HOA and resident dispute

In our HOA community a resident was cited for non-compliance with an established restriction (tattered flags attached to iron fence). There was no complaint by a community
resident, but the violation was cited by an ACC member on a drive through.
The invidual cited attended the next Board meeting and lambasted the ACC for the citation and stated he would not remove the flags since other community members had flags
located on their property and until that is addressed he will not remove his flags.
He also demanded the name of the person who filed the complaint. The Board refused to give this information.
Not knowing who the complaintant was he speculated it was two ladies who filed the complaint and spread this lie through the community. This was not the first time this individual spread false malicious gossip about individuals.
The President of the Board was contacted via phone about the situation and the ladies were told to contact the police.
The ladies in question were outraged over their names and character besmirched so they comprised a letter to the HOA board requesting communication be sent to all community residents explaining the ACC action which resulted in the violation notice, and stating it was not the ladies in question who filed a complaint. The board responded it was not there function to handle residents disputes and therefore would not respond.

My point is that an ACC committee and its members is an arm of the HOA board and duly authorized by the board. Their action, whether correct or not, resulted in this
person's rant and rage and additionally dragging two innocent people into this issue. The person cited is on the Maintenance Committee with two fellow compadres and
threatened the board if the ACC members involved did not resign he and his two pals will quit the Maintenance Committee. Well, guess what, three members of the ACC
resigned.

I believe the Board should use common sense and rationale should have prevailed What is the right course of action to take?
As a matter of fact, there was a previous incident, very similar, where the then President investigated, brought all parties together, resolved the misunderstanding
and followed with a letter to the community. Precedence by the Board has been set.

ANY THOUGHTS WOULD BE APPRECIATED.

Thanks,

I will add - while it isn't the board's responsibility to resolve private disputes (and personally I cannot imagine a scenario in which someone's reputation and life are destroyed because a neighbor accused them of reporting a violation) there would be nothing wrong with a generic letter to the community explaining how violations are handled. To wit:

"The ACC drives the community on a regular basis to ensure that property standards are met and issue violations as necessary. If a member reports a violation, the ACC will follow up to determine whether a violation should or should not be issued. No violations are issued solely as a result of neighbor complaints."

And as an aside, your community seems excessively dramatic.

Please tell us, Daniel, the wording of the rule or covenant that was violated. Must the flag, banner or sign be in "good condition?"

IMO, once a violation has been reported to the board and verified by the board or its agent, say a property manager, the board can be named as the one who turned him, or anyone, in.

Our MC plays the heavy as they write the violation notices and they would refuse, with the BOD's backing, to name any one individual. If no MC, the BOD should still refuse to name anyone.