Board elections

Our AZ mgmt company has distributed the ballots to all homeowners to complete and return to the mgmt company. There are a few issues ongoing and the current Board has made a decision that would effectively block a large group of residents from access to their units for a 24 hour period by a street resealing (not repaving) project. As a prospective new Board member, I feel a duty to advise all members of this inconvenience. I've communicated my legitimate concerns about the lack of an equitable solution to the street closures, but those seem to have been ignored . Even though notices were just recently provided to all members as a matter of fact without opportunities to respond, many will feel they have no choice in the matter. As there are some members with mobility challenges, something must be done to accommodate all residents.
I would like to know if the current members who have already submitted their votes in sealed envelopes to be opened the day before the annual meeting to be held next week, to be able to submit revised ballots given the information recently disseminated. I'm wondering if a vote previously submitted, but not yet officially counted can be corrected & resubmitted to reflect the members opinions of this current Board's obvious lack of consideration for all members collectively. They may very well want to change their votes to another candidate with a greater vision and expressed concern for the community.
As the Board is voted in by the members, they work for ALL the members. The annual meeting and voting should be postponed. Thoughts?

Geno makes sense, Scott.

In addition, AZ laws, as in CA (I think!), may state that ballots are irrevocable once turned in.

I'm curious, Scott: what would an "equitable solution" be to avoid shutting down a street for resealing?

And what is your solution, Scott?

My spouse & I stayed in our friends' desert-resort type HOA a few years ago when they had portions of the streets resealed at a time. We could park on the premises but was at least 1/4 mile across some uneven terrain from the special parking area to the TH. 100 degrees, too. I think resident either simply stocked up & stayed home, or stayed with family/friends on in a motel for one night.

When we have resealing done, we have everyone move their vehicles or face towing.
They may park in another part of the development or on the public roadway.
We do hire security to patrol the public roadway during the night hours.

It's one day.
People can make arrangements.

Compassion is a trait in short supply these days and I don't dismiss it lightly, but outside of health care, the gamut of fiduciary relationships do not usually include compassion as a defining characteristic (paraphrasing from "A Clinical Guide to Psychiatric Ethics" by Roberts).

I don't think condo or homeowners associations are in the business of health care and I think exercising compassion in the governance of condos and HOAs is probably outside of a board's authority. It would terrify me if my board used "compassion" to justify their actions in singling out people for special treatment.

WELL SAID.

I probably won't sound compassionate either, but still so wonder why the ones who'd be most bothered simply can't stay home of the day, or a way for the day. I hope you didn't hang your candidacy hat on this concern and were able to address much larger topics.

In my 10 active, productive years on our board (200+ high rise condos), the least effective directors are those who persistently focussed on personal issues, i.e., the effects on a few individual owners of x, y or z policies. These directors we unable to shift their gaze to a larger level of analysis--the overall health of our community.

That mirrors my experience here in my Florida HOA, Kerry, albeit on a smaller scale and timeline. Our board selected 2 people to fill a couple of director vacancies. The both of them were focused on only one very specific issue. Once that issue was dealt with they resigned; they didn't even make it to the end of the year.

I think that should be a very real concern. Single-issue board members may tend to check out of all the other business that needs to be managed. Not everyone, of course, and I do think Scott has the right idea, at least, that if you don't like what your board is doing then staging a takeover of the board is pretty much the answer to most problems.

We've got a couple of dozen seniors living in my community, maybe half are over 80. They've got an assortment of mobility problems themselves. Many use a "Community Coach" that pickes them up and drops them off at their door and runs them around to appointments, the grocery store, the mall, etc. If we had to block off their streets for 24 or 48 hours it would be inconvenient for them, sure, but they would manage. It's only for a day or two, it's not the end of the world, and if someone absolutely needs to be picked up to go somewhere on that day then I don't think it's out of line to suggest they make arrangements to stay somewhere else for a night.