Florida HOA Emergency Special Assessment (Long story)

Forgot to mention that this assessment is was passed on August 12th and is due by August 27th.

Joe:

Is a repair to the pool really an emergency? Unless someone is trapped in the pool or the fence surrounding the pool was knocked down I don't know how any pool repair is an emergency. If this was really an emergency why did they wait from Friday to Sunday to announce the meeting, I think that is a smoke screen for an agenda.

I believe the 48 hour notice should apply and I think both votes, and the assessment should be null and void. I think the board should be reported to the AG, and the membership should seriously think about who is taking care of their association.

Furthermore...why wasn't the pool drained first and damage assessed then as opposed to waiting until after the original contract was awarded? I think we all know something isn't right and I am not buying the emergency part because there was no risk to life or property if they waited an additional 2 days for notice.

NancyD1 - Perhaps you didn't read the part where Rebecca posted the Board voted unanimously to accept one of her bids?

Joe:

So calling it an emergency makes it ok to circumvent the rules? I don't know what the agenda is because I don't live there and don't have the whole story but something is fishy and you can't argue that.

JoeW, a few points...

First this was not (IMHO) an valid "emergency" situation. Emergency situations are those where life, limb, or property damage may occur if the Board fails to act. Again this is my interpretation based on my community's standards. While the pool closure is an inconvenience, it is not an emergency - proper steps could have been undertaken by the Board to address the issue and work towards a quick solution. If this community has Board meeting quarterly, or not every month, etc - and the next meeting was well away in schedule - then calling a duly and properly noticed (to membership) meeting would have been appropriate. Unsure of what Rebecca's community's requirements are for open meeting laws, or what their doc's require - but it would appear that the board acted improperly, per the original posting.

Second, the minute that action was taken, where the funds were not readily available (operating or reserve/replacement accounts) and an additional assessment was considered to fund the additional repairs to the pool, the membership had a valid right to notice (under most codes/laws, and most governing documents). Again not sure what Rebecca's jurisdiction, or the community's governing documents require - but it would speak volume to "transperancy" to the owners to have been properly advised.

Third, not sure what all the "in/out" business of the Treasurer was about - either you are an active participant of the Board's activities, or you are not. Tossed around the quorum issue, etc - but in the long run, either way, it does not matter - if the Treasurer was present, to give a summary/presentation to the full board, and if Rebecca's jurisdiction/documents require open meetings, and minutes were perfected, or even required, the meeting should have been conducted in a professional manner.

Last, I would further advise Rebecca to review the governing documents for any reference of "actions taken, not during a regularly scheduled meeting." where it may define what limits/powers are prescribed to the Board to act absent a meeting. However if it does have such a clause, I would also strongly suspect that it would require that actions taken be immediately incorporated/recorded into the next full scheduled meeting of the board.

Thank you all. I know it is very hard to opine on this type of thing with only limited info, but I appreciate the information.

We have an extremely old pool that is, structurally speaking, quite sound. However, it was resurfaced in (approx. 1988) with fiberglass and that fiberglass was beginning to lift, created a sharp edged hazard for swimmers in what we thought was one side of the steps entering the pool. Initially the area was roped off (hindsight is 20/20. I should've shut the pool down immediately.) and I began seeking bids for what we thought to be a relatively minor fiberglass repair.

Two bids were secured by licensed pool/spa contractors. I contacted numerous other contractors, but was unable to find anyone else that was qualified to work on a fiberglass pool. I was still seeking additional bids when an inspector from the Health Department came out on a Friday (my day off) to do a routine inspection and shut down my pool. He was extremely helpful to me and I understood that I should've done that from the beginning. In a conversation with the Board President that evening, she made it clear to me that she wanted to have an emergency meeting to discuss moving forward on one of the two bids I had obtained. I advised her that I didn't feel that to be a prudent decision as we still had 48 hours to duly notice the meeting. Whether we met that evening, or Sunday evening, I could not get in touch with either contractor before Monday anyway. There was no reason not to notice the meeting properly and involve the membership in the decision. She advised that she would contact other members of the Board and call me back to let me know whether or not a meeting would be held or have notice sent out by my assistant as I had a memorial and funeral to attend that evening and Saturday afternoon. I returned to work on Sunday and she came in at 10:30am to announce that an emergency meeting was to be held at 2:00pm and that each member of the Board waived notice. I expressed my disapproval to the Board members present, but was over-ruled. I ws confident with the bids I had received, but I wanted things done "by the book". I find the definition of "Emergency" in this kind of case can be quite subjective. It is August and we have a very active summer rental season here, so I think that Board could be justified in calling this an Emergency. The bottom line here is that it wasn't necessary for it to be an emergency. That was used as a means to keep other Board members from being able to introduce other pressing business that the President and Treasurer did not want discussed.

That was the first emergency meeting. A $9200 bid was accepted for the repair to the top step (the only pressing matter), two new ladders, one new railing, new tile around the scum gutter and re-texturing of our bon-beam. He advised that it was possible that the costs could go up once he drained water off the steps and assessed the other two steps. The pool was only to be drained down below the steps. The contractor was to pick up the material on Friday, and begin work on Monday. Instead, he began draining the pool on Saturday and discovered additional damage, not only on the other steps, but all along the scum gutter and exposed surface of the pool. He immediately stopped work and spoke with a Board member who lives onsite and supplied a $72,000 bid on Sunday morning for the additional work. The rest is in my original post.

I understand now all of the "should haves", but what do I do now? I don't really have any doubt that the very old pool did need this work done. Could it have waited 6 months, a year maybe? Yes. I think it could have. That really isn't my gripe though. I have the support of the membership. They understand that they got their money's worth from this pool. We have excellent collection here and have already received most of the money assessed. It's is the means that I have a problem with. This needed to be handled quickly, but not at the expense of obtaining competitive bids.

Sadly, this is not the first thing I have had a major problem with here. What do you do as a CAM when two Board members are pitted against two others and the remaining one is in Canada attending to a deathly-ill spouse? Short of publishing a letter to the membership about my concerns, I don't know what to do besides either quit, or continue to hold my breath until the election in October.

I am sorry this is so long and rambling. I accept the responsibility for putting myself and this community in this position by not having the experience to handle these types of situations, but I don't think stepping down now will help the situation. I feel like I need to see them through their election. Hopefully they will make the right choice for their community. When a stable Board is in power, I would like to help them find a replacement for me that is truly qualified to manage this Association and attempt to go to work for an MC where I can gain experience. I have read 720 and my docs thoroughly. I know what is right and wrong. What I don't know is what my recourse is when a Board refuses to heed my advice or do what is right.

Again, thank you for all of your help.

Rebecca:

your board is not very bright...when you have $72,000 in repairs staring you in the face you step back, gather multiple bids and explore options. You don't rush through a process. If I were a resident in that community I would report them to any agency around and would lead a petition to get them recalled.

Furthermore, as Jade and myself have stated this is not an emergency. Even if it is in the middle of rental season what is the emergency? Nothing, if the pool was a danger you shut down the pool and assess the damage.

They did not follow proper procedure for a special assessment so they in reality stole from the members amongst many other things.

From what you posted I don't know that the Board skirted the rules. Are you throughly familiar with the controlling documents? And if they violated meeting requirements did you so advise? A special Board meeting is normally allowed by the By-laws. IMO "out of the office" is not acceptable. Don't you have a cell phone, answering service, and backup personnel?

Your recourse is to:
1) accept that the Board may act with or without your input; or
2) terminate the management agreement.

My documents mimic 720, in that they have an "out", if you will, by calling this an "Emergency Meeting". I don't dispute that they could be deemed justified in what they did. I did advise that I did not feel this constituted an emergency that would override notice requirements. That is not really the issue for me. My main concern is that it wasn't necessary to do it the way they did. Because of the way it happened over the weekend, they easily could have properly noticed the meeting. I also advised that I was uncomfortable moving forward without obtaining more bids when the repair changed and that all of this happened in my absence, when they could have easily called me in.

Thank you for your input. I understand that they don't have to listen to me. Do you feel, as some others have posted, that it would be appropriate for me to make my feelings known to the membership if the Board refuses to heed advice? Is that an appropriate way to CYA? Or is there some implied privilege that I need to maintain and just put my feelings in writing to the Board?

Thank you, Joe. I see Roger's point as well. I do have the advantage of having all of the information. I have only been able to provide you all with snippets. I do appreciate the help.

I agree with your thoughts on addressing the membership. None of what is going on here has crossed the line to criminal, albeit irresponsible. I think it would be counter-productive as well. It may only stir the pot and get me fired. Then the Board would be left to do whatever they please until they find another young, inexperienced Manager they figure they can intimidate. I can be much more effective by continuing to advise them and hope that the membership does the right thing for their community in October. I do feel that some of these once effective Directors are suffering from "Board Burn-Out".

If they knowingly violate either their docs or 720, and I advise them of it, what else can I do? Are they really allowed to ignore my warnings about it and I have no obligation to take it further? Just CYA, that's it?

Rebecca - Use this experience, tow the line and CYA by documenting to the Board the areas you see they could have acted differently, or as RogerB posts. That's very good advice. Other than that, don't worry about it, but don't loose your license you've worked so hard to achieve.

I've had a similar situation with our pool. Mine was a much worse situation that really did have multiple violations and questionable legalties. It's too long to post here. However, reading your issue, I don't see a problem. Just maybe the fact that you weren't consulted or part of the actual decision making may be the real issue. Your NOT a member of the HOA so you can't have a voting right to what goes on. The board is to make the decision and your position is to make sure that decision can happen. That may involve you getting bids and presenting them to the BOD. After that, it's the HOA/BOD decision on how to raise the funds and what actions to take.

This may sound a bit harsh but this is HOA bureaucracy at it's best. The BOD did NOT have an option of "changing" bidders AFTER the "extra" repair issue came up. At this time, they had voted to accept this bidder's contract and there is no going back just because they found additional work to be done. Techinically, if they had to go back to the other bidders, that would have to involve ANOTHER vote to do so and then start over from scratch. Meaning they would now have to pay possibly 2 contractors to get back to the original problem. It was better just to keep the original bidder and work the rest of the deal from there. As someone who's hired many contractors, once you sign a contract, it's best to keep to that one contract.

You can have "emergency meetings" just to address one issue. They are usually called "Special meetings" which cover just one issue. In this case, the issue was deemed an "emergency" and involved one issue. No problem if the board did not want to address the other thousand issues it has going on everyday in this meeting. That's what the regular meetings are for.

My pool situation was the nightmare situation that your wanting this to be. I don't think the board acted inappropriately. There are issues involved with hiring and changing contractors mid contract that they had to take under consideration. It's the homeowner's money not yours. Sounds like the majority of homeowner's were there and were aware of the circumstances as they were presented. Maybe not the best presentation but they were informed or could do so amongst themselves if they so desired.

My board voted in an "one-time special assessment" that covered MORE than the repair work costs. They wanted not only to cover the pool repair (which was the wrong expensive repair) plus cover any additional HOA projects. They only told the people the assessment was just for the pool repair. Which is what a special assessment is ONLY to cover the cost of the repair. It is NOT to collect additional money outside that scope just because you want to build up funds. That's a whole other assessment. I didn't see your BOD do this. They did it just for the repair bill alone which is the RIGHT thing to do in this situation.