a single woman and scared' act which made what is a 'call for service' note from the police department and is completely one sided. Since then, that neighbor sent a copy of these notes to the management company and again, made a complaint. And the reason the neighbor stated she called the police, had nothing to do with what they were accusing them of..
Advice? Slander/libel?

It is called "First Amendment." Members have a right to express their opinions about their elected board members. An elected board member may sue but he has to prove that whatever was said or written about him was knowingly false and made with a malicious intent.
KP3 (Texas)
Posts: 124
Posted:
Quote:
Posted By KerryL1 on 09/02/2016 1:51 PM
So....your Board is still a mess. How many of you normal folk are on it? A majority of you?

One thing you can do is form an executive committee of the Board to include everyone except the bad guy/gal. Another is to censor the director for behaving in ways that do not benefit your community (or some such). Read about censoring in Robert's Rules of Order

Does your board have a Code of Ethics?

Does your MC work on the premises, just visit from time to time, or what?

What is the complaint made against the president? Is it something that's against your HOA's rules or covenants? Or against the law?

Please, please make up names for the players--too hard to follow otherwise.

Maybe someone else has ideas, but I'm unable to say if anyone wants to try to sue for libel, defamation or whatever. My understanding is that harm must be shown to have been done to the complainant.

It's be cheaper to hav your Board solve this if they have, uh, the gumption to do it

Yes, this board is a mess... The MC does not live in the subdivision. Ok. Here the story. There are five newly voted board members. All seats were chosen but the President seat was wanted by Ann and Ed. Ann won the seat by a vote from two of the three other board members. Ed was very upset and said that Ann will have to endure 'intense scrutiny from the community' but really meant the folks in a group from their street/circle. Sad part is, Ed lives next door to Ann. On the other side of Ann, is a single female Lynn, who got along with Ann and had no known problems until the day she and Ed's wife showed up on Ann's driveway accusing Ann of sending away a contractor. Ann hadn't even been home all day and said as much. Lynn said 'are you telling me I can have a security system installed?" Ann said "I'm not telling you you can or you can't but suggested that she turn in an ACC before she does it." They then went back to Ed's house. A few minutes later, Lynn screamed profanities at Ann and said that she was filing a complaint and so were five other families as she left Ed's home taking pictures of Ann's house along the way. She then proceeded to remove a box that was built to camouflage a green electrical box as she said it was on her property and she didn't want it there. Ann and Lynn had agreed to the box many months ago as it was better to look at than the green box itself. When Ann asked her where she was going with the box, Lynn screamed more profanities at her and said Ann was trespassing and thus called the police. She then told the police that "Ann was the President of the HOA and was trying to dictate what people can do to their homes without going through the management company". Since it is a civil matter, there is no incident report but what is called a "Call for Service" which is just notes from the officer and completely one sided.. She then sent the CFS report to the MC and that generated a call from them to which Ann was told to just ignore it. Ed has since stopped being friendly to Ann and so have most other people that live on the street and/or circle because of Ed.
Ed's actions are outside of any board meetings so that's the whole delima. And that's just with this member! Another member Thelma, likes social media and is a regular on a gossip show and loves instigating drama. But that's another discussion! At least Ann has two other board members that support her. This board has bigger problems to deal with but this particular member must be dealt with.. What advice do you have for Ann? Crazy I know...
KP3 (Texas)
Posts: 124
Posted:
Quote:
Posted By SheliaH on 09/02/2016 2:14 PM
This board member apparently has beef with the president, so I don't know why the rest of the board hasn't told her to stop it and if she continues to behave this way, they need to grow a pair (or several) and remove her from office. Kerry's idea on censure is a good one - if this person continues to misbehave, perhaps the homeowners need to build up their backbone and consider if this person should continue to be on the board.

It's not a HER. And a voted in member has to be removed by a majority of the voting members as well. He's just a member at large so 6 more months shouldn't be long to hopefully get another member elected...

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