Another Short Update on My Community's No-Board Problem

The story so far: At our April annual meeting, the only candidate for the open board positions withdrew their candidacy. Some time after that, the sole remaining board member resigned, citing her disappointment with homeowners' behavior toward each other and toward "those who were acting with the association's best interests in mind" (presumably the board).

I suspected that our departed board members were dealing with a group of "vocational dissidents" who'd gotten themselves somewhat organized, and that the board and probably community manager didn't handle them correctly.

I just looked over the most recent board meeting minutes that finally appeared on our new website, and one of the items supports my interpretation of what's happened.

I'll be able to tailor comments I make at our upcoming special election meeting to this group. To wit: we have three openings on the board - if you want to make the decisions, you need to volunteer and be held accountable for those decision, because that's how a corporation works according to state laws. Do, or do not - the perfect opportunity is right here, you won't even have to fight for a seat on the board. Brief, bland, boring.

(I think this needs to be said because this group is apparently holding the community hostage to their nonsense, and this needs to stop. Fortunately, there is no way this group is going to volunteer to be accountable for anything because it's too easy to take pots shots without any consequences. )

Amusing anecdote: our recycling didn't get picked up this week for some reason. If we had a board, the manager would call the trash collection folks and remind them that we'd been missed. But we don't have a board and our manager is only doing emergency tasks, of which this isn't one. I have to chuckle at the consternation I'm seeing, along with the full recycling bins that are still sitting forlornly on driveways three days later. Yup, friends and neighbors, this is what no board looks like. Fun, huh?

The hardest part of dealing with vocational dissidents is getting the entire board and the manager on the same page so that a consistent, drama-free message is sent. One of the current agitators is an old friend that I first had to deal with back in 2014 - and he's as confused today as he was then.

This demonstrates that vocational dissidents never really change. Consistent managing will get them to settle down - they give up because they're not getting the drama they want. But if the board members change and the new folks don't understand what they're dealing with - which clearly happened here - the bad behavior will be resurface.

Apparently last fall a group led by one of the Usual Suspects submitted a "letter of no confidence" to the board. I haven't seen the letter itself, or the board's response. But it obviously didn't do anything to address whatever issues this group believes they have. If anything, based on comments the community manager made after the annual meeting, the former board members and manager actively made things worse by allowing the group to dictate terms. You never allow the Drama Llamas to dictate terms. The correct response to that letter would have been "thank you for your comments". They also made a mistake by not being transparent enough. The other way to deal with vocational dissidents is allowing them to discredit themselves by spreading nonsense, and being transparent makes it obvious that what they're saying isn't true.

It's no surprise that none of this group has stepped up to serve on the board, even though they had a golden opportunity to fill all three seats and try to implement whatever ideas they have. The group wants to make decisions without the accountability of board service. That's your vocational dissident in a nutshell. Despite their claims of wanting to improve their community, they really don't. What they want is to criticize.

I now see why the board thought they needed an "Advisor" officer. They did - just not that one. This isn't a legal issue except maybe around the edges. It's a psychology/management issue. (Cathy's Rules for Life #4: you can't solve a problem unless you identify it correctly.)

It'll be interesting. I'm still not sure that receivership wouldn't be a much needed wake-up call. Unfortunately, it would also punish a lot of people who don't need the lesson, and the people who do need it will blame everybody but themselves.

I'm planning to bring hand outs with The Facts of Condo Life (hm, catchy title) and links to sources of training material such as CAI. I'd appreciate recommendations.

They won't know what hit 'em.

Aside: I think I've commented before that we did not have a good experience with committees. The Usual Suspect driving this current group managed to blow up the committee he was on single handed. He tried to use the committee as a platform to run the community as he saw fit, and the rest of the members got fed up and quit in a shower of recriminations. Note the squabbling. A telltale sign of a vocational dissident is that conflict erupts wherever they are.

Anyway, we disbanded the committee and did not give him any other volunteer opportunities. Guess what the departed board members did? They allowed him to volunteer. I'll bet you anything that he was involved in the "liability issue" that resulted in the then-board president abruptly resigning in 2022. His only saving grace is his ignorance. If he actually understood what he was doing and was less predictable, he'd be a lot harder to deal with.

Not all communities in my area have curbside recycling. The company would only pick up if one of their customers called, because they want to be sure that they're being paid for the service. We have a group account, so a homeowner isn't "the customer" or even a valid contact person.

Presumably other areas handle this differently - eg. a city-wide contract for recycling service.

Yeah, communities really handle this differently.

I moved to this area from a small city about an hour away, and the city itself had a contract with the big trash pickup/recycling company in the area. The cost of this service was paid for by our city taxes, so people who wanted to recycle stuff just put their bins out (the company provided the bins free to whoever asked for them). When I bought my condo, I was like "wait, what do you mean I have to contact the trash company for service?!" Some years later, we homeowners voted to include trash collection in our monthly assessments which costs less than having individual accounts (our governing docs allow the association to include utilities).

You sit there with your hands folded in front of you, like Justice O'Connor or Justice Ruth, and dryly inform the owners that the board is legally obligated to comply with the state's condo statute, the nonprofit corporation statute, the covenants and the bylaws. You explain that you will hear out any concern that specifically references the appropriate section of these documents. Otherwise, you will explain that any concern that is outside of the four corners of these documents is not legally anything the HOA can address. You explain that you believe in truth, justice, the law, statutes and complying with the terms of contracts, which include covenants as given in the Declaration. A deal is a deal. Through all, your face is the epitome of seriousness, calm and resolve to do things right. The majority of people like stability. First impressions are everything. Subsequently, once in a while, inject a dose of your charming wit.

My last few months in my HOA, I had announced my resignation as President. Most of my board had already moved, quit, or on naughty list. Basically I was the ONLY person running the HOA! Even I had moved out! (Lived in neighborhood next door but rented my HOA house out). So I feel your pain...

Funny thing is people started calling me "Dictator". That is because EVERYTHING had to go through me. I then communicated to our Accountant. The Ex-President/conman convinced a few members to get rid of me and put themselves. The very same people I was protecting the HOA from due to their selfishness and them being conned by the Ex president...

I stayed on as a board member as soon as elections were done. However, I had already moved out. Went to one meeting where one of the "new" board members tried to attack me! (Due to the Ex-president influence). It wasn't 2 months later that same board was contacting me because they had spent ALL the HOA money! The new president had to balls to call me to ask me how did I ever run the place?!

What had taken me 3 years to build up took them 6 months to tear down. Plus raise dues, have special assessments, and spread lies about me. Some of the lies were some real doozies! Even I was impressed at the level they took it. (Police did too apparently).

The importance of having a board or people willing to volunteer to do the job really does effect how you live in the community. Plus the people you elect to the board does as well. Unfortunately the people who took over after me were blinded by BS the rest of the members had long known about. It just took them longer for their eyes/ears to open. Honestly, if I had moved in when the "new" board was in office, I would have sold and moved. Sometimes home appreciation is effected by those around you.

Good luck. I made it seem like there is was "always a bigger fish". Made myself the fish to be eaten to inspire someone to take a bite!