asking for a resignation

Is there an easy way to get a board president to resign before the next election (1 month away) to avoid a big battle with all sorts of things being said and coming out that would be better off if she just resigned and saved the community all the angst? She has violated bylaws, has a definite conflicts of interest where she is being paid by the Association for services which she has personally made decisions about instead of the board....so she would be paid. (opened the pool without approval from board, and is being paid for pool maintenance which no one seems to want to address openly. What do you suggest? All, excepting me, has been on the board for 5-20 years.

Why did the board allow these things to occur?

As noted above, your Board an "fire" her form bing prez, but not as a director. Do you have that support?

Is she running for director again? When is the election?

George, this entrenched board has members who have been there for 6-25 years. I am the newest member of 1 year. They just do what they please without concern of anything and slowly things are falling apart. Suddenly, 10 complaints, conflict of interest with board member being ignored, the way things are voted on and paid for is different all the time. They have stopped newsletters and mailing out financial monthly records for years, turned off the sprinkler system years ago, our manager is leaving, we ignore homeowner complaints, our websites was left 4 years ago. and I could go on. They do nothing, and even set a time limit on how long a meeting can be. I need to be able to tell people and I have some, but how can I get the word out to the rest? What are your suggestions? I am at a loss, but do have some supporters. What can we do?

Seems obvious that this boards effective shelf life has expired, time for a reboot. Can you get enough qualified volunteers to agree to a 2 year commitment? With only a month before a changing of the guard is possible it seems that recruiting will be your best use of time.

Really? Is the association incorporated? Is that legal to have a corporation without officers?

I agree.

john c 46. I am very familiar with our baws. Master deed and with what we are "supposed" to be doing. Nothing is followed according to the documents we ha e been Elected to support and follow. They all laugh and ignore me when I say..."the by-laws say we should be doing this....do you get the picture? What are my options?

I have read the bylaws many times as well as the Master Deed. I think none of the other board members have ever read it! So what can I do? The entire board needs to be recalled....so how do I do that?

So you DO have officers, OK. Would be helpful if the whole comment was intelligible.

In your other recent thread, you stated that this is a Michigan condominium. This means your condominium is subject to the Michigan Condominium Act. See http://www.legislature.mi.gov/documents/mcl/pdf/mcl-Act-59-of-1978.pdf . The latter statute requires an annual audit or review (they are different) by a CPA as follows:

=== start Michigan Condo Act Excerpt ===
559.157 Books, records, contracts, and financial statements; examination; audit or review;
opt-out of requirements of subsection (2).
Sec. 57. (1) The books, records, contracts, and financial statements concerning the administration and operation of the condominium project shall be available for examination by any of the co-owners and their mortgagees at convenient times.
(2) Except as provided in subsection (3), an association of co-owners with annual revenues greater than $20,000.00 shall on an annual basis have its books, records, and financial statements independently audited or reviewed by a certified public accountant, as defined in section 720 of the occupational code, 1980 PA 299, MCL 339.720. The audit or review shall be performed in accordance with the statements on auditing standards or the statements on standards for accounting and review services, respectively, of the American institute of certified public accountants.
(3) An association of co-owners may opt out of the requirements of subsection (2) on an annual basis by an affirmative vote of a majority of its members by any means permitted under the association's bylaws.
===End Excerpt ===

LouH1, I would start by requesting that the subject of the Michigan Condo Act's requirement for a CPA review/audit be placed on the next board meeting agenda. Once you are successful in getting this on the agenda, post back for more instructions on how to present this at the meeting.

If the board refuses to put this on the agenda, post back, and I will draft a short demand letter (which has some legal meaning) that you can use to get tough.

Even better, try to get this on the agenda for the upcoming annual meeting of the membership.

From experience as a director; massive reading here; and plain ol' common sense, a board majority does not like to be ordered to do anything. A board majority will usually respond to a director, asking the board to follow the law, reflexively with retaliation. You have to be ready for this board to start sending out mass mailings that essentially defame you. You have to be ready for this board to use the condo attorney to do the same. The condo attorney has a lot of leeway to flat-out lie about your efforts and get away with it.

An annual audit/review (for a condo's books et cetera) is Thee Law in Michigan. For the Board to disregard this statutory requirement is extremely serious. Also someone may be stealing, and an audit/review will help stop this. You have legal standing to demand this audit/review, but first, start with a soft touch.

What is your citation for your claim that, in Michigan, LouH1 cannot use the resident email list to campaign? I find no support for your claim in Michigan statutes.

Board members cannot use email addresses for personal use. ( and his campaigning IS personal, as would be for him to advertise a carpet cleaning service)

We are talking ethics here.

There are some 2018 changes to the Mi Condo Act.

They talk about “ consent” needed from the owner in order to share email address with others

And

Revenue must be over $20,000 to require an audit or audit review.

I will try to find these relatively new amendments to the condo act.

There is nothing that would nor could prevent me from Emailing a fellow owner. Think about it. What is next? Requiring permission to Email someone?

As to an owner list not being used to solicit votes, recommend how to vote, etc. I would doubt such a restriction by the BOD would stand up in court. Even if one violates it, what is the BOD going to do? Slap your wrist with a wet noodle?

You don't have a President, VP, Secretary or Treasurer?
Those would be the Officers and some are typically required under corporate law and an Assocaitions Bylaws.


You can organize a recall.
It starts with a petition for a special meeting of the general membership for the purpose of recalling the board and, if successful, electing new directors.

The number of signatures needed to get a meeting would be in your governing documents.
The number of votes needed to recall may be in your governing documents or applicable state statutes.

It is likely easier to gather support and simply not reelect those individuals at the next election.

So AugustinD, thank you again for all your help in these matters. You have helped me deal with being yelled and told by 4 board members that I cannot email the community. I email the community on behalf of myself, have used a disclaimer even, saying I am not speaking for the board, but as a community member. They say I can't use this list. And it seems< I learn, they are wrong. I am adjusting the list accordingly and will ask when I do email if anyone does not want to receive my emails, to please let me know and I will no longer send them any. I have only sent out emails 2 times. I am not being vindictive, saying emotional personal things, I am just telling them what is happening from my perspective. And you have reassured me. I knew the board was unhappy that I was "talking" to the neighborhood at all. They have said and done nothing for 10 years. You are a gift, thank you again. I am stressed to the max, but want to inform and do what the community wants done.......not what the board wants done...which is nothing!

The Michigan's Nonprofit Corporation statute trumps the by-laws on this point. From the statute: "If the articles of incorporation or bylaws authorize use of proxies, an individual may not vote more than 5 proxies at any meeting."

A proxy form will typically designate (1) the person assigning the proxy (with his/her name, address, the date, and a signature); and (2) the person to whom the proxy is assigned. Per the statute, the person to whom the proxy is assigned can have only five such assignments (from five condo units' owners).

If you can afford a condominium-law-specialized attorney, then I agree with JohnC46 that hiring one to review your steps would be wise. Unfortunately I think this will cost at least a thousand dollars. The attorney has to review all the condo's governing documents to give informed advice.

Plenty succeed in throwing out a corrupt board without an attorney, though. Nationwide condo/hoa owners often band together; have a few meetings where they come up with a step-by-step plan; mail or email flyers stating their concerns; and then start a door-to-door campaign to gather proxies.

Can you retain several others to help gather proxies and be the proxy assignee, such that each person in your group has no more than five proxies assigned to him or her?

How many units does your condominium have?

Oh, and I have gotten permission to email the co-owners I have talked with, written the date of conversation on phone.

Lou
What Michigan county are you in?

The Meiser Law Group specializes in HOA and condo law
They are in Bingham Farms, Oakland County., Mi. You can Google their website. They answer questions, too.

I am the secretary for our HOA . No way would I give anyone our email address list because 1) I do not have a release from the homeowner to do that and 2) people can do their own campaigning by buying address lists from companies who do mailing services as their business.

SueW6 Thanks for your response. There is much controversy about using email addresses, I can see. I think there is actually no MI statute which denies one using them for electing directors or informing in a positive, not vindictive or emotional way. Although I understand your personal as well as confidential (from a board member's stance) reasons for not using, I am inclined to side on actual statutes passed and the legalities of the action. Mr. AugustinD seems to have a better understanding of those things. I have read a Summary of changes to Michigan Nonprofit Corporation Act that Affect Nonprofit Corporations which says "A corporation that limits inspection of lists of its shareholders and members, as provided (ie: Allowing inspection of certain records would impair the rights or privacy of the shareholders or members)SHALL provide a reasonable way for shareholders or members to communicate with ALL other shareholders or members concerning the election directors and other affairs of the corporation." So, if you are not allowing lists to be used, how are you assisting your members (reasonably, without cost or inconvenience) to your members? Please let me know your remedy for this situation? Thanks again, I do appreciate your contribution and information provided.

thank you SueW6 It looks like legally you are not obligated to protect that list. Do you provide address and phone numbers of the community to the community? There certainly is no reason why you should not do that. Many HOAs do that. I appreciate your willingness to oblige an owner's wishes regarding confidentiality.....but sounds like if someone asked you for those lists, legally you are obligated to give it to them. Unfortunately, you have not provided legal statutes supporting your personal decisions, I really think, eventually there will be some, laws, that is, but currently, nothing is out there now for Michigan. Thank you again.

LouH1, I suggest you get a three-ring binder and document all exchanges with the HOA manager and the Board. Save all emails on the server (printouts of emails are not sufficient in court, in general). This documentation is in case things get legal.