Owners belittling & mircomanaging BOD

Started by PWells • 7 replies • 1648 views

💬 Join us to post & get advice from 50,000 HOA & Condo leaders.

⚡ Takes 30 seconds

Already a member? Log in

PWells (Washington)
Posts: 34

Posted:

Ok here is my situation. It never fails this one specific owner attends every single meeting and does nothing but insult all the board members. Then also tries to take control of the meetings and claims to know every little thing. This owner was a former board member removed by the majority of owners at our yearly meeting because she refuse to include all the other board members, management company and homeowners.
No one minds her attending the meetings as she does have the right to attend as a homeowner. However none of us want her to attend because she inferes with everything. She has even gone out of her way to belittle the board president in both meetings, phone calls and emails. Now she is demanding to see our delinquincy reports so she can knock on those homeowners doors to demand payment. Which we are not permitted to release to her as our CC&R's bind them.
Now I have been asked by fellow board members if we can ban her from attending all meetings except the required yearly meeting.

Then today I find out she is going out of her way to make it known of her opinion of the current board. And so the current board has assumed that the reason for such low turn out to any gatherings or meetings is because everyone knows she'll attend. And they don't want to be sucked into hearing her complain.

So far I can't find anything that states we can an her from all meetings & gatherings other then the required yearly. What can we do?

Pam
WA. St.

BrianB (California)
Posts: 2,820

Posted:

she has a right to attend. she does not have a right to speak, unless she is on the agenda or you have a spot in the meeting for public comments. Also, if she is disruptive, she can be asked to leave. If she won't leave, you can have the police remove her, as a disruptive influence. she can attend, she cannot disrupt.

someone should very carefully explain to her in person or in a letter, what she can and cannot do at the meeting, and tell her exactly what the board will and will not allow, and tell her the consequences of her actions should she decide to be obstructionist. Once that is clearly explained, then proceed, let her do what she will, and do what you promised her you would do. and stick to your guns.

PatrickS (Washington)
Posts: 34

Posted:

No words were better said by Brian. We have the same problem here in Wahsington as well. I call it sour grapes, sounds like you have the same problem. Recalls have a tendancy to do that.

Good luck,

Patrick

GlenL (Ohio)
Posts: 5,491

Posted:

Your Board should have a policy as to when homeowners may speak and make it clear that improper language will not be tolerated. You can also a reasonable time period a homeowner is allowed to speak usually about five minutes. The more people that want to speak the shorter the time allowed just as city councils do it. Also someone on the Board probably has a camcorder; put it in a visible place and record the public parts of your meetings. It is amazing how civil someone becomes when the camera is present. And if that fails and she is still disruptive and you have to have her removed, you will have proof as to why. This attorney has a cease and desist letter for the letters, phone calls and e-mails. http://www.ohiocondolaw.com/verbal_abuse.htm

Studies show that 5 out of 4 people have problems with fractions

MikeS1
Posts: 668

Posted:

Gee, it seems that all HOA's have one these psychotic whiners that don't have any of the facts straight, criticize everything that the board does etc. SOLUTION - They are not part of the board meeting and while they can watch the board procedings, you do not have to let them intercede with the Board's operations. HAVE A COMMENTS SEGMENT OF 30 MINUTES FOR THE HOMEOWNERS, make them sign up before the meeting, limit their comments strictly to 3 minutes and MAKE SURE THAT YOU PLACE THIS 30 minute segment at the end of the BOARD MEETING. No you can't ban her from the meetings but you can use Roberts rules and prohibit her participation until the comments section at the end. It sounds like you need to get your attorney and/or PM involved. I would think that delinquency reports in most states might be somewhat confidential (ergo the rule in your CC&R's) and unless there's a lien filed by the HOA (which is public record), that information is probably confidential. If she wants to complain, the Board Meetings are not the correct platform.

WilliamT (Arizona)
Posts: 489

Posted:

Call the police department on their business number in advance. Tell than that you have a disruptive member who may need to be removed from the board meeting. Ask if you can call 911 if the board feels threatened by the member. They will say yes.

Have a designated person in the audience prepared with a cell phone to call 911 upon the signal from the president.

Follow Robert's Rules which says that the chair person can not have a member removed. The board can remove a person by voting on it.

Have a spot on the agenda for homeowners forum that comes after the new business discussion. Have a time limit of 15 to 30 minutes depending on the number of members. The reason you have it after the business section is that many home owner questions are usually answered during the business section and it reduces the amount of homeowner forum and board time.

When the meeting begins the chair explains when the homeowners may participant, and the time limit plus that a time limit will be placed on each individual speaker of from 2 to 5 minutes, what ever is appropriate for your total allotted time and number of members. Let the person in question speak without interruption until his/her time limit is up. Then politely say that the time is up, and perhaps give an extra minute to finish the point the person is making.

The board does not have to respond to the person, except as the chair feels appropriate. Under no circumstances should a board member argue with the person.

The person should not be allowed to make any personal attacks on anyone in the room. All speakers must speak to issues only. If any personal attack is made, the chair should immediately call the member to order without using the persons name. On the third consequetive call to order the chair must use the persons name and stated that he/she is out of order and must obey the rules of the assembly. If it continues one more time then say this to the board.

"The member is out of order and refuses a call to order. Is there any objection to having this member removed from the room". That is a motion to remove the person that is asking for unanimous consent. If there is no objection, then then stated that the motion is passed for the member to be removed for the room. Would the member please leave the room." If the member does not leave, ask the appointed person to please call the local police to have the person removed from the room because the assembly feels threatened by him/her, and that person is now trespassing.

Once the board elects to have the person removed from the room, they are trespassing by staying, and also are a threat to everyone there.

Have this all worked out with your board members before hand so the motion to remove the offender will go like clockwork.

Good luck

JulieS (Georgia)
Posts: 412

Posted:

Yes, every neighborhood has this problem and for years, our annual meetings have been uncontroled chaos with attendance dwindling each year. Last year, we decided to take back our annual meeting and we scheduled a town hall meeting a few weeks prior to the annual meeting. This is where people can come to ask questions. We also notified the community that the annual meeting would consist of a presentation and the election and that an open discussion would NOT take place. Needless to say, we had a few people show for the town hall meeting (and the person who always stirs the pot DID NOT attend) and the annual meeting was finished within 20 minutes. It was very plesant and we plan to follow this same format again in February. Hopefully we can re-build our attendance by following this procedure.

BradP (Kansas)
Posts: 2,640

Posted:

Everyone on here has great advice and I can only echo it. She has the right to attend meetings if she is not disruptive. If she is she can be thrown out. She does not have the right to speak unless she is on the agenda.

As for her going to homes and demanding payment, make it known to your residents through newsletter, email, etc. that the board will never go door to door demanding payment and to be wary. Eventually she will run out of steam once she sees that no one is jumping on her bandwagon. Stay the course, stay strong and it will be ok.

🎯 You've read this entire discussion

Join the conversation with 50,000 HOA & Condo Leaders:

✓ Ask follow-up questions
✓ Share your experience
✓ Get expert advice
✓ Access 350,000 discussions

Create Free Account →

⚡ Takes 30 seconds

Already a member? Log in here