When no HO's volunteer as directors

The common property will remain as it always has.

If there are no volunteers to serve, technically the existing board members remain unless they resign.

If all are going to resign, someone would need to file with the court for receivership (not recommended). In receivership, an individual or MC is appointed by the court to run the Association. This individual reports to the court (not the membership). Assessments will go up to pay the receiver (as it will be ordered by the court). Assessments may go up to fund reserves or repair anything the receiver feels needs to be done (as the court will order it to happen). Sales of units will likely fall as buyers become aware that the Association is in receivership.

Better option, get the word out that volunteers are needed and that individual needs to be off the board (either by recall or by not reelecting).

What is the bully doing exactly that is driving them away?

You know what's harder than getting together 51% of the membership to recall a director? Going to court to seek an order to re-instate a director, because the other directors are freezing the first director out, due to the one director's disrupting board operations.

In other words, if this one director is disrupting operations of the board, cease to inform him when board meetings are. Send him no emails. Have a board majority instruct the manager to do same. As needed, have the HOA attorney send a cease and desist letter to the rogue director.

What I wrote above assumes that the rest of the board is truly following state law and the governing documents (with the one exception above). That is, I am assuming the one director is a bona fide rogue, and not the other way around.

Richard

Typically a Quorum is required at the Annual Meeting in order to have a BOD Election. If no Quorum the existing BOD stays in place until the next election.

It does take a 51% majority of owner to remove a BOD Member elected by the owners.

It does take a majority vote of the BOD (and the BOD alone) to remove a Director appointed by the BOD.

Very bad advice on the 2nd paragraph. Never take this route.

What happens if the next volunteer is the same way? Isolating never works in an HOA, that will get you in more legal trouble especially if their interpretation was correct or if you attempt to hide actions taken without them knowing. I suggest working with them, ask them if they will pay for the attorney time if their interpretation is wrong or let the members pay it, eventually they’ll get voted out anyway if the bills are high enough.

It’s sad people come on this forum and try to play the victim when in realty it is them that is bullying since they have like minded directors on their side even if their interpretations are wrong which in this case it may very well be. No matter what spend some money get the lawyer opinions and use them moving forward. That should put them at ease.

@ TimB4

Thank you for this insight. You're right... I never considered that the Common Property would/could go into receivership. Expensive proposition, for sure. A scenario that will be avoided in our case (somehow!)

Re recruitment of volunteers... absolutely! Ours is a street association. Homes are beginning to turn over as a result of 'maturing' residents moving into other types of residences where there is less maintenance. Ideally, we could recruit two or three new members who have not served on the Board before who could learn the operations of the Board and then move into Officer positions. I wish that I would have had such background. It would have been helpful.

@ AugustinD Ironically, one of the sore spots with this director is that previous Boards did not follow many ByLaw procedures, and now by using the ByLaws as a script to run meetings, propose projects, and collect votes, it is many times a source of friction.

@ JohnC46 I don't see anywhere that our ByLaws distinquish between a director elected by the owners from one appointed by the BOD. Is there SC language that describes this or is this from your association ByLaws?

re grow a set... Maybe... What I thought I was stepping up for was contributing to a collective effort to help manage the street association and the Common Property. I am likely not the right person to enter the Mixed Marshall Arts ring to settle disagreements. Disagreements are a part of life. Most can, and should be, solved by respectful discussion, weighing the potential outcomes, and having the majority determine this path forward (in the case of a board)

@ SheilaJ1 If your comment about playing a victim is directed at me, I don't feel like a victim. I am at the point of just trying to leave the Board in a place to serve the neighborhood going forward. One option I've considered is just leaving... but then, nothing changes on the Board. I still may do this. As a volunteer, I've served my time (sentence?). I showed up at my first association meeting, and left as a Board member, then 'assigned' the President office. I didn't move into this neighborhood for this kind of drama. Again, if this is all what HOA boards are about, I am not a good fit for this. There is another Board Meeting coming up. This would be a good time to discuss retaining an attorney for guidance and interpretation. The issue being, of course, the significant money involved.

Thanks for your insights on this. It really does help give me some perspective.

Nonsense. From reading just here and witnessing this practice at HOAs, isolating is used routinely and successfully to shut down directors who are not doing as the board majority wishes. For a board that is truly following the law, the best part is that the HOA attorney will do as the Board wishes, twisting the facts around to put the one director on the defense and cautioning him or her to behave, pursuant to law, or else.

I have yet to read of a case where a single director successfully won a case to get the board to keep him in the loop et cetera.

On the other hand, RichardB37 has since posted new information, suggesting the board majority is the one not following the Bylaws. As is common, too many egos, with too little experience and smarts, may be involved here.

The OP came to see what would happen to the Common Property in the absence of a quorum of directors, which was answered... quickly. And the resulting scenario needs to be avoided.

The President (that's you?) can do a lot to get your board meetings back on track. Look up articles on how to run a meeting. Set an agenda in advance, recognize only one speaker at a time, keep speakers on topic, keep to the schedule, get a gavel, etc. Your bully wants to use the bylaws to run meetings, so go for it.

Have your materials organized and distributed in advance to cut down on discussions in the meeting.

And listen to the bully's ideas (not the presentation).

The board can also set up committees and delegate research, discussions, and responsibilities to committees and/or to officers. This will remove some of the drama from the board meetings to the committees/officers, which do not have to include the bully.

This HOA is one of three interconnected HOAs in the neighborhood. This one contains 44 homes. There is a shared dock at the end of the street for use of the residents on this street. This HOA manages the Common Property where the dock is located.

The largest of the three HOAs covers 400 homes. This HOA serves as a Civic Association for the entire 400 home subdivision.

The final POA manages a 20 acre lake that abutters have access to. Half of the homes which share the dock also have access to the freshwater lake.

Thanks. We have about 21 pages of bylaws, but rarely have to refer to them. That's why I asked what issues arise from yours?? Is it how to vote? Or who presides? Or definition of a quorum? I just can't think of what might come up meeting after meeting related to the bylaws.

Thanks to all for the many words of advice.

One reason our discussions get somewhat 'cyclical' is that we meet twice for scheduled meetings as a Board, and add any Special Meetings as needed. Progress is sometimes slow on the projects we discuss, so the same projects come up at multiple meetings. Discussions circle back to the previous meeting. I do not know if this is an issue on just our Board or not, but it has been difficult to get closure and deliverables from the people who raise their hand to take on a task.

I will initiate a conversation at the next Board meeting in a couple of weeks to attempt to get buy in on how we want to run... by the ByLaws, or if there are alternate approaches. From my way of thinking, alternates should mean initiating a revision of ByLaws.

SueW6
Thanks for the great ideas. One of the things we will concentrate on at the upcoming Board meeting is how to get neighborhood committees formed and involved in projects.
More to come...

See: South Carolina Nonprofit Corporation Act

Specifically (emphasis added):

SECTION 33-31-805. Terms of directors generally

(2) the term of a director filling another vacancy expires at the end of the unexpired term that such director is filling.

(d) Despite the expiration of a director's term, the director continues to serve until the director's successor is elected, designated or appointed, and qualifies, or until there is a decrease in the number of directors.

33-31-805

(c) Except as provided in the articles or bylaws:

(1) the term of a director filling a vacancy in the office of a director elected by members expires at the next election of directors by members; and

(2) the term of a director filling another vacancy expires at the end of the unexpired term that such director is filling.

(d) Despite the expiration of a director's term, the director continues to serve until the director's successor is elected, designated or appointed, and qualifies, or until there is a decrease in the number of directors.

Typical SC as per (c).