Impeachment opinions

First let me say this. OUR BY-LAWS ARE TOTALLY INADEQUATE. Having said that our President has totally flipped his lid. He read a 5 minute statement 3 nights ago at the monthly Board meeting telling our homeowners they were not allowed to speak and that each Board member would be limited to 2 minutes on each topic. he spent the night shouting at homeowners (and me) banging his gavel. He is on a total power trip, wants me banned from any activity as a board member and expects that all committees will report to the Board when choosing new members and making decisions.

Now we have always handled things here informally. never has there been any reason for a member to formally request to speak. Everyone has always been respectful. Our new President has taken to pissing everyone off so badly that our meetings have turned into screaming and shouting matches. Now keep in mind I'm the VP and, in case you had not figured it out, opposed to our President and his insane policies.

I'll give you a little taste of the insanity. He called a mid month meeting at his house where we discussed some issues that (I allege) he didn't want made public. At our monthly public meeting when it came time to read the minutes from the past month, he announced that the previous meeting was an "executive session". Now that came as a total shock to me as it was never announced that way until that moment. The irony, and frankly, funny part about that was that his wife writes up a letter every month where she pushes there point of view as fact. She also decided to include the as yet unapproved minutes (something the the Board doesn't allow the "official newsletter" committee to do) in her letter including those that her husband (the president) claims were taken at executive session.
Once this was pointed out to him (after a lot of yelling and screaming) he said, never mind, its wasn't an executive session.

Ok, sorry bout that, I really do have questions (neither of which our by-laws address)......

If the members of the community wish to remove our President then any action that would normal require the President would go to the Vice President, correct? (the by-laws tell us what to do, but they doesn't say what to do if its the president were removing)

Another question....

We stagger our elections. If a member wishes to leave a position that is NOT up for election to run for a position that is up for election, should he have to vacate his current position to do so? Keep in mind our By-Laws say that the Board fills vacancies of unfinished terms.

Note, Robert's Rules is supposed to take precedent if our By-Laws and Covenants do not speak to the issue at hand.

As the Vice President and a member that sat on our By-Laws committee, I am very familiar with our documents...AS I said "OUR BY-LAWS ARE TOTALLY INADEQUATE".

When I was on the By-Laws committee I argued that we should be creating rules that take into consideration worse case sinerios (the committee thought that the sinerios I was "dreaming" up were unlikely).

WE have no provision that allows Board members to oust other members and the only way to remove him is though the special meeting process. One that requires 60% (222) of 368 people to show up (and no we cannot amend until 2013).

Again, the original question still stands.

Tracy,

Thanks for your comments.

Unfortunately our By-Laws do not have a provision in them allowing Board members to remove other members. Even if it did, right now the President has the treasure and Member at Large with him. The president is now trying to bring his wife on as secretary (no our By-Laws don't have a nepitisim rule either). The Member at large is not involved at all, he doesn't offer his opinion, refuses to share his email or phone number. The Treasure feels that since he was appointed and not elected that the elected member (our President) should have "more" say.

The President "owns" the Board, but I have 99% of the community with me. It's just so difficult here to remove a member.

I just think that if the community does decide to ask for the Presidents removal, that the President should step aside and allow me, as the VP, to do whatever tasks that he could be accused of manipulating in order to save his butt.

If you have 99% of your community with you, what are you waiting for? Should be a piece of cake to call for a special meeting and vote that guy out. Curtailing board member's speaking is outrageous. I agree: This guy is a lawsuit waiting to happen and that will cost ALL of you. Harold

"I think you need to go the special meeting route. Your president will get your association sued and you'll all have to pay the price. Probably you need 66 % of the homeowners present or have their proxy allowing you to vote in their place. I'm not sure of the laws in West Virginia but you might be able to get help from your local or state government."

I know we have to go the special meeting route, and we will need to have 60% to make quorum as stated in our By-Laws (state law mandates anything higher than 20%.

The local and state government can't do a thing. In their eyes this is a private business and as a private business we can do pretty much whatever we want.

I have spoken to the States attorneys office, the Secretary of States office, and my county commissioners. Everyone said the same thing. Check your By-Laws (which I have, heck I helped write them!).

ChrisB4: First of all, take a breath, calm down and take a step back to look at this thing without emotion getting in the way.
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Paul, I understand your trying to help, but don't assume I'm all emotional, it's a little condescending.

All I was asking in effect is, is it appropriate for the President to reside over his own impeachment?

One might claim that I'm just as interested in seeing him go, however my motivation is to be sure that it is done "by the book" so that the entire Board doesn't loose the confidence of our homeowners. That works both ways, that is if he manages to stay or is asked to leave.

After he is gone (if he is removed) the remaining members on the Board will vote in a new President or ask me to take his place at their digression. Since I have been opposed in many cases to their points of view, I don't expect to be asked (for the record).