FL HOA - President's absolute power

Unless your documents are very unusual I would say the President is all three of the things that you say. Pulling shrubs up to make it easier to mow? Approving ARC requests her/himself? Firing volunteers. It sounds like you have a riot in the making. It seems to me the board should sit down with the president and perhaps come up with some administrative resolutions so that things could keep moving but the rest of the board would be involved in such decisions -- i.e. clearly delineate the lack of power a president truly has (spoken as an ex-one!). If the president is uncooperative I presume the board can vote the president off and vote in a new president.

She has definately over stepped her bounds. If you have 5 board members, it takes all 5 to discuss and vote at a duly called meeting. Seems someone needs to reel her in.

AlexC, what state are you in? I'm in Florida....sounds like we have the SAME president.

Alex, there is an old saying... "people in hell might want ice water.. but that doesn't mean they will get it.." The "el presidente" might believe that she has those powers, but all of the examples listed are board functions. Now in the event of emergencies, the President does have additional authority, when acting in the best interest of the HOA, to remedy the situation. However unless those shrubs were from the "little shop of horrors" don't think that easier to mow is an emergency.

As others have suggested, you and the board might want to real pull her back into the fold called "sanity" before the HOA is staring down the barrel of a lawsuit, of which your DOL insurance might not cover.

Unfortunately, it's 4 against 1 - me being the odd man. I'm just a director on the board while the treasurer is the president's husband and the secretary is a close friend from across the street, next door to another close friend, the vice president. Whenever there's a board discussion, I appear to be running against the 'flow'. The president even sent me an e-mail telling me she was tired of my negative views. My only recourse is to start a petition to remove this corrupt board.

Thanks to all your responses, I no longer feel alone in this wild HOA world.

I am the CAM in a situation like this, with a President basically telling me to do as she says or risk losing my job. I have tried to quote their docs and explain how things need to work. They react by shutting me out, writing me up for insubordinance and contacting the lawyer for legal opinions about the other board members that want to be "in the know". She has instructed me not to send out correspondence from my office to the rest of the board without her first reviewing it and stated that I am to have no contact with Association attorneys, because I informed the remainder of the board that I received a bill for $650 for services she requested relating to this fight amongst the board. She is now pulling the "I'm the President" and "Not all Board members are created equal" act and refusing to hold a Board meeting because she thinks the others on the board will expose this information to the membership. Sadly, I am not as experienced as I should be and don't know how to handle this situation. The President has two of the other board members on her side that are refusing to come to any board meeting in the President's absence. Our election is in October and this President is planning to run again. I truly believe she is trying to censor everything that leaves my office until after the election. She has stated to me that she wants the Secretary removed from office, because she gets all the proxies.

Help...

Roger,

I have reviewed my agreement and repeatedly stated to the President and the rest of the Board that it is my responsibility, not only to answer and report to the entire Board, but also to advise them when actions taken by or on behalf of them could affect the Association negatively.
This next part should start a whole different thread, as I am sure it is a thorn in the side of many of you. I do not work for a management company. I am an employee of the Association. I have had my CAM License for nearly three years, but this is my first management contract. Hindsight, tells me now that I am probably in way over my head, and should have first gained some knowledge and experience with a management company. I truly believed at the time that being well read, and organized would allow me to learn as I go.
The Association had just gotten themselves out of dire financial trouble, due to the sins of a previous management company, and were willing to hire a newbie, because of budget constraints. I didn't mislead anyone about my level of experience, and took a large cut in pay to "get my foot in the door" so to speak. We have achieved a large amount of success in the 8 months I have been here, but are now at an impasse. I have really considered tendering my resignation, but I feel as though I have a responsibility to see this Association through their election. I truly believe this Board has the potential to run the Association back into the ground if left to their own devices. My contract is up in November. I know that the President wants to fire me prior to that, but she has made no moves to, because she would have to call a Board meeting and show cause. I believe they think they can intimidate me, and I will quit. I feel I should stand firm for now, but I could really use the guidance of more experienced managers.