Board Members' Resignations

Your bylaws and state law will tell you if resignations must be in writing. That is a very common requirement (some states consider email to be "in writing").

So if that is the case, then no, they did not officially resign.

KAy,
My question would be how did it happen? Was it at the start of the meeting before or after? People in attendance do not get to vote on anything at a regular meeting. Was this an Annual Meeting or Regular? Was this prompted by a Vote that did not go their way?

I am not sure how Cathy stated what your Docs actually say regarding resignations. I also find it strange that they would resign and then less that 12 hours later be trying to access any information from the office. It is also pretty quick work to already have a Locksmith out to change the locks the very next morning. This does not seem like a spur of the moment thing.

We need more info if you want solid advice.

Hello Mark - It happened during the meeting when a board member questioned expenditures being made without bids. You are correct, only board members vote the audience (homeowners) are there to find out what their board is doing with their dues and how they are correcting violations of the bylaws.
When the president of the board was pressured by the homeowners to answer the question from a board member, he resigned with the VP and they stormed out. In addition, the Property Manager stormed out as well.
Our HOA locksmith is on call so yes, it was quick work but not unusual to get that simple task done. The locks were changed by the remaining board member to secure the homeowners private and financial records. The former President called the locksmith the next morning and demanded the locks be changed. The police were called, the locksmith blocked from working on the locks and everyone left. One hour later, the former board members and another locksmith returned and broke into the building.

-- KayC2, President and Vice President are officer positions. An officer position is different from a director position. Though often, the same person holds an officer position and a director position. Did these two say they were resigning as directors, as officers, or as both?

-- I agree with CathyA3 about confirming what the governing documents say about resigning. Typically the Bylaws do say that the resignation has to be in writing. "Acceptance" by the members present means nothing.

-- Until it's clear whether the two that orally resigned from their director and officer positions are actually neither officers nor are on the board, I do not think one can say anything intelligent.

It is NOT breaking and entering. It's just entering. Nothing was broken. People often confuse this term when it comes to such situation. Which this is a CRIMINAL matter not a Civil one. The HOA should NOT be paying a dime to the locksmith as it was not an approve expense. I'd put that expense for OPENING the door directly on the potential ex-board member's pocket. The HOA changing the locks are on them.

I gave my resignation in writing. Plus did not run for re-election at the January elections. Gave several months of notice to members I was no longer going to be President come next elections. That way we could get some people thinking of running etc...

The current board should have accepted the resignation and noted it in the board meeting notes. Which would not be approved till the next meeting by the board. The board should then have either appointed or voted amongst themselves who to take over those positions.

Not sure why lawyer was even involved in the first place. However, I find some uneducated boards do this a lot. So can't fully blame the attorney as my bet is on the blind leading the blind situation here.

Remember there is a difference between CRIMINAL violation and CIVIL. The HOA doesn't live inside a bubble. Someone enters property without authority or approval to take something not owned by them, can have the cops called. Plus pay for any damages.

They used a locksmith to enter. Which does not qualify as "breaking". It is unlawful entry. Police can only create charges they can NOT dismiss them. So the breaking charge would get tossed out of court.

IT WAS A LOCKSMITH!!! Same amount of force and use of a key if you walked in the door. Good lord. No damages were done except for the bill of the locksmith. It still would get tossed out of court for "Breaking" as no damages occurred.

Took Criminology....