BOD Pres also Chairman of CCR Committee?

New to BOD, and I am dealing with a two term President who has been allowed to make decisions on behalf of our BOD due to prior BOD apathy perhaps. We have a FL 720 Association, 55+, and we have a committee for the purpose of rewriting our CCRs Bylaws and Rules and Regs because they are out of date (says Pres, though CCRs were revitalized in 2006). This committee is chaired by our BOD Pres with two of his like-minded residents only also on committee. I just volunteered to join committee, and it is now clear that the agenda of this committee is to "change" CCRs, not "update" them. Substantial changes such as not allowing annual rentals, restricting guest visits from the current 60 days to 15...President/chairman of committee says the process is this:
1) Committee meets several times to discuss & propose changes
2) Next, the President will send committee's recommendations (even if not unanimous)directly to association lawyer to determine if proposed changes are legal. ($$$ spent), then tell BOD the proposed changes.
3)President will hold Town Hall meetings to present, and let members and weigh in.
4)Vote by membership to approve.
Where is the BOD in the overseeing of this process? Why would the full BOD not see these proposed ideas prior to spending association money on our lawyer reviewing them? Doesn't the BOD have to review/be informed of/or approve the committee's recommended proposed changes before proceeding at all? Thanks again, Dana

DanaA

Roger has outlined this particular process to the tee. Print it our and stck with it.
Your last sentence asks if the BOD has to review or be informed or approve the committee''s recommended proposals? ABSOLUTELY --YES!!
Committees have absolutely NO power in any association except to work at the Boards pleasure and discretion.They do not make any executive decisions for the association. That is why the Board is elected and are insured---to make the decisions.

One of my rentals is an exact duplicate of your situation. You need to get on the streets and recruit your members to join that committee. It sounds like there are 3 of the cronies and yourself on it. That is truely not enough members to take on such a formidable task. We had 9 members and because not all can make it each meeting, there at least are enough to get a variety of input.
We dealt with the rental issue 3 times and it never got passed as it was proposed. Believe it or not, they are trying to pass another version of "non-rentals" again this November. I guess that the owners are truely trying to give the BOD a message by not allowing this to happen.

Dana,
The rental amendement was the brainchild of an "anti" anything Board President. It never passed the amendment vote by the membership--3 times.

Yes, the Board must approve any proposed changes by any committee, member or Director before it gets put into the system, be it an amendment to the CC&Rs, ByLaws or rules and regs.

Yes, the BOD can vote down any proposals by members or committees BUT if a percentage of the membership petitions the Board to address any given subject, the Board is then required to take this issue up in a Board session, open to the membership. (Hopefully your Docs give a percentage for this action. Ours is 10% of the owners to petition)

What is a Town Hall meeting for your association? Just a venting forum?

Many associations have a know it all Board member and it sounds like you are no exception. There is strength in numbers. You need to get all of the Board together and tell them that there is a due process to follow and the "Senior Guy" is not following it. Stand up and give a presence of being a dominant member. I, being female have always been challenged by the senior member but if you go armed with correct information, they usually back down. Good Luck!

Also, do check your State statutes or laws governing these meetings if your Articles of Incorporation do not spell out the voting and election system for your association. The Attorney gets the proposed amendment change only after it is all approved by the Board otherwise, you are wasting valuable funds for legal paper time.

This anti rental thing just never goes away. In my 4 properties, 3 of the Boards have gotten on the anti rental bandwagon but so far, the general membership has limited the banning of it. But we did change 1 places CC&Rs to read that "A UNIT MAY BE RENTED OUT AFTER A 2 YEAR OWNERSHIP HAS BEEN ACCRUED" This was done to prevent realtors and speculators from buying them up to use as income properties , many who were absentee landlords.

The definition of a "Town Hall" meeting, according to our Pres, is an informal get together of the membership at various times and dates, where this committee explains the CCR and Bylaw changes being proposed, and explains why these changes are necessary to be voted on and approved at the annual meeting. Correct procedure?!

DanaA,
I, for one would like to know how "you" are going to address all these issues.
Only you will be on the battle field and only you can adjust your strategy to met changing events. This all is probably too much on one plate so maybe it would be wise to isolate this Presiddent Problem, resolve that, by the many suggestions given and then take the next step, If you can't resolve your issues with him you will fail. At this point I believe you should pressure the Board to vote away his presidents seat. Then who knows what happens but if you can get Board support to take action, you are out in the open. I suspect you may not get the Board support you seek and if you don't, you have to turn to a "recall", and you will need support for that. It is not going to happen overnite, and it won't happen at all if you don't have strong support, it may take a year or more. From what I have read, you seem to be alone in you concerns. It takes more than someone to say they agree with you, it takes committment. I am positive the people responding here have been through this kind of a battle a time or two, I bet all would agree, that for concern towards the community at large, they have found you are not going to win on all issues.

Thanks Robert. I do have some support. The BOD Secretary and two other BODs are on board to a degree- they want the President out, but do not want to rock boat or upset Pres since his term is up in February. He will more than likely not be reelected Pres, though I still see membership reelecting him to the BOD because they are unaware of the behind the scene stuff. Until I saw the BOD side, I had no idea what was happening. These BOD members have recommended that we "address" the issues to Pres at the next BOD meeting, (how?)and see what happens. We are a community just under 200 homes, and they don't want a divided community with a "recall"....