Any advice on how to convince owners to follow the CC&Rs?

the Board is the problem. You need a new Board which often becomes a futile task. I feel your PAIN!

What makes it extra tough for Liz is that she, I think, is in a 4-unit HOA.

I’m not an enormous stickler for the CC&Rs. We are a small building with small resources, so we need to take that into consideration. But we should not purposely violate our responsibility to our neighbors by using HOA funds in violation of our CC&Rs. Or voting on things the CC&Rs prohibits. Or ignoring the result of votes we don’t like. Or doing dumb things like knowingly hiring uninsured vendors.

I hope against hope I can find a way to get everyone to be honest and ethical.

I know legal action is next.

I agree 100% with Wendy. If you think your HOA has minimal resources now, wait 'til it has to pay to defend against a lawsuit. If the HOA's insurer has to cough up to pay, they'll probably dump your HOA as a client, and other insurers won't be lining up to get your business.

You'd do better to just empty your bank accounts and set the money on fire. It accomplishes the same thing in much less time, without making your neighbors hate you.

How we followed the rules is by referring to them when issuing out violations or question answers. You submitted a question or a violation, then we respond with the exact quote from the documents.

Plus I brought ours to every meeting. People could read them or we could reference them.

Keep in mind the documents are set up to make changes if a majority of people do not agree that should be enforceable anymore. It may need updating to current times or common sense.

If you want to change people's behavior, you have two options: persuasion or force. They have to be convinced that it's in their interest to behave a certain way: either they can see the benefits to them personally, or they understand the negative consequences to them personally if they do not behave that way.

That's it.

There are situations for which there is no solution that a person will like. In this case, the person either accepts that this is the way things are, or they refuse to accept it and go on fretting. Refusing to accept the only available options will not create additional options.

Melissa – I want, need, and am entitled to reasonable compliance because the lack of it will impact my home. And, yes, I hope very much to get what I wish for.

Melissa - excellent advice! It's what I'm doing.

I agree with Wendy and have to wonder if the previous owner of your unit gave you the 411 on your neighbors (it could be he/she/they had the same problem and got the hell out). There are only 4 owners and you'd think everyone would want to work together. Instead this proves to me that an HOA smaller than 15 units is a waste of time. At least a larger HOA has the potential to boot out the board members with a God complex.

I've seen of your other posts and it doesn't seem like anything will change unless a court orders it and then as Wendy noted, everyone will get really pissed and make your life miserable. You msy have to ask yourself if this home is worth it and if you go the lawsuit route, you're going to need more than a winning one case. You may need to ask the court to put this place in some sort of receivership where someone can ensure the documents are being followed until at least two homeowners move out. How long will that take?

Or you can determine which CCRS and bylaws are more critical and focus on convincing the others to at least follow those as written, then deal with the other stuff later. Perhaps some parts aren't necessary at all and some simplicity would help make the association easier to run.