texas condomininium proxy voting annual election

Is the proxy a "general" proxy form or "directed" proxy form? Or both?

I didn't know there was such a thing as a "directed" proxy until I joined this forum. Directed proxies are similar to an absentee ballot.

If it's so confusing, why hasn't your board already had the association attorney draft the thing? Before putting it into use, have a few homeowners review it to see if it's easy to understand - if not, revise those areas. You don't say how soon your meeting is, but if time's moving (e.g. it's in the next two weeks), make this a project for next year - starting with polling homeowners to see if they've had issues with the wording of the proxy. You may have a simple fix - or there are homeowners who are too lazy to read the thing (if they want it to count, they'll make the time to do so).

I really think communities make this harder than it should be - maybe you should just use the proxy to establish quorum and nothing else.

Here's how my community does proxies - you can designate someone to show up at the meeting (the person doesn't have to be an owner) and vote on your behalf (otherwise the board president will do it). We also allow people to use the proxy to nominate themselves or someone else to run for a spot, although I've never seen that happen. The proxies are mailed to the property manager who puts them in a box and doesn't open them - the envelopes are opened at the meeting and counted. The total's added to the number of homeowners who show up, and if that number is equal to or greater than the percentage required in the documents to hold the annual meeting, we have the meeting. If there's no quorum (like last year), there's no election and the current board continues to serve until they step down or are voted out. If you turned in a proxy, but later decide to attend the meeting, the proxy's canceled and you cast your vote as usual. I've been in the community over 15 years and fortunately, we've never had a problem.

All of that said, it may be easier for you to have the proxy establish a quorum and/or designate someone to SHOW UP at the meeting to cast a vote on the homeowner's behalf. Toss in an absentee ballot and the owner can opt to send that instead, although it would be easier to send both because you need to establish quorum before anything happens. This really shouldn't be as difficult as you make it sound.

As for the accounting company, why do you think a third-party accounting company would be biased toward incumbents? Why would they care - all they're hired to do is to count the proxies and perhaps review them against the owner records to ensure the person signing it is actually a member in good standing. Nonetheless, if that's the case, look for another company to do the work or designate a few homeowners who aren't running and are in good standing to count the things in front of everyone. Then get a PO box and have the proxies and ballots sent there. On the day of the meeting, the property manager (or two or three people you trust) can retrieve them and bring them directly to the clubhouse or wherever you're having the meeting.

Also I agree with SheliaH about one important advantage of directions to send in the proxy forms, where the proxy is assigned to the board: It helps ensure quorum is met.

If people do not care enough to research the candidates and just choose to assign the board to be their proxy, that's on your group of candidates and supporters to knock on doors (if allowed) and otherwise lawfully contact owners to tell them to assign someone from your group as their proxy instead.

Owners should not sign the proxy if they don’t understand it.

The “legalese” is probably required.

I used to send out line by line instructions with proxies, including samples of correctly and incorrectly filled out ones. I’d still get proxies returned blank or with other errors. What worked best in terms of preventing errors was to have owners physically fill it out in front of me, so I could explain it verbally, ask if they understood what they were signing, and give them a new one if they made mistakes.

I will start collecting proxies soon. I am running, but i don't care if i get on the board or not. I honestly do not want to be on the board unless all of the 6 seats up for election are filled by residents owners that don't currently serve on the board.

The property manager has given me tons of great advice. He also appreciates me. I know a lot of the history of the property, what has and hasn't been done. Being able to fill him in on the details has allowed him to avoid the pitfalls that would have occurred had he not had someone fill him in. The previous acting property manager(board member) didn't fill him in on anything.

Its clear to everyone involved , including some current board members, that the person in question did not want to give up the job of property manager. The person went out of his way to tell everyone that he couldn't wait to leave, all the while, throwing away resumes turned into the office, throwing up road block after road block to actually move forward with interviewing and hiring a property manager.

The proxy forms we use in Texas contain the following Options:

Option 1: A Proxy for the Purpose of Attaining Quorum Only. No Voting Rights are Assigned.

Option 2: A Proxy assigning the voting rights of an Owner to a specific someone (Generally, the President of the Association or another Officer or Director if the President is unable to attend or what have you)

Option 3: A proxy assigning the voting rights of an Owner to a specific someone (a blank line is included on the form at this point for the person executing the proxy to enter the name of the person assigned the voting rights of the Owner). There is language associated with this option regarding positive identification of the proxy holder if he or she is not known to the Board, PM, or others such as employees of the MC assisting with the election.

The owner executing the Proxy must then enter their name, association address, and date on the Proxy. It must then be returned to the Association, generally to the PM although other methods are acceptable, such as giving it to the person named in Option 2 or 3.

The names of candidates are not included on the proxy.

The proxy does not contain language regarding a "Directed Proxy". If the owner so desires, he or she may submit an Absentee Ballot which accomplishes that purpose.

One other point, for those of you who may not be familiar with the Texas Property Code--and this is why I asked Laska to refresh my memory about her association, which is a condominium:

Texas Condominiums are governed by Chapter 81 or Chapter 82 of the Property Code, depending on the date of formation (pre or post January 1, 1994) although an older (Chapter 81 association) may elect to be governed by Chapter 82, which is also known as the Texas Uniform Condominium Act or TUCA.

However, the Texas Legislature has modified the property code over the years; some portions of Chapter 82 are specifically designated in legislation as being applicable to Chapter 81 condominium associations as well. The Legislature is in session this year, those of us responsible for managing associations must pay attention to what comes out of Austin in May/June.

Traditional Homeowners Associations are governed by Section 209 of the Texas Property Code. Although there are some similarities between portions of TPC 209 and Chapters 81 and/or Chapter 82, there is no 'cross-governance', i.e., language in Section 209 may never be applied to a Chapter 81 or Chapter 82 condominium association or vice-versa.

As I understand it, there are a few situations in the state in which associations are governed by some other documents. I am not familiar with those situations, perhaps someone else is.

Finally, if looking at Texas association documents, do not be misled into thinking you are looking at the documents of a traditional HOA if the name of the Association is "Example Street Homeowners Association, Inc." The documents of the Association must stipulate under which section of the property code the association has been formed, regardless of the name.

Correction: Suddenly // many // became subject to TPC 209.

Correct, and as TPC 209 itself states. But you implied, for one, that all non-condo subdivisions having covenants that do not state the subdivision is subject to TPC 209 are not subject to TPC 209. Per what TPC 209.003 says, these subdivisions might very well be subject to TPC 209.

Thanks Max, advice accepted and implemented.

A proxy can be both. One section ordering the holder to vote a specific way. Another section saying except for the above section, the holder can vote as they wish.