Recent Case in Community Association Law

Interesting.

Interesting and sad. This is why I said in another thread board members (and homeowners for that matter) could benefit from a few classes in conflict resolution. Not to mention more disclosures on what it means to live in a HOA before you move in and what’s expected of a Board member before you throw your hat in the ring. Some people really aren’t suited for HOA life and others should stay as far away from HOA board membership as possible.

In this case, I blame the rest of the board for not putting the president in check quickly. I’m not saying the homeowners were entirely innocent (from what I saw in this article, they did their fair share of keeping BS going and that real estate scam makes me wonder about their honor). That said, board members should be held to a higher standard – it’s not about perfection, but if you’re in a position of authority and misbehave because you’re on some sort of power trip, why should anyone else listen to you?

When things started to escalate the rest of the board should have had the stones to call in both parties in and tell them in no uncertain terms they’re expected to behave like adults and keep the communication professional, whether you like each other or not. If things were that bad, the president should have recused himself from the ACR and/or rule violation controversies if he couldn’t be objective. When it was revealed the president falsified evidence about the guest pass, the rest of the board should have removed him from that office and made him pay the costs of that lawsuit. If the other homeowners were paying attention to all this drama, it’s too bad someone didn’t say enough is enough and started a petition to recall this guy because it would appear he was out of control.