Attention Tracie

Tracie,

There is a point I would like to make with regard to your thread entitled "amending CCRs" and I wanted to make sure you saw my response. John seems to have hijacked the thread with senseless sarcasm.

I would suggest you take a look at your CCRs for an article which talks about voting rights. In most CCRs there is mention of Class A members (all members but the declarant) and Class B members (the declarant). Also mentioned should be the number of votes each class is entitled to. From my CCRs: "Voting Rights. Class A. Class A voting members shall initially include all members except Declarant; and each such voting member shall be entitled to vote per lot owned one (1) vote per unit of density which may be built thereon." This means a member who owns more than one lot is entitled one vote for each lot. This is the reasoning I have used in interpreting the provision in your CCRs. If you only compute the 75% based upon the number of owners you have effectively stripped those members who own more than one lot of the votes they are entitled to cast for their additional properties. Here is one more point which I believe reinforces my position. Your CCRs state "75% of the lot owners". Most likely there is more than one owner for many of the properties. Both my husband and myself are the owners of record of our home. So if you take this statement in the literal sense then all parties listed on the deed as owners of the property are entitled to vote, right? This is why I say you must take a look at the article which deals with voting rights in order to interpret the amendment article properly.

My CCRs state the following: "Amendments. . . .this Declaration may only be amended by the written approval or the affirmative vote of voting owners representing not less than 75% of the votes entitled to be cast by voting owners. Special Meetings.. .a request in writing signed by members entitled to cast 1/4 of all the votes of the entire membership. Quorum. The presence, either in person or by proxy, of the members holding a majority of the votes entitled to be cast shall consititute a quorum." In each one of these situations the required % is based upon the total number of lots in the assn, not the total number of owners.

Eva,

Sorry, but I don't understand what you're asking about proxies.

Eva,

Yes, your are right, proxies are no longer allowed in AZ. The bylaw article I posted does state proxies; however, we must abide by the state law so we now only use mail-in ballots.

Mary,

The tricky word in these various CCR's is the word "owner(s)". You could in reality have 50 owners for Tracie's 19 lots but you would still only have a maximum of 19 votes. My CCR;s are almost the same as yours "voting rights....each such voting member shall be entitled to vote per lot owned with respect to all matters.....one (1) vote per lot. In the event of joint ownership only one vote may be cast by all joint owners." But my CCR's state that "these declarations may be amended by 2/3 of the total number of votes held by all members of the association entitled to vote....." I think this statement is a little clearer.

I'm glad this issue came up because it got me to check my CCR's for the amendment wording....glad it doesn't say "owners" because I know we have a few members in our association that would try to challenge a statement like Tracie's to require owners' votes!

Just a note to Tracie regarding not permitting an owner (member) of two lots to cast two votes.....doesn't this two lot owner pay two assessments? He also pays twice as much to the reserves and common ground expenses. Isn't he entitled to two of everything...i.e. two pool passes, two gate passes, two boat slips, etc?

Barb

Ok, you're right I (as in me as an individual person) do not own 19 units.

Amendments are necessary after more than 20 years of no one looking at documents. An example...under a section where it talks about responsibilities of the association, it says that "patios" are the "owner's" responsibility. There are NO PATIOS in my development. We have "decks", which are the owner's responsibility.

Another example...for assessment increases. Ours are still tied to the Consumer Price Index, and state it can't go over $280/year. We currently assess $900/year (or $75/month).

Another example...owner lawn maintenance. Our CC&Rs state that the front and back lawns are the sole responsibility of the owner. Our association has been maintaining front lawns and common areas for years.

This is what my CC&Rs say about voting rights...

ARTICLE IV
VOTING RIGHTS

The Association shall have two classes of voting memberships:

Class A Class A members shall be all those Owners as defined in Article III with the exception of the Declarant. Class A members shall be entitled to one vote for each lot in which they hold the interest required for membership by Article III. When more than one person holds such interest in any lot, all such persons shall be members. The vote for such lot shall be exercised as they among themselves determine, but in not event shall more than one vote be cast with respect to any lot.

Class B The Class B member shall be the Declarant. The Class B member(s) shall be entitled to three (3) votes for each lot in which it holds the interest required for membership by Article III, provided that the Class B membership shall cease and be converted to Class A membership on the happening of either of the following events, whichever occurs earlier:
(a) when the total votes outstanding in the Class A membership equal the total votes outstanding in the Class B membership or,
(b) October 31, 1984

I hope this helps!

I think I understand, now. Thanks!!!!

'Another example...owner lawn maintenance. Our CC&Rs state that the front and back lawns are the sole responsibility of the owner. Our association has been maintaining front lawns and common areas for years.Tracie

I just want to add.. I would NOT change this at all! You can cut the grass, if you want to, but do you really want the Association to take on more responsibilities?