Soo much Happening...need help

Many CCRs that allow HOs to vote to remove a board member also allow the board to vote to remove a member "with or without cause" ... check carefully you may be able to do something there.

However, other than the unfortunate expense of a special meeting, perhaps it could be a useful time to clear the air. If the other 4 members are in disagreement with the one -- maybe it would be a good chance to address the community regarding the lies and fabrications. Even if a petition is signed by enough qualifying HOs, what are the chances of reaching quorum for the meeting and meeting the voting requirements for removal? It's one thing to get enough to sign a petition, but another to get people to show up to a meeting. My CCRs require a 50% vote of the entire community to remove (not just of that at the meeting).

Don't forget, you do hold the "power" of the community mailing at the board's majority vote. Perhaps you'd like to send out a mailing telling the community that you support a special meeting to reveal the facts (you might want to point out the cost of the meeting to represent such foolishness) and welcome the chance to refute the allegations with actual documentation (don't know what the issues actually are).

What are the issues in question? What is the Director (Board member) saying? Why does he want the other Director removed? What are these emails asking of the Directors?

What do your documents say about procedures to remove a Director? To call a Special Meeting of the Membership?

How often does your Board meet? Are Board meetings announced and open for Members to attend? Can you have a Board meeting before this Special Meeting, at which the Board can discuss these issues with homeowners?

How large is your HOA? Is it a Condo Association or single-family homes? Is it a mandatory HOA? Is it a volunteer Board?

It's not necessarily a matter of convincing everyone of which side is right and which is wrong. Perhaps it's a question of simply showing the Members that there is a lot more to whatever-it-is than the slanted view that this Director is promoting, and that there are better ways to work it out than gossip and slander. Show that the other Directors are not secretive or whatever else they are being accused of. Most of you neighbors probably want to believe that you are all honest, hard-working neighbors who volunteered for these chores, and will readily accept the Board's explanation. At least they will tend to believe that there is more to the story, as long as you are not secretive or controlling. You should insist on orderly, rational discussion, in which everyone gets to have their say, and don't be defensive. If you are calm and considerate, then anyone who is belligerent and accusatory will bad on their own, if they don't actually have a good basis for complaint.

First...no one comes to our meetings except former board members and irate residents. Most of the time there are less than 15 people there...5 on the board, 2 from management and then residents. Even our annual meeting for elections had less than 15 people. Most votes are proxy votes.

I am the board member that they are trying to remove. The former president and the other current board member have been meeting secretly with residents in their homes and discussing board information. She has printed and released board emails and information with sensative account information and addresses. She was voted out of office this term due to her harrassing actions toward Town officials as well as contractors...She called the Mayor at 5 am on his cell phone and yelled at him about some signs that were installed in the neighborhood. She and a neighbor went door to door to get signatures. We got written statements from neighbors with exactly what was said to encourage them to sign the petition.
- The previous management company quit due to my actions.
- We had to raise the annual dues because we had to hire a new management company.
- The previous board approved $20,000 from reserves for a playground, and I didn't utilize it.
- I (not the board) hired a contractor that had been hired and fired in the past.
- I (not the board) had the contractor paid up front and he never rendered services.
- The board was holding secret meetings and not inviting the residents.

All of this items have been twisted to suit their petition. All of these items are public knowledge, but our residents can't be bothered to come to a meeting or read the minutes.
- The previos management company had been in breach of contract for at least 6 months. The board (one the previous president was on) voted to accept proposals from new management companies in August. The management company obviously saw that in our meeting minutes and tendered resignation as of Jan. 31. The new board then voted to hire another management company as of Nov 1 and fire the old one. We were even willing to pay them both to avoid conflict. The old management company then quit on Oct 28.
- We needed to raise the annual dues regardless of management. We have not raised our dues in 3 years and we are capped by our declarations at a 5% increase. Since our bills continue to increase due to inflation, we had to increase our dues before we got stuck.
- The previous board did approved $20,000 for playground. We had countless meetings with engineers, survey companies, playground companies and were merely days away from breaking ground when a resident found that the previous board had not gotten a majority vote of homeowners to spend that money! So really, we didn't have $20k to spend. This was discovered in August. Another reason the previous managememnt company was not going to be asked back!
- The board voted to hire a contractor (not just me) but because she obstained. She told everyone that I made the decision.Myself and the treasurer searched through years of documents. No evidence that this contractor had been hired or fired in the past was found. Not to mention, we requested bids from 3 companies. He was the only bid we received.
- The contractor was a tow company. We don't pay them for their services, we only pay for any 'gone on arrivals.' There weren't any gone on arrivals and therefore, we never paid him.
- The board held 2 'Special Meetings' in compliance with the HOA laws of MD and our Covenants and By-Laws. These meetings were held to interview management companies and sensative inforomation was discussed. My neighbors all knew about the meeting and we didn't keep them a secret. The minutes were recorded among our minutes of the next meeting.

These are all things that I am ready to get out to explain to residents...but they don't come to the meetings! I work over an hour from home and don't have time to go door to door to defend myself.

We do have documentation that allows us to remove a board member with or without cause, but it requires a majority vote of the homeowners. I don't have my bylaws with me right now to determine whether it is homeowners in attendance, by proxy, or regardless of attendance. I will find out.