Illegal activities by a board member

Started by KamA • 10 replies • 917 views

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KamA (Texas)
Posts: 7

Posted:

A board member of our small, gated community hired two workers to paint, not only the curve, but the entire curb surrounding my house including the driveway (please see the attached picture). After the workers had just finished the yellow painting, my wife came back home. The workers told her, “Don’t park your car in your driveway until the paint becomes dry.” She asked them, “Why did you paint this?” They replied, “President XXXX (board member) told us to.” She then asked, “Isn’t this illegal?” They said, “Yes, but President XXXX will pay us for our work.” I called the management company to inquire as to whether our community manager knows about the yellow painting and to remove the paint immediately. She replied, “I have no idea but will call XXXX.” She talked with XXXX and informed me that XXXX will remove the paint tomorrow. However, the paint was not removed. Because of this, I contacted the police department. A police officer then contacted the management company and informed me that the paint will be removed soon. It still has not been and it’s been more than two weeks.

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BillH10 (Texas)
Posts: 1,217

Posted:

KamA

Here is the situation: because you live in a gated association, some city or county codes and ordinances may not be applicable or enforceable. Your association may have control over the streets of the association.

If the issue is a crime, of course criminal laws do apply. However, in the case of parking/no parking, yellow curbs, red zones, lower than customary speed limits and similar vehicle or traffic management situations, your association may be able to promulgate and enforce more stringent rules than in non-gated areas of the city, without city approval.

I recommend you contact the city department responsible for such matters and speak with them. They may tell you they do not have jurisdiction in a gated community. I also recommend you thoroughly read through the declaration of your association, and other association documents, to determine if the association has the authority to formulate rules regarding traffic, parking, and vehicular matters in general.

Were other curbs similarly painted? Is your issue with the entirety of the yellow curb or just the yellow paint on the driveway entrance. You may wish to simply purchase a can of grey paint,repaint your driveway entrance, and be done with it.

Finally, you should attend the next meeting of the board of directors and address this situation in the public forum period provided. Take pictures with you and hand them out. What does the property manager have to say?

Your president and board are class A jerks for not informing the community curbs would be painted, unless they did so and you did not read the information you were sent.

MelissaP1 (Alabama)
Posts: 13,836

Posted:

Our HOA painted the curbs of our HOA due to the fact we can't have parking signs. Only signage allowed is "For sale/Rent". Our streets were turned over to the city due to a separate water meter project. Because of roads being not wide enough to support parking on side of both sides of the road, we had to restrict 1 side to "No parking".

The side of "No Parking" were on the side where the fire hydrants were. That is because if we did not do that emergency vehicles could NOT get through. We had a man die with a heart attack because the ambulance got stuck. The fire department recommended the sides to be marked off "No parking". Went around with fire chief and our city representative to get that done.

However, the city puts up no parking signs up every 25 feet. Something that would look just awful. I went to the code department of our city to request painted curbs instead. We got an ordinance made with the city to enforce it. So if you parked on the red curb, you could get ticketed or force to move by the police. We even had blue for handicap parking for the clubhouse.

So I would find out if your HOA went through the steps before screaming "illegal". The curbs being painted may been a decision for parking. Doesn't sound like your getting a direct answer. Plus it's not been that long of a time to get the paint removed. It can't happen overnight. I would expect the time line to be more like a month or 6 weeks. Plus I'd find out the decision behind the painting curbs.

Former HOA President

TimB4 (Tennessee)
Posts: 21,059

Posted:

You might need to have an attorney write a letter on your behalf to the Association.

KamA (Texas)
Posts: 7

Posted:

Thank you for your nice reply. No other curbs were painted. This lady thinks that she can do whatever she likes to do. A good number of community members are very angry on this lady because of her continuously heinous activities. They don't attend the annual board meeting because any of their questions and suggestions were ignored by her. They think that the purpose of this lady is to keep her position (board member) forever in order to maintain our community in a way she likes. They are also concerned about the high HOA fee. Another concern is that the property manager just follows the suggestions of this lady. I tried but couldn't attach relevant pictures (>200 kb; if possible, send me your e-mail address).

KamA (Texas)
Posts: 7

Posted:

BillH10

Thank you for your nice reply. No other curbs were painted. This lady thinks that she can do whatever she likes to do. A good number of community members are very angry on this lady because of her continuously heinous activities. They don't attend the annual board meeting because any of their questions and suggestions were ignored by her. They think that the purpose of this lady is to keep her position (board member) forever in order to maintain our community in a way she likes. They are also concerned about the high HOA fee. Another concern is that the property manager just follows the suggestions of this lady. I tried but couldn't attach relevant pictures (>200 kb; if possible, send me your e-mail address).

KamA (Texas)
Posts: 7

Posted:

MelissaP1

Thanks so much for your reply.

KamA (Texas)
Posts: 7

Posted:

TimB4

Thanks for your suggestion.

SelenaB (Pennsylvania)
Posts: 4

Posted:

Thank you so much for your suggestion. It is actually very helpful.

RoyalP
Posts: 1,104

Posted:

For the heinous crime of curb painting I hereby issue a sentence of:

3 lashes with a wet linguini

JohnS111 (New York)
Posts: 228

Posted:

I'd call the police on the HOA board president for damage to your property. At least file a police report about it.

So what if it's just a curb; it's illegal, and someone who damages a curb like that, without regard for the views and rights of the owner, can try something worse next time.

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