REMOVAL OF BOARD OF TRUSTEES

Many homeowners in our planned community of townhomes in Ohio, want to have our Board members removed. They are self-serving, non-transparent and do not look out for the best interest of the community.

Bylaws Article V, Section 5.3; ......Any Trustee may be removed from office, with or without cause, and the vacancy created thereby filled, by the affirmative vote of the majority of the voting power of the Membership at a Special Meeting of the Members called for such purpose.......

Bylaws Article IV, Section 4.2, A Special Meeting of the Members shall be held on the call of the President, Vice President, or Secretary, when any such officer deems it necessary or desirable OR WHEN REQUESTED TO DO SO IN WRITING SIGNED BY MEMBERS holding 25% or more of the votes of the membership, or by a majority of the Trustees by action with or without meeting. Calls for Special Meeting shall designate the time, place and purpose thereof; and no business not mentioned in the call shall be considered at any Special Meeting.

Bylaws Article IV, Section 4.3, ....the Secretary shall give written notice of the Annual or any Special Meeting not less than 10 days nor more than 60 days prior thereto to each Member entitled to vote.

From the information in the articles above, we are assuming we send our petition to the Secretary with the required amount of signatures. It will state that we are calling for a special meeting for the purpose of removing the current Board of Trustees and electing new officers. Then they are the ones to arrange the meeting. Correct? I can't find anywhere how long they can take to come up with a meeting.....We need to make sure we do this correctly. They will no doubt run to the Association's lawyer and scrutinize everything.

We don't need cause or arguments why they should be dumped. The neighbors will be approached to sign the petition. Most of them know why and are already in agreement. We only have 28 homes. DOES THE BOARD ARRANGE THE MEETING OR DO WE AND HAVE THAT INFO ON THE PETITION?

Typically you will have to name their replacements as part of the recall. Typically you will have to recall each director separately, as in one after the other versus in mass. Recalls can get very tricky and usually are not successful and/or they are legally dragged on forever. It is often easier to mount a campaign to get others elected to the BOD at election time.

One thing to do is make sure you understand the difference between trustees and officers. Unless your association is unusual, directors or trustees are elected by the homeowners in general, and officers are elected by the directors/trustees. Officers may or may not have to be directors/trustees depending on what your governing docs say.