Majority of board quits(South Carolina) ...and gives away the checkbook...

Would you believe that the majority of our HOA board quit recently beacsue a few home owners turned up the heat... These few home owners are people that I would not trust with the association, one was a previous board member that was removed from the board by the other officers a few years ago. The others want to lower our dues by no longer watering the grass at our enternace, by turning off the landscaping lights permanently at the enterance, and by stopping all the community programs the HOA sponsors like our annual easter egg hunt and July cookout. Now these few want to take control of the neighborhood and oust the remainder of the existing board. They have called a special meeting and they currently hold all our corporate documents...you'll like the story of how they got them...

Apparently, this small group of homeowners found support from 1/4 of the association to petition the board to resign. They took their petition, one of several in the past, to the President and Vice Pres of the association the other night, and after an apparent verbal exchange, the Pres and VP gave all the records from the HOA to these home owners and also gave their verbal resignation. They apparently had enough bickering and decided that they didn't want to be in charge any more (wish I could do that with my job!)...playing right into the hands of these people who want to make change.

With the Pres and VP resigned, there is one board member left, becasue the others quit a few weeks earlier. And now all the HOA Board records (including the HOA checkbook) are in the hands of a homeowner who will not relinquish them until after his special meeting to oust the remainder of the board takes place in a few weeks.

Where do you start with a mess like this? I'm a concerned Home Owner and would get involved if I knew where to start... My first thought is to have the one remaining board member appoint some others, then suppena the records back from the renegade Home Owners...but then what to do about this special meeting to oust the board that this renegade home owner has called, and will run on his terms? He is holding it at a venue of his choice and it will be a challenge just to speak at, let alone convince the rest of the neighborhood not to act with him. He sent letters to the neighborhood telling eveyone that after a vote, a new board will be elected and new committes will be established. Who gives him the right to do this?

If the current board is ousted, who has the right to take charge and setup a new board?

Your thoughts are appreciated,
George

I agree with Gerald - the Board members should not have folded up like a cheap tent. They have left the organization in a lurch. Is anything salvageable, there? (members willing to stay on??)

Anyway, first of all the "resignations" are not official until it has been motioned and accepted at the same meeting of the body that elected them. A Special Meeting will have to be called for that.

At that same meeting, the new board members can be elected. The chips will fall where they may. This new group may get in. Who knows?

There's no such thing as a "coup" in associations. There is due process and there are procedures that must be followed.

Work with the Board to try to hold this together. Remember: It is much more difficult to REMOVE than it is to VOTE IN.

"the resignations are not official until accepted by the board.... Lastly, the coup actually lost a step... once everyone resigned, their petition probably lost all value..." Which is it Brian?
Seems to me that if they are still on the board, the petition is still valid.

What a can of worms. Someone needs to marshall the votes to stop them. If the "sensible" members of your association don't step forward, you will indeed be ruled by these renegades. Meanwhile, the board needs to go after, by all legal means, the association property. You might remind the "resigning" board members who turned over that property that they could be held personally liable for doing so.