Censuring of a board member & suspending by the state

I'm a board member & am out numbered on my cutrent bod. They have been avoiding communication & pushing through agenda items that are costing the assoication huge cost increases & are questionable at best. I have called them out publicly & now they are holding a bod meeting to censure me & another bod menber for doing so. We are a 5 person bod & it is 3 vs 2 but they deciding everything around us with little to no communication. Our next election is 5 weeks away. I know censuring is a public slap on the wrist to us but my real concern is the upcoming election as our bylaws state you can't suspended or removed from service from the Division of Condominium.

What is the likely hood they can suspend to not allow us to run for the next bod?

Should we resign prior to the censure to be able to run so there is no record as they can't censure if no longer a bod member.

Of course they are holding this meeting on Tuesday & Monday is a holiday.

I appreciate your assistane.

Johnna Alvarez
[email protected]

Thanks, I can handle the pressure but it is a strategic question. Since our elections are 5 weeks away can or do they have time to suspend me theough the atate so I can't run again?

Please explain:
1. Why would censuring remove you from the board.
2. Why the State be involved in any way in this board decision.
3. Was there due process? A hearing in ex. session?

When I emailed the attorney after the meeting he said theu can amemd & ratify the change to how the meeting was called at the next meeting.

Thank you. I know it is a public sslap on the wrist & they can't remove me.

My question still remains can they have us suspended by the state prior to election & time frame for that. Because our bylaws state we can't be suspended or removed by the division of condominiums.

Johnna

Thank you.

Monday is Martin Luther King why I posted for input. I plan on calling my attorney but concerned I won't get a hold of prior to the meeting.

We have already reached out to the association attorney as well but I'm not relying on his sole recommendation due to his relationship with the othe bod members.

Johnna

Thank you.

We have been outspoken & residents see it but legally I'm asking how to handle.

Resign prior to censure that way they can't censure cause not a bod member. Since election so close.

Let censure but my concern is how quick they can suspend through state .....thus blocking me from running.

Johnna

JohnnaA, if the Board censures you, then it is unlikely the Board can keep you from running. Read your HOA's bylaws for the required qualifications of board candidates. Typically the only requirement is that the member be up to date on required assessments or fines. If your Board prohibits you from enjoying all the rights that the other candidates enjoy, then you will have to hire an attorney. Though your HOA attorney is still talking with you, and you might be able to get a ruling from him or her that will persuade the board to follow the rules for running elections.

A censure at the HOA level has no legal implications. It is usually fifth grade behavior designed to intimidate a board member or possibly bring transparency to a bona fide serious offense committed by a board member. What Timb4 describes is common. What happened to him and others similarly situated is disgusting. It also typically costs the HOA a lot of money. Directors supporting censure or similar are wasteful. Such directors also often are incapable of understanding the finances and infrastrucure of a HOA. So to what do they turn their busybodies? Personality conflicts and building their egos.

This board can "censure" you and try to shame you within the confines of the HOA. They will be able to use HOA resources, including the HOA attorney, to do so. Once the attorney gets involved, the lies about you may become very bad, because the HOA attorney will argue that you are about to bring suit, so she or he has to throw out every possible exaggeration about you to try to thwart suit. (So attorneys are allowed to rationalize when they lie. The Bar supports this, in the name of the "adversarial system.")

From where did you get the above quotation about the Division of Florida Condominiums? I do not think the Division has the power to either suspend or remove a condominium director. See https://www.flsenate.gov/Laws/Statutes/2018/719.501 . See especially

If the Division does start an investigation, I bet it will be a lot more fair than the treatment you have received thus far from the Board. The Division might end up investigating instead your Board's majority for failure to hold an open board meeting, regarding the cost of security at your HOA.

Contracts can be discussed in closed meetings, especially when bids are opened. Any decision would be ratified at a duly called board meeting where resident members could voice their opinions.

Revealing what happened in closed session is serious and you deserve a censure for doing that.

Be a good boy and take your slap on the wrist.

Carry on ... and run for the board again. (All nominees should be told if they are eligible to run or not before the election - so make “whomever” responsible to finding out and letting you know.”

Watch your language at meetings. Swearing is so low class.

Augustine answered the question about "the division." I agree that
EVEN IF your board goes through all the trouble to try to get the "Division" to suspend you from your board, I don't think the Division deals with such matters.

Please don't use real names, Johanna. And perhaps the other director on your side can help you read things. Legalese is hard to read and he might be good at interpreting what he reads.

I don't think it's likely that the board can suspend you two as directors unless your documents, probably your bylaws say so.

I can't speak for all who were kind enough to reply to your question, but in my case, I don't think I understand your question. Is it this, Johanna? Can my board ask the FL Condo Division to suspend or remove me form the board of directors?

Jo

Where does it say a BOD censure goes to the state? A censure is an internal matter and not a state issue nor is it cause for being removed from the BOD.

Johnna,

I can't speak for the others who have responded, but I didn't respond because I can't follow what you are trying to say, or ask.

Your sentences are fragmented hard to understand.

Can you regroup and outline - specifically - what your issue are, and how we might be able to help?

I've reread your original post a few times:

"I'm a board member & am out numbered on my cutrent bod." - by definition, everyone is outnumbered on a board of more than two directors
"They have been avoiding communication & pushing through agenda items that are costing the assoication huge cost increases & are questionable at best." - this is your opinion, and it sounds like you have been outvoted
"I have called them out publicly & now they are holding a bod meeting to censure me & another bod menber for doing so." - OK, perhaps you earned the censure by calling them out publicly ...
" We are a 5 person bod & it is 3 vs 2 but they deciding everything around us with little to no communication." - it sounds as if you are being outvoted

"Our next election is 5 weeks away. I know censuring is a public slap on the wrist to us but my real concern is the upcoming election as our bylaws state you can't suspended or removed from service from the Division of Condominium.

What is the likely hood they can suspend to not allow us to run for the next bod?

Should we resign prior to the censure to be able to run so there is no record as they can't censure if no longer a bod member." - the censure vs Florida Condo law is beyond my knowledge

"Of course they are holding this meeting on Tuesday & Monday is a holiday. " - again, you have been outvoted, apparently

Re the rationale you provided:
"Use of excessive Profanity" - true?
"Hostile behavior in a Board Meeting" - how hostile? threats to get even, threats to go public?
"Failure to keep confidential the subject and content of a closed meeting of the Board" - true?
"Intimidation of the Property Manager regarding her job security" - did someone threaten the PM?

My summary - it sounds like you are getting outvoted because 3/5 of the BoD want to do one thing, and you and one other don't. It sounds like threats were made, names were called and you may have decided it was best to spill the content of the closed board meeting to the community? (it is arguable whether or not this is permitted since the meeting may, per your note, have been counter to you bylaws). Finally, you are trying an end run of the Florida statues to ensure you can still be nominated as a new director?

It sounds to me like the closed meeting was improper and therefore anything done there is null and void. Holding improper secret board meetings SHOULD be called out publicly, I think. (If that's what happened. I agree the OP is very hard to understand.)

I also have the impression that the out-voting is happening outside of duly noticed board meetings. I could be wrong there, too.

Cursing and verbally assaulting others is never the right thing to do. Neither is a display of open hostility. I didn't get that anyone was making any threats.

I don't think it's possible to make an end run around non-existent statutes. One's Bylaws cannot prevent anyone from running, censured or not. That would give a sitting majority way too much power in dictating the makeup of future boards. It would be too easy for a sitting majority to make sure anyone who disagrees with them can't run the next time around. That's the only end-run I perceive here and it isn't the OP that's doing it.

One has to take many things posted with a grain of salt. In Jo's case she says the vote is always 3 to 2 with the same people voting the same way. No accusing Jo, but maybe she more part of the problem than the solution.

Johnny,
Sounds like you only want to hear what you want to hear. I doubt you will get free attorney advice if that is what you are waiting for. Best we can do is give opinions and you need to make of it as you will.

If you have the ear of the community and the Election is 5 weeks away vote out the members that you disagree with that are on the ballot. Sounds simple to me.

I hope you are generalizing your comment about every vote being 3 to 2 as no one is either right or wrong 100% of the time. If not John may be right.

Geno, from all I can tell, JohnnaA serves on the board of a condominium. For Florida condominiums, FS 718 is what applies. FS 720 does not apply. From FS 720.302(4): "This chapter [720] does not apply to any association that is subject to regulation under chapter 718, chapter 719, or chapter 721... "

FS 718 appears to give the Division of Florida Condominiums significant power over condo boards. Specifics appear below. In particular, 718.501 (1) (d) 6. gives the Division of Florida Condominiums the power to remove a condominium director for any violation of FS 718. As interested, see below.

It appears to me that JohnnaA is at risk of a Division investigation and, in the extreme, removal by the Division of Florida Condominiums. But if so, I think her accusers are facing the same.

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At 718.112 (2) (d) 2. Bylaws, Required Provisions, Unit Owner Meetings, lays out eligibility requirements:

-- a unit owner must not be seeking election to a ninth consecutive year of board service, unless certain conditions are met.

-- if a unit owner is a co-owner, then certain conditions must be met.

-- "a person who has been suspended or removed by the division under this chapter [718]... is not eligible to be a candidate for board membership and may not be listed on the ballot."

-- "a person... who is delinquent in the payment of any monetary obligation due to the association, is not eligible to be a candidate for board membership and may not be listed on the ballot."

-- "A person who has been convicted of any felony in this state or in a United States District or Territorial Court, or who has been convicted of any offense in another jurisdiction which would be considered a felony if committed in this state, is not eligible for board membership unless such felon’s civil rights have been restored for at least 5 years as of the date such person seeks election to the board."

-- "A unit owner or other eligible person desiring to be a candidate for the board must give written notice of his or her intent to be a candidate to the association at least 40 days before a scheduled election."

Keyword searching for suspen" and "remov" in FS 718 turns up the following:
718.112 (2) (d) 4. b. "A director of an association of a residential condominium who fails to timely file the written certification or educational certificate is suspended from service on the board until he or she complies with this sub-subparagraph."

718.3027 (2) and (3) Conflicts of interest. [If the HOA board finds that a director has engaged in activity that is a conflict of interest, then FS 718.3027 says the director "shall be deemed removed from office."]

718.501 (1) (d) 6. "The division may impose a civil penalty individually against an officer or board member who willfully and knowingly violates a provision of this chapter, adopted rule, or a final order of the division; may order the removal of such individual as an officer or from the board of administration or as an officer of the association; and may prohibit such individual from serving as an officer or on the board of a community association for a period of time."
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