Frustrated Board Member seeks advice

I have been an elected Board member (1 of 3) for our HOA for the past 11 months. This election took place at the transition meeting whereby the homeowners took control of the HOA over from the developer. To make a long story short, our Board began our initial term actually excited that we brought different views to the table and felt, therefore, that we could best address the needs of our neighbors within the confines of the Protective Covenants.
Well, 9 months down the road our property management company resigned--due to a continual refusal to listen to their advice that we not allow continual exceptions to the Covenants. Things came to a head when our property manager was told flat out by the President of our Board that "We don't want to hear your advice." The problem lies with the other 2 Board members, who are continually concerned with public opinion and not making "popular" decisions instead of following the Covenants.
The lack of respect for me, our property manager (who has now been replaced, obviously), the Chairman of the Architectural Review Committee (who happens to be my husband) and any and all decisions made by the ARC is appalling! Both our property manager and I have requested meeting after meeting to discuss ongoing tensions on the Board and all emails and requests have gone totally ignored. It is insulting to me as a Board member, to say the least.
Our new property manager attended our first meeting last week and suddenly the President and other Board member are requesting her opinion and advice (quite a change!!). She came back with the exact same advice (to follow the Covenants for the benefit of the community) as our old property manager and suddenly she walks on water. I, however, have provided critical information in emails recently for a Board decision and the information was neither acknowledged nor was my request for discussion granted. I got the "2 of 3 votes have made the decision" routine. That's fine, but no one addressed the relevant facts.
Any advice on how to handle these clowns who are continuing to erode the property values in our subdivision??

I am not a professional property manager, just a member of an HOA board of 5. I am the Secretary and so it was really noticeable to me as I prepared the minutes (in FL we are required to record how each board member voted) that I have typically been on the losing end of 3-2 or 4-1 votes.

You can't be deterred from offering your opinion even if your boorish co-members refuse to even acknowledge they received it and you can't let it get to you if you are continuously on the losing end of votes.

You can keep offering your opinions and research. You can keep records of your emails and you can make sure the Secretary records the vote by name of board member.

It sounded from your inquiry that maybe your board is conducting business via email rather than face to face meetings, if so, you might try to get the board to agree to meet to discuss issues, not just take a vote online.

If you consider that we are all on this site because we belong to COMMUNITIES, it makes sense to see and talk to our neighbors especially board members to discuss the issues presented. I don't think you have much chance of influencing another person's perspective if you are only using email. Once you get to know one another better and have had the chance to see that every once in a while somebody else has a better idea, the board can go back to using email because you will each have more trust and confidence in each other's suggestions. OR, not so much, in that case, you need a revolution.

Thank you for your positive feedback. It is unfortunate that I have allowed the other Board members to wear me down and question my contributions. Brian--I loved your advice, but that's not going to happen--my position will come up for vote in February 2007, but the other two are on the Board for one more year and two more years, respectively (staggered terms). Unfortunately, I'm the one who is going to look the fool when I nominate myself for an additional term and only have a few people who actually KNOW how I've handled myself vote for me...the rest of the neighborhood doesn't want to abide by the Covenants anyway! Time to put up the "For Sale" sign????? Maybe! We've invested a lot of money in our home and I'm not about to lose it!

In response to the comment about conducting business by email, we had been having monthly meetings from last December through June and then went to every other month. Whenever an issue has come up between meetings I have requested that we get together to discuss things, but the President comes back with the same response each time--not necessary--too busy--basically, he just doesn't want to hear it and never even acknowledges or addresses the issues.

I wouldn't have a problem being the odd vote if I felt it was not a matter of inappropriate behavior by the other Board members. The President is on a huge power trip and the Treasurer is a "(President) want to be." He (Treasurer) thinks the President is a "cool guy" and follows him around like a little puppy. Too bad--so sad--never emotionally graduated from high school, despite his college degree!! I'm a professional and ready to work with professionals--or at least those who can act like responsible adults not running against each other for a popularity contest.

In response to the question of my most recent unaddressed email, I received an email from the President last evening stating that 2 out of 3 voted on the issue--no reference to addressing the items clearly stated out in a manner poised for discussion--with a request for discussion. I'd truly like to have the respect afforded me that I afford them. At the August meeting the President told me he didn't want me to speak on an issue because he'd had a long day and it was getting late. He was extremely rude about it and called me a few days later to apologize (half-heartedly, but nonetheless he did apologize). But...he's doing the same thing again.

Onward and upward????????