Board Elections

Notice of Annual meeting of the membership arrived to homeowners. Included in the packet was the Official Notice of Annual Meeting, Absentee ballot and Proxy form.

In the notice it says by Feb 7th, properly endorsed candidates for election to the board will be posted at the model home on Jan. 30th.

There is no instructions for how candidates are to be endorsed nor a date to when notices is due or where to send your notice.

Our Bylaws and CCR are poorly written and only states: In order to be voted as a director at each annual member meeting a member running for a directors position mush present the board with a instrument signed by at least five (5) members, endorsing said member to run for a director position. The endorsing instrument must be delivered to the bard at last five (5) days for the annual members meeting.

IF we have no instructions or due dates, how are homeowner suppose to submit their endorsing instrument?

I have included TPC 209.00593 as reference, but I'm a little unclear of how to proceed.

Thank you in advance.

Sec. 209.00593. ELECTION OF BOARD MEMBERS. (a) Notwithstanding any provision in a dedicatory instrument, any board member whose term has expired must be elected by owners who are members of the property owners' association. A board member may be appointed by the board to fill a vacancy on the board. A board member appointed to fill a vacant position shall serve for the remainder of the unexpired term of the position.

(a-1) At least 10 days before the date a property owners' association composed of more than 100 lots disseminates absentee ballots or other ballots to association members for purposes of voting in a board member election, the association must provide notice to the association members soliciting candidates interested in running for a position on the board. The notice must contain instructions for an eligible candidate to notify the association of the candidate's request to be placed on the ballot and the deadline to submit the candidate's request. The deadline may not be earlier than the 10th day after the date the association provides the notice required by this subsection.

(a-2) The notice required by Subsection (a-1) must be:

(1) mailed to each owner; or

(2) provided by:

(A) posting the notice in a conspicuous manner reasonably designed to provide notice to association members:

(i) in a place located on the association's common property or, with the property owner's consent, on other conspicuously located privately owned property within the subdivision; or

(ii) on any Internet website maintained by the association or other Internet media; and

(B) sending the notice by e-mail to each owner who has registered an e-mail address with the association.

(a-3) An association described by Subsection (a-1) shall include on each absentee ballot or other ballot for a board member election the name of each eligible candidate from whom the association received a request to be placed on the ballot in accordance with this section.

(b) The board of a property owners' association may amend the bylaws of the property owners' association to provide for elections to be held as required by Subsection (a).

(c) The appointment of a board member in violation of this section is void.

(d) This section does not apply to the appointment of a board member during a development period.

(e) This section does not apply to a representative board whose members or delegates are elected or appointed by representatives of a property owners' association who are elected by owner members of a property owners' association.

I don't understand this sentence, Concho: "In the notice it says by Feb 7th, properly endorsed candidates for election to the board will be posted at the model home on Jan. 30th."

Did what you received say the date of the Annual Meeting? Is that what the Feb. 7 above means?

Concho wrote: "The endorsing instrument must be delivered to the bard at last five (5) days for the annual members meeting." So you're saying, Concho, that the package you rec'd doesn't tell you how to turn in the endorsements or when? The "when" is answered by knowing the date of the annual mtg. The "how" PROBABLY would be to deliver it to your property mgr or the Board secretary.

I guess TPC 209.00593 is TX code. And you're saying that the package you rec'd didn't comply with (a-1) because no one rec'd the notice requesting candidates. Is that right?

Sorry I"m unclear...sorry the letter is very broken up....

The letter states the date of the Annual Meeting is Feb.8th.

By Feb. 7th absentee ballots are to be returned to the address below. Properly endorsed candidates for election to the board will be posted at the model home on Jan. 30th.

However, there are no other instruction for candidates - only other reference to candidates is in the Absentee ballot; it says a list of properly endorsed candidates for election will be posted no later than Feb 3rd.

What are candidates to do with no instructions? Can we even have an election?

All we have is what is stated in our bylaws and TPC stating the notice must contain instructions for an eligible candidate to notify the association of the candidate's request to be placed on the ballot and the deadline to submit the candidate's request.

I know what do do ....But how are other homeowners know what properly endorsed candidates are suppose to do if they were not provided with the information in the packet sent to homeowners?

First, I think "by Feb 7th, properly endorsed candidates for election to the board will be posted at the model home on Jan. 30th" is probably an error because it makes no sense. Is Feb. 7 the annual meeting?

It sounds like the board is not following the code (assuming you have 100 lots as stated in the code). You are right, they are supposed to send out instructions on submitting their candidacy and it must be done 10 days before they send out any ballots. Having the instructions in the CC&Rs does not cut it.

I assume your absentee ballots do not have names on them since they do not know who the candidates are yet, so one could argue they are not actual ballots, they are just blank forms. The code seems to imply that the ballots are always preprinted with candidates names which would not necessarily be the case. In that case, there would probably be no harm if they sent out instructions 10 days before they actually distribute the ballots with names on them. Although, I think it would still violate the letter of the law.

I would contact your board (or manager if you have one) and point this out to them. Unfortunately, there are a lot of HOAs that don't have the funds to hire an attorney after every legislative session to make sure they are in compliance with the law. The information is readily available online but many directors don't have a clue that there are state laws regulating their actions.

It looks to me that Ben summarizes this topic just right. It is Texas code Concho's referring to, right Ben? Perhaps Concho's HOA is fewer than 100 lots as you suggest as a possibility.

If it is 100+ lots, the absentee ballots should have the names of the candidates on them (just as we do in CA). But the ballots received do not from your HOA do not, is that right?

I can only agree with Ben to contact your Board of PM to politely request clarification.

I disagree with PaIN that all owners should be familiar with their bylaws and especially with their state laws. These a often are difficult for lay folks to read and, as Ben points out, for directors too.

However:

Ignorance of the law is no excuse.

The law of the land is:

CAVEAT EMPTOR