Bids for lawn care; illegal meetings

Started by LeslieJ • 4 replies • 2294 views

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LeslieJ (Florida)
Posts: 7

Posted:

What recourse, other than hiring an attorney, does a homeowner have when the board failed to get bids for lawn care. I was President 3 years ago, and obtained bids for lawn care which is about 1/2 of our assessments. When I left the board, they got a different lawn care company, using the same bids that I had obtained. As I see it, when the contract was terminated, the bids were also terminated. Also, just this last year, they extended the contract without bidding.
Also, our management company is on-site Tues & Fri. The board has a sign on the bulletin board that meetings or workshops may take place at that time. I have seen no agenda or no minutes. We also have seen three members in there at one time. (We have 5 board members). What is the best way to approach this as it seems they have no regard for the convenants or Florida Law?
Jack

MaryA1 (Arizona)
Posts: 7,043

Posted:

Jack,

Depending upon what your gov docs say and also state law, it could be that bids are not required to be obtained b/4 obligating the assn to a contract and perhaps an agenda is not required to be posted for a meeting or workshop. Neither of these are required by AZ state law nor by my assn's gov docs. Also, the fact that you have not seen meeting minutes doesn't mean they haven't been taken.

Oftentimes members have complaints about the way their BOD operates when in fact the BOD is not violating the gov docs nor state law but rather just doing something that the member "perceives" to be wrong. It's best to know what your docs and state law allow -- or disallow -- so you will know for sure if, in fact, the board is in violation of these laws.

RogerB (Colorado)
Posts: 5,067

Posted:

Leslie, Unless there is a requirement to get more than one bid they can chose whatever landscape company they chose. But prudence and CYA dictate they get atleast 3 bids. With regard to meetings, agendas, minutes, etc. perhaps you could offer assistance to educate them on rules and policies

LeslieJ (Florida)
Posts: 7

Posted:

Florida law and our documents require that bids must be obtained if the contract is for 10@ or more of the budget. As far as agendas, both
Florida law and our documents require an agenda with the meeting notice.
My question was what recourse other than hiring an attorney does a homeowner have to rectify this problem. Trying to educate our board on anything is a lost cause. This is why the HOA laws of Florida need to be changed to be the same as the Condo laws. While I know they can be voted out, too many homeowners do not care as long as their dues don't go up.

MaryA1 (Arizona)
Posts: 7,043

Posted:

Leslie,

Well, I think you've answered you own questions. If the board is abusing their authority and the members don't care there probably isn't anything you can do about it. Sadly this is the case in far too many assn's that are populated with a large % of apathetic members. The majority don't care what happens until something they don't like affects them. If you think the only way to curb these problems is to change the state laws then perhaps you need to get involved in that process.

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