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MaureenM1 (PA)
Posts: 344
Posted:
We had our "annual meeting" in November. Although it states in our CCRs that the President should preside over the meeting he did not
attend, no did his appointed board members. The PM (who he has hired) ran the meeting. She said we didn't have a quorum but because we were not voting it was OK. Myself and the other resident board member were in attendance but the PM ran the entire meeting.

Should the President attend and preside over the Annual Meeting? I don't think we could consider that meeting an Annual Meeting was stated in our CCRs.

RogerB (Colorado)
Posts: 5,067
Posted:
Maureen, if there was not a quorum you did not have the annual meeting. If the President is absent from a meeting the VP chairs the meeting. If neither are present the Secretary chairs; if not present the Treasurer chairs; if no officer is present the assembly can elect a chair for the meeting. The PM, or anyone else, can be elected to chair by the members.
MaureenM1 (PA)
Posts: 344
Posted:
Roger,

the problem is that our builder (who is control) is the President, he appointed two other board members, myself and one other owner
was voted onto the board by the owners when our development was 25 percent sold as stated in our CCRs.

We were never given specific roles. I am sure the Presidents' two other board members are the Vice President and Treasurer, however, myself and the other board member do not have specific titles other than Board Members. The President always states to us that he has three votes to our two, however, he has never told us specifically the titles of all the board members.

The President, and his two appointed Board Members did not attend. Myself and the other Board member were not given the opportunity to preside over the meeting. The PM did (who was hired by the President).

I brought this up to the President and he said his assistant who worked in a law office is looking into it and he will get back to me.

The PM said we did not have a quorum at our Meeting in November but since we were not voting it did not matter. Should we have stopped the meeting at that point.None of the member in attendance voted for the PM to conduct the meeting.

RobertR1 (South Carolina)
Posts: 5,164
Posted:
Maureen,
Well, I'm confused, your president is the developer, you have a M/C that is paid by the developer, I am assuming you have over 25% of your units sold, the president appointed two other people that don't attend meetings, the president don't attend, the M/C runs the meetings that don't have quorum, and somehwere in all this the president appointed you and another owner to be board members and you and this other person was elected by someone to be on the board that don't hold meetings.
Maureen, how would you answer a post like that?

First: When were you elcted to the board and by whom? Did you have a meeting to do this. Have you EVER had a legal meeting?

Tell us how old your association is, and when is turnover by developer.

I would have to say it appears developer is in charge, you and your other elected/appointed Board member are nothing except two people, maybe, that have been duped into having their names used. Why? I have no idea, the developer has control apparently, are other owners concerned? Have the owners approached the developer outside the Board? Have other owners asked you as an elected representative to provide them with answers?

The above are my thoughts to see if I can help.

I can't see anything that is solid enough to hang a hat on. Go back to your documents and understand what they say, if there is anything there that actually enpowers any owner, tell us about it. I doubt you will find it and any influence you and your other elected member serve in a advisory capacity only. If there is something in you documents that directs the developer to run the association and perform certain actions, what are they?

I expect you and your fellow owners are members of HomeOwner Association Realities 101, and you all will have to attend class and learn your documents. Then you may likely find out you all have no power to effect change until your development is under owner control. What you all do at this point depends on your relationship with the developer and how much influence you have on him. Maybe he is running the association as well as he can, do you know that? You and your fellow owners are a member of an association (group), you can't opt out, you have to fix the problem if you believe you have one collectively. Have the owners had a meeting outside the official meetings, if there was indeed a legal meeting. The owners cn get together as a group, there is nothing wrong with that, you all need to find out, where you all stand and how you all expect to operate as a association.
Read over what I have written, take anything that seems to help, but know what your documents say and mean. Don't do it alone, get as many owners involved as possible and go see this developer and have a sit down to establish what he is doing, what you all expect and how you all can work together to a common goal. It won't take long before it becomes apparent that you do or you don't have a situation you can live with or not. Or not, take on the developer outside the documents. Best of both worlds, work together to make your association better. That is your only concern, nothing else bbut to make your association better than what it is, no personal agenda, no get the pool open and all will be well, Make you association better.
RobertR1 (South Carolina)
Posts: 5,164
Posted:
Maureen,
I just looked at your name on the search feature this site.
All this you are posting now is just somekind of a continuation of problems posted b efore.
It is now, 2:15 in the morning, I elected to spend my time helping you, that was my choice, but if you would have posted this a contiknuation of old problems, and gave a brief history, my efforts woluld have been more productive. Maybe something I said will help you, it certainly is not the most productive way to solve your problems.
MaryA1 (Arizona)
Posts: 7,043
Posted:
Maureen,

Check your bylaws for the answer. Usually they give the Pres (or the board) the ability to appoint an agent to do whatever they wish, meaning the Pres had the right to appoint the Pm to chair the annual meeting.

If there was no business to take care of (no elections) then the fact that there was no quorum wasn't really a problem. If there was no business to take care of there really wasn't a need for a meeting, now was there? So the fact that the members met and sat around talking for awhile was probably a good thing.

Would you or your fellow board member have done anything differently if you had been given the authority to preside over this "non-meeting"? Many bylaws state the meeting may be adjourned until a quorum can be met. But, if there was no business to conduct what would have been the point of doing that?

Frankly, I'm at a loss as to why you are making an issue of this. I know you have many problems with this developer but I think you should concentrate on the biggies and let the little things go.
SusanW1 (Michigan)
Posts: 5,202
Posted:
Consider this whole thing a "report" from the PM. It was for information only.

Then use board meetings to get sme business done to deal with the issues, if there are some.

You need to rally the homeowners, if there are issues that need attention. What did they think. Apparently, if no quorum was reached, then they don't care.

RobertR1 (South Carolina)
Posts: 5,164
Posted:
SusanW,
There is repeated reference in this thread that the homeowners don't care. Not a new or strange remark, but, to elaborate on this subject, can it be said, "the homeowners might not care," but that does not mean they are not in these matters up to their skinny little necks.

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