Texas HOA Term Limits

Good morning everyone.
I am involved in a HOA in Texas and a couple of quick questions, if it does not state in our communities governing documents, is there Texas Legislature that prevents a board member from running and holding office for more than two terms?

Our terms are two years.

Further, can that same director that has just been elected for their third consecutive term hold the same office for all three terms?
For example, can someone be president on the board of directors if it is not stated otherwise in their dedicatory instrument regarding maximum terms and max time in the specific office. I.e. VP, President etc

Thank you very much for any help you may be able to provide.

You could have googled this, although not everything in HOA land is addressed in the documents or state law. In your case, I googled and found that in Texes the first board serves until the first annual election and then all subsequent board members will serve until the next annual election. Put another way, the board that was set up around the time the developer turned the community over to the homeowners will stay on until that first annual election. Everyone after that serves until the next annual election, so if they're re-elected, they continue to serve.

(there are a lot of Texas people on this website, so if I missed something or got it wrong, have at it).

As for board officers, read your documents (again) to see what it says about board officers. Usually, the homeowners elect the board members, who then elect the officers from among themselves. That could mean everyone who was an officer and got re-elected might keep the position or it may change. In some communities, board officers don't have to be board members, such as the secretary. They attend meetings and do the job the position requires, but don't vote on association actions.

In my own twisted opinion, term limits sound like a good idea, but the problem comes when you don't have ANYONE willing to serve. Unfortunately, this is a huge problem in many HOA communities, so the current board stays on and on...and on until they get burned out and quit, get voted out, or are recalled. There can be good reasons to sack the old regime, but depending on how well-run your community is (whatever that means to you), it can take at least a year for people to figure out what's going on in the community. It helps if they've been reading board minutes, attending meetings, reviewing income-expense statements, or serving as a volunteer, such as serving on an advisory committee.

Even better if the board has some sort of policy and procedure manual they can read, along with attending seminars (in-person or online) about best practices for HOA boards - this isn't your garden variety block club, but a legal non-profit organization, and there are major implications if people don't ask questions, apply careful thought to the issues and read their documents to get a clue as to how the community is supposed to be run. That's why I find a good board has a mix of old and new board members - the experienced ones guide the newbies, who can bring more energy and fresh ideas.

So you already have a way to limit the terms of board members - you and your neighbors can vote people out and step up to run for a spot yourselves. Term limits may or may not work in your community, so if that's what you want, you need to consider how to recruit new people regularly, transition newly elected members into the spo and finally, continue to keep an eye on what they do - something you should have been doing all along.

Thank you very much for your reply!

I apologize for my grammar, I am using voice to text from my phone while I am driving. I did not mean to say emotions but motion. If there was a way to edit my reply I would have done so instead. Again, thank you very much.

I agree.

Nathan,
The other thing I noticed in your original post was that the nominating of officers for the new board was done in executive session. This is actually something that should have been done in an open meeting. Typically, the annual meeting should be adjourned and then a new regular meeting with the only thing on the agenda is "Nomination of Officers." It is not an Executive session item.

Yes Sir of course let me clarify, we have a nomination committee that starts up as soon as the postcards are mailed out which is 6 weeks or 45 days prior to the date of the meeting, no one threw their hat in during the open meeting the annual meeting last night, of course after the directors nominated the directors that were up for re election I then went to the membership and asked if there are any one out there whom would like to self nominate and add to the list which was a dry erase board that everyone can see no one wished to do so. The only item of business on the agenda for the annual meeting is the election of the officers because you can't really do any business because we don't know who would be on the board so we kindly ask everyone to come to our next regular monthly meeting, which no one comes to unless they want to complain but then they realize we are not the rumored bad group of Nazi power hungry people LOL we are all about the solution not hiding behind letters and emails and Whatnot.
To continue my reply, immediately after the annual meeting is adjourned the elected members and the existing board members immediately go into executive session where the meeting is open and the order of business is to assign directors to offices.
I hope I am making sense LOL!

Nathan,
I agree I wish this site had a private message option as well. I love to hear and help others who have been through the wars of HOA board life. If you have a email you do not mind sharing, I can give you my info separate from this site. I have several presidents of other Texas HOAs that reach out to me from time to time.

I believe in term limits for those I do not like.
I do not believe in term limits for those I like.

Or.. NIMBY.. an acronym for Not In My Back Yard!! lol

The board had them sign a contract that (the board believes) voids certain rights these two contractors have as members under the covenants?

I think you should have sought an amendment to the bylaws instead.

(Texas statutes do not appear to provide guidance on conflicts of interest.)