Please help I dont know where to turn

Hello I am really in need of some help, any advice would be greatly greatly appreciated I have spent hours looking up options online and I just not finding the answers that I'm looking for. We have a new HOA president, the only reason she is President is because she hired an attorney and forced out the previous president and then once in office used HOA funds to pay off that attorney in the amount of $25,000. We have had potholes on all of our streets for months she refuses to fix them. She has put up signs saying she will tow away our cars for expired registration or inspection. She is dating a tow truck driver and I literally saw the both of them driving around the neighborhood at 1 in the morning almost as if they are working together and have video to prove it. She is claiming to have spent $10,000 to fix our pool it has never never been fixed and every month takes out $900 to pay for a pool monitor when the pool has been closed for years. I walked over to her place to confront her about towing people's cars off of their private property (we all own our land) from their driveways for expired registration and she has the walkway to her front door completely blocked off. You cannot go and talk to her and she's never in the office. She has listed special accounts and lies about Renovations that did not take place that totals up to tens of thousands of dollars. And it's not just her, all of her friends are on the board as well and one of them the treasurer is driving a new car and so is her daughter. This is just extremely stressful and every attorney that I have spoken to wants a $20,000 retainer and I don't have that kind of money. She has also decided to cancel elections for this year so we aren't having one. Is there anything I can do about this? I don't even know who to report her to or how to go about having her removed. It's just made everything so stressful and frustrating. Any advice is greatly greatly appreciated, thank you

Actually state law says ypu cannot tow a car off of someones private propertt unless its blocking traffic, forelane, etc.. Its interesting you mention nothing of the money for a pool that wasnt replaced or any mention of potholes. You sound a bit defensive right off the bat. There were a group of old ladies that got together and hired the attorney, coincidentally the same ones on the noardnow. They even pisted tacky signs saying "Court case won!" Until someone spray painted a profanity on it and rook it down. As dar as "my issues" that is a personal opinion and NOT HELPFUL

Lets just stop this before it gets out of hand. I came to this forum looking for help, not a fight. You've given your opinion and can move on now. I'm not interested in getting side tracked with someone who obviously has way too much time on their hands. Thanks for your input.

Oh we absolutely do😉

Traci, first please use paragraphs. Doing so makes your posts much easer to read and understand. You asked a lot of questions and describe several scenarios. Those reading your messages will need background information to be able to help you.

Keep in mind there are no HOA police in Texas nor is there a state HOA oversight office as in other states. Issues of the magnitude you describe may require the use of an attorney who specializes in HOA matters--not real estate law and not your cousin's ex-boyfriend's brother in law's sister who works downtown in a legal firm. Working through what you described is going to be a long slog. The cavalry will not ride in tomorrow and all will be merry by sundown, you are the cavalry.

I assume you are in an HOA. Are you in a gated community or are the streets public?

Secondly, as Melissa suggested, drop all the non-relevant information such as driving new cars, dating the tow truck driver, etc.

In Texas you have an absolute right to review the records of the Association. This includes the financial records, accounting system reports, meeting minutes, etc. Does your association have a records request process? You should ask, they should if they implemented the changes required by the 2011 Legislature.

Once you reach the point you can identify the records you wish to review you will have to use the records request process. If you ask for paper copies you will be charged an amount set by the Legislature. There may be charges for electronic copies if someone has to spend time to assemble them. Keep in mind you can only request records as they exist, the Association is not required to run reports or otherwise compile information. There may be issues when you make requests to review records, I and others will help you if necessary.

Your first assignment is to read through your Bylaws and Declaration, any amendments, and association rules so you are on firm ground and know what you are talking about.

Are you the only person with the frustrations you described? You may think from outward appearances the now President hired an attorney and used association funds to pay him or her but unless you were present at every meeting of the Board and know precisely what decisions were made and on what basis, you really do not know what took place or why. I would suggest you approach this from the standpoint of desiring to know how the association funds were spent, and why. Based on what you wrote, expenditures in excess of $45,000 have taken place, it is not inappropriate to ask why.

You may be right of course, you are talking about spending a great deal of money. How many homes are in your Association? Does the association have a management company?

If this is the case, bring legal action in small claims court against the tow truck company.
However, have proof that the vehicle in question was parked on private property (security cameras, witnesses, police reports, etc.).

Im not the only one frustrated.

She has a police officer at each meeting. Two people tried to bring up the issue of cancelling this years election and were escorted out. They werent hostile or causing disturbance.

She wont let us talk at meetings, she uses fear and intimidation.

10pm-6am I meant

The only way such a person can cause so much trouble is if the homeowners let it happen.

Very interesting summary.

Traci,

Often an Associations membership will simply pay their assessments and let those who want to run things, run things. They don't complain unless something affects them directly. This site calls that membership apathy. The members simply don't get involved (attend meetings, cast votes, ask questions, volunteer to serve, etc.) which allows those who want to volunteer and serve do so.

I believe that Geno was trying to point this out.

The membership, if they have the numbers and are willing to become involved, have the power to correct such things. This is typically done via recall elections.

On a side note, it appears that a majority of the board are allowing these things to occur (as they could put a stop to it by majority vote).

With all of that said, it should be pointed out that you are becoming involved, asking questions and trying to correct the issue. You need to be applauded for that. Change might not come overnight. However, change can occur if the members are willing to become involved. If the members are not willing to become involved, then (to be realistic) your only other options might be the courts, live with it or move.

Not exactly what you wanted to hear, but I hope it helps.

Oh wow. I got busy and forgot all about this..lol. Im not really interested in what anyone has to say. You can criticize and point the finger but not really offer and useful advice👍👏Im gonna go back to living my life now👋

Thought I would try to summarize this thread for the benefit of others.

Traci, the OP, specified:

1) An individual (member or Director is not known) brought legal action and succeeded in being appointed President of the Association.
It is not known what the legal action was about.
2) Per the OP, this individual (one would expect with Board approval) used HOA funds to pay their attorney.
Since the individual won the legal action, it's possible that they also won attorney fees.
3) The Board started towing unregistered vehicles from the community using a towing company that the individual may have a conflict of interest with.
4) The OP stated that there are pot holes on the roads that are not getting fixed by the HOA (gives an indication that the roads are private).
5) The OP stated that the Board would not hold elections this year (unknown why).
6) The Association has spent $10,000 to fix a community pool that has been closed for years and costs the Association $900 per month to operate. The OP does not see where the $10K was spent (claims the pool was not fixed).
7) In a later post it was learned that the Board has a local police officer on hand at board meetings to keep order and has escorted members out of the meetings when directed to by the President/Board.

The OP was asking where to turn as checking with an attorney the cost is simply too much for the OP to afford.

The suggestions offered were:

a) read and know the applicable statutes and governing documents.
b) ask to see financials and board resolutions regarding the issues in order to better understand what is happening.
c) gather support from within the membership to recall the board and replace with new individuals or simply not reelect at the next election.
d) it was noted that if there is no support from the membership that the only other options are the courts, live with it or move.

Unfortunately, opinions were also posted that the OP interpreted as criticism vs. helpfulness. Often, it's not what is posted but how it is posted that causes this.

The OP has stated that they are not longer interested in what anyone has to say.
Therefore, one might expect the OP has chosen to live with the situation.
Personally, I hope this expectation is wrong and the OP will take the time to learn why the board did what they did and gather support to replace (via recall or at election time) those individuals currently on the board with those who think as they do. Perhaps even tossing their own hat into the ring and be part of the decision making.

We’ve all seen and heard Tracis ... apparently, there are a lot of them out there.

They often to hurl nonsensical statements that are factually inaccurate - as a starting point - then, when presented with process requirements, become defensive and, in this Traci’s case, nasty and foul mouthed.

You can’t help everyone - especially if they are illogical and ill fit to the work required for governance.

At the end of the day, the homeowners out numder the people running the hoa. Want to change things? Knock on doors and start your own meeting of homeowners. Get organized, start a facebook page, etc.... and toss the current people out.

If other homeowners dont agree with you, its possible your incorrect about the current people running things.

It's OK - we're trying to help people, Traci isn't.

For what it is worth, I agree with the posts by BillH10, TimB4, GenoS and SteveM9, in tone and/or substance. For now, I suggest Traci focus on getting elections conducted. Traci, can you post your Bylaws here? If you do this, I can throw together what is called a "demand letter" (light version) that you can send to your HOA (cc its attorney), to get the ball rolling on forcing an election. Competent attorneys know they need to respond to avoid litigation. If elections are not being run, this is serious, as a matter of corporate law and possibly Texas statutes.

Traci, also consider calling the numbers here: https://www.caihouston.org/page/HOAHotline . Even if you're not in Houston, this hotline may be able to help you.

The detail is a bit too extensive for me to believe this was an April Fool's joke.

That would scare me.

Richard, this is exactly what judges expect attorneys and others to do before they go to court: Send demand letters over several months, with the legal tone escalating. Said letters will become a part of the court record. Attorneys know this.

Wow that got out of hand quickly. It sounds like Traci is very similar to the President she has an issue with. I have had a few tuff HOs to deal with over the years. I have never seen one lose it just that quick.

I hope it was a April fools prank.

I was in court last week, as an observer, on a case that was familiar with this forum. Similar to this post. Three board members resign and a vice president takes over without any discussion of vote. The remaining four essentially shuts down the HOA and the lawyer and MC take sides. So, two have the MC's attorney represent them while the other effectively would have to pay $20K for instance to represent them and the association against, well their own MC and lawyer.

So Traci mentions that the president uses $10K to fix a pool that isn't fixed and $900 a month to monitor a pool that is close. To me that might raise a red flag. To Melissa it is how dare you judge the book by its cover.

Some people got actually what they put into the conversion. Read Melissa's first two responses. I would't have been so nice.

Traci's post count has gone to zero, indicating they have resigned from the forum.