Are Complaints Attached to The Minutes?

We have a spiteful and vindictive homeowner who lost his bid for electon to the board last year and has submitted a letter to the Board making false accusations of impropriety against a couple of the Board members. He says that his complaint must be noted in the minutes and attached to the minutes as a permanent record. How do you handle this situation? Does he have a right to demand they be attached to the minutes and are we required to do so?

His intent is to obtain copies of the minutes later with the attachments so he can distribute them to the homeowners in a smear campaign. Our take is written complaints could be noted briefly in the minutes but the actual complaint letter would be filed in a separate file for the HOA with other such correspondence letters that may be received.

Your thoughts?

David
[email protected]

You say his letter contains false accusations. Libel is written defamation. If his accusations are truely false, you need to nip this in the bud. If not addressed, he will only get bolder. Harold

Great article Roger! I have saved it. I especially like the idea that courts consider board members "limited public purpose" figures. Open Sesame! But I did not advise this board to sue. I said they should nip it in the bud. Which could be to read it at the next meeting and then ignore it. Printing complete letters from anyone in the minutes is never done and would only encourage him. Why would you want to aid & abet his campaign? Additional letters from him on the same subject should be ignored - he had his say and it would be redundant. And I would bury that letter (and any subsequent ones) in his file, not general correspondence which others might request to review sometime. Actually, where is it written that all letters received should be held in awe like a missive from God? Harold

One thing that does not seem to have been taken into consideration "Is there truth in the statements made?" Perhaps, the mention that the matter is being investigated, would go a long way in letting the person know his voice was indeed heard. Simply dismissing him as a trouble maker, only aggravates, and does not solve the problem of communication.

Example, since 1992, I, and others, have protested different illegal actions the board attempted to take. From changing our name by amending the Articles of Incorporaton stating the members had voted - when we had no say in the matter, to several sets of Bylaws they unsucessfully tried to put on our HOA.

We do not have the funds to take them to court each time. By showing my documentation to the members at numerous regularly called meeting, all but the last Bylaw document was made null and void. Our legal Bylaws state it may be amended only by 50% of the members, yet five Directors took it upon themselves to change the document (even filing it in the County Lnad Records - looks very legal), regardless of evidence and the "truth."

The name change still has not been corrected. Their own minutes, for the meeting that is referenced in the sworn statement of the State document, state outright the meeting which 'should have been the vote' didn't have a quorum and was a information meeting only. Nothing hinting a vote nor request to change the name. Their premise is "nobody's going to sue us."

To read the MINUTES OF OUR HOA MEETINGS, one would think living here was living in a paridise. That is not the case. Each meeting others (not just my voice) have protested their actions. Yet, not one word about ANY protest is mentioned in the minutes.

People that protest usually have a reason. Being known as a trouble maker in a HOA is not a comfortable place to be.

Minutes of any HOA meeting should contain everything that happened in that meeting. I do not mean that every word said be transcribed, but "A PROTEST WAS MADE" - period - does not come near communicating the issue. Now, the Board publically states the Bylaws they are using "were not voted on by the members" but is THAT statment in any of their minutes? Not, dream on. How does one protest, if we know our voice really is not heard. Nikki T.