Stop a board from removing a board member?

Is there anything that can be done to stop a board from removing one board member that has been questioning the way the association is run?
Can a petition signed by home owners?

Dwight,
Thank you for responding.
I have read that they can remove an officer. I will read again.

Opps. Hit submit too soon.

One caveat: our documents specify that a board member can be removed by the board if the director has missed more than 3 meetings in the 12-month period. But that is the ONLY reason a board can remove one of its directors/members according to our documents.

Actually there is one other caveat: if the member was appointed to the Board by the other directors, then they can remove him. Essentially the body that put the member into the position has the ability to remove him from that position.

Homeowners should be able to request a special meeting for the purpose of electing a replacement Board member. Again, you will need to check your docs, but ours specify that on written request of 10% of all HOA members the Board is to call a special meeting of the members.

And if you have enough homeowners who are upset with the current Board, you can replace any or all of them.

You will have a vacancy - not an empty electable position, so that vacancy cannot be filled by election.

The board has the only right to fill a vacancy. Members do not.

You will have to wait until the next election.

After this, don't leave vacancies for the board to fill!

Our Bylaws do state that members can remove.

The next election is not until November.

Grace,

Dwight "may" be correct in saying an appointed board member may be removed from the board by the board members w/o a vote of the assn members. It would all depend upon what your bylaws and state law say. You need to not only check out the HOA state laws by also the non-profit corp laws. In AZ the law that Dwight refers to in our nonprofit corp laws. If there is no state law covering this situation and your bylaws do not address it then the board can pretty much do as they say and the members have no say in the matter. First rule of thumb, check your bylaws and all the state laws that HOAs must abide by. Generally speaking, as Dwight also stated, a director can be removed by whomever put him/her in office. Also be careful not to confuse directors with officers. If your bylaws say the board may remove an officer that doesn't mean remove the officer from the board, but rather just remove the officer from his/her officer position.

What a bunch of legalese junk!! Re-do your CCR!

Basically, (how I read it) it says the board member CAN be removed if the votes to do that exceed the number of votes that member got at the last election.

Since this is an APPOINTED position, the board can vote to UN-appoint. Simply recind the motion to appoint.

Welcome to the forum, Virginia.

Please learn the difference between officers and directors. Officers, as in your bylaws are appointed by the Board. Directors are elected by the membership (owners) and must be removed by them UNLESS the board appointed the director to fill a vacancy.

I agree it's by far better to start a new thread.

Thank you..Yes this is important to distinguish. I was voted by the homeowners (Ca)as President 4.5 years ago and I oppointed two new board members. This was a two year term with 3 board members for a 101 SFR homes HOA. I won another two year term which will end on Dec 2018.
One of the other two members is an attorney (civil law) and is undermining my role and bullying me so the other weak board member who tries to stay neutral typcially votes his way.
The Mngt company bought our contract from our previous company and is playing favorites with this atty.
I recently went on record of this intimidation and bullying and want it stopped. Seriously, this board member went so far to tell me he did not have to be nice or courteous to me when I stated we all need to treat each other with respect and be kind.

With my voice on record, I believe he is trying to get me kicked off the board between the mgmt company and the other weak board member. I have called other board presidents to get their feedback, and have been told, they are running a rouge board.

The last board voting for the two other board members was this year, and no one ran against them. So the mgnt co. did not even open the ballets. She is running the show with this attorney.
Can I recall this recent vote from this one board member. And if so, what do I need to do.
Need all the help I can get.
Thank you,

Being you are from California, I would ask a couple of questions about your election.

1. Who was the inspector of elections and do you have a separate set of election rules specifically for your community. If the answer is no, the management company cannot be involved in the election process.

2. Do you have a required percentage for quorum and if so, was that number reached. If not, does your Bylaws allowed the people present at the meeting to vote to adjourn to a new meeting with a reduced quorum.

3. Does your election allow for nominations from the floor or write in candidates.

4. The president (presumably you) presides over annual meetings, special meeting and board meetings, unless YOU choose to delegate that role to someone else.

The election would be nullified, if quorum were indeed met, or the members were never given the opportunity to adjourn with a reduced number, if nomination from the floor were not allowed or write in candidates not allowed (if the association had no election rules). Ballots, whether opened or not must be held by the inspector of election for a one year, which is the same time limit for a challenge. Challenges to the elections can be done in Small Claims Court.

Side note: Virginia, please read the posting rules for this site.

I have to assume you have no separate set of election rules which is required by California Civil Code. IMO, the election is invalid.

Having that many homes makes the community significant. What I would do is invalidate the election, call for a new one and get one or two candidates (a slate) that YOU can work with. If you can adjourn to a meeting with a 25% quorum, make that your goal. Do some campaign, this is politics and sometimes you have to fight for what you and others believe. Most important, get community support behind you. Make sure anything you do is transparent and above board.

Best of luck!

YOu know it's pretty sad, but our BOD (previous to me coming aboard) was run by a bookkeeping service who ultimelty dropped us. The previous board then hired this property mgnt co who then held the first elections EVER as I understood it. NOthing was done in accordance with Civil Code. Not even a required Reserve Study.

As far as I know.....We do not have a legal advisor.

I've been a homeowner for over 18 years and did not get involved as I was raising a family and full time work.
Now I am simi retired as became a real estate broker working with HOA's in Coastal southern CA. So I am taken an interest in these things.
We are a $1M + community...can you believe it?
So I am the first elected board member in at least a couple of decades. New to this, I am learning on the fly. but it's been quite the ride.
I do have friends in the community.

WOW, that's really hitting below the belt.

Jennifer

In ours we have 5 board members and with a vote of 3, one can be removed. Owner approval not needed. Owners can also, with 51%, remove a board member or an entire board. Not that that is easy, even having the 51%, but it's technically possible.

It depends entirely on the individual docs and whether there is a state law that speaks to that.

Typically removing a BOD Member with 3 of the 5 votes applies to a BOD Member appointed by the BOD. I personally have never seen it applied to any BOD Member, especially one elected by fellow owners. There is always a first, but I suggest you read closer.

Owners removing a BOD Member with a 51% vote of all members is very typical regardless of how the person got on the BOD.

Yup. The majority of the board (at least 3 in our case), may remove a board member with our without cause. And elect a replacement also by a majority of the board (we have also been using the term 'appoint' but properly it seems to be called elected (but by the board, not members).

But members can also do it (with great effort). 51% can remove and elect a replacement. In theory, I guess if the board removed someone and replaced them and members didn't like that, we could reverse it with 51%. In practice, getting 51% to do anything is a monumental task.

Start a new thread.

If we don't do it nobody will. It's common courtesy around here, at least for the last 4 years, that people responding to old threads be asked to start a new one, and most people do so. I'm under no delusion that ignorant people can ever be convinced to listen to reason.

Can you point me to that section in the posting rules for this site, or is it what a few of you want?

Besides I like to see the history over the past few years.

This is the first sentence of Virginia's question, Our Bylaws and CC&Rs are very old. And I read conflicting statements about removing board members.

How is THAT different from the original topic, 9 years ago?

Many people have responded. My god, LET IT GO!

WOW, what an asshole!