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Posted By ND on 12/04/2019 1:08 PM
NpB . . . I went back a ways at some of your posts. And I’m mad at myself for spending the time doing this (and most won’t read this post because it’s too long), but I’m really trying to help you out.
You talk about a lot about (what I consider to be) rather curious, extreme, abnormal, and/or irregular sorts of circumstances. A few examples include (and I’m synopsizing and perhaps making a few assumptions):
-- Investigating HOA liability for a potential future Board to potentially remove a recently-installed streetlight, the removal of which may potentially allow for crime or safety issues.
-- Being assaulted by a neighbor over installation of a streetlight . . . claimed in one or more posts to be installed on HOA common area, and in another post to be installed within confines of a consenting owner’s property (the owner adjacent to the one who assaulted you).
-- Taking on one owner who continuously defies HOA rule on overnight parking by regularly taking pictures of vehicles at 2am. (Is this the same owner who assaulted you over the streetlight?)
-- You (a Board Member) being fined by your own HOA Management Company (which you claim is a money grab by termite co or by HOA) because you can’t make accommodations to be home during the inspection.
-- Homeowner debates via community-wide email and you, as a Board Member, wanting to go tit for tat in order to defend yourself.
-- Dredging up 10-year-old emails from a Landscape Committee in support of a swing set to be installed in community open space and asking if they can be read at a Board Meeting . . . for what purpose? . . . to once again advocate putting in a swing set?
-- Wanting to go to Department of Real Estate and file a case for selective enforcement against the same Board of Directors with which you serve.
-- Wrangling over an HOA funds being used for an HOA-held pizza party that invited all owners.
-- Initiating/signing contracts after obtaining unanimous board consent through email and then wondering if they may be undone later at in-person meetings if disgruntled neighbors cause Board Members to re-consider their decision (after there is actual discussion of an important decision that should have occurred before the email decision).
The one common denominator in all of this is you. I don’t think it’s by chance that you continue to find yourself in these situations, wrangling with what to do or not do, what’s permissible or not, etc. Through your own involvement and actions, you seem to generate much of the drama.
I’m not saying this to try and be a jerk. And maybe you find a strange enjoyment out of it all or you have other motives for doing what you do. But to me this is all quite extreme. It's creating turmoil within your HOA, among your neighbors, and on your Board. It probably isn’t adding value to the greater good of your HOA. And it's probably causing you a significant amount of angst and wasted time/effort.
Cathy had some good advice in regard to your parking concern . . . “So... how much does this annoy you? Do the benefits of pushing back outweigh any consequences (ill will, retaliation, etc.)? The answers to these questions will tell you what to do.”
I suggest the same in most of what you find yourself involved in . . . how important is it really to the greater good of your HOA? Do the benefits of what you seek to accomplish outweigh potential consequences involved in getting you there?
I am not the one who starts email "wars" in my HOA, nor am I the one who doesn't paint his/her house on time, parks on the street overnight repeatedly, and yes I was the victim of an assault by an angry neighbor. I am not looking for pity, just best practices for what other HOA Board members do. I'm assuming that you and others think the HOA I live in is dysfunctional and yes, even I as a Board member would agree that it is, but it is largely due to homeowner's being conditioned by a a Board that nothing will happen to them if they violate rules, CC&Rs etc.. Past Board members have even touted how there should be lax enforcement and how strict enforcement would disrupt "harmony." Obviously after a change in Board that now wants to operate by the book and like a corporation with strict enforcement, and in a preventative manner regarding being sued (e.g. streetlight--safety and security) the small minority who have gotten away with rules violations (overnight parking) and NIMBYism for years are upset.
In the past, I have been tempted many times as a homeowner to purposely leave my car parked overnight, just to get a warning letter or fine and then take the case to and Administrative Law Judge for selective enforcement or if nothing happened to call out the HOA in front of an ALJ, but the ethical principles in me have held me back.
So no, then one common denominator is not me. It is homeowners who have been conditioned for years to believe they don't really live in an HOA with rules or that the rules don't apply to them.
And the termite thing involved another HOA where I am not a Board member, so don't jump to conclusions too fast.