What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)? Florida
First, let me say that this site doesn't appear to work in Firefox and that while I was writing this post, my sign-in expired and I lost everything. Grrrr....
My girlfriend bought a house around 20 years ago in a deed-restricted community. My name is not on the deed. In that time, I have attended several Board of Directors meetings of the HOA and even served as a Director for a year. She went to one meeting and said it was too boring and I can go for her if I want to. We got involved when we received a violation letter that was wrong. I then found out that many were even for items not in our deed restrictions. Our documents define a member as a person who holds interest in a property, so officially, I am not a homeowner, but they had never had a problem with that. They do specifically state that a Director does not have to be a home-owner. My presence on the board kept them from sending out invalid letters. I felt confident in its leadership when I left to tend to personal matters.
Since then, a dictatorship seems to have emerged. The board has 8 Directors and 4 of them are two husband and wife teams. One of the husbands has now left the board and become the CAM, but his wife is still on the board. Allegedly, she does not vote on items regarding the CAM. I went to a meeting just to see how it was going and commented on one thing. That's when I was informed that the board had created a resolution about how members are to speak at the meeting. I looked into it and found that the board has issued this resolution and implemented it contrary to Florida law. Florida law states that all members have a right to speak on any agenda item or item discussed in the meeting for a minimum of 3 minutes but that the board can adopt reasonable rules expanding those rights. The board created a rule that members can only speak on two items for a maximum of 3 minutes each and they must sign up in advance to speak. Then they address the member forum after all agenda items have been decided.
At the next meeting, with the help of a director, this rule and invalid violation letters were put on the agenda. I signed up and spoke on those items. Apparently, this didn't sit well with the President. At the next meeting, last week, she had brought the association attorney, using association funds, without a vote from the directors. She only informed the directors she is friends with, the CAM, and his employees that he was coming. I signed up to speak on any items discussed per state law and their rules, but the first order of business, which was not on the agenda, was to keep non-homeowners from attending the meetings. This seems to conflict with the rule that directors don't have to be members, since they can't be elected if they're not allowed into a meeting. Friends of the president outnumber the directors that try to follow the rules and the resolution was passed. The fifth vote they need (a non-member) only shows up at meetings when they have pre-decided the outcome. The CAM's wife voted on this rule which seems to be a conflict of interest since my willingness to speak on their improprieties affects the relationship with the CAM, and could affect her family income. I was told to leave the meeting. I also have been told by two people that one of the CAM's employees who is not a homeowner was allowed to stay and another homeowner who has become an employee of the CAM signed up to speak on "the Andy problem" (that's me). Board members had already spoken about board business with the CAM and his employees and decided the results before the meeting. This is two homes deciding the fates of 917 homes.
Am I the only one that sees anything wrong with the above?
Can I be designated a proxy, agent, or power of attorney to be allowed back into the meeting and speak for my girlfriend, the member? Which would be best?
Also, since directors routinely gather proxies from members for the annual election, wouldn't I also be allowed to gather them from multiple members and speak twice on each item for each member or would I have to group them?
First, let me say that this site doesn't appear to work in Firefox and that while I was writing this post, my sign-in expired and I lost everything. Grrrr....
My girlfriend bought a house around 20 years ago in a deed-restricted community. My name is not on the deed. In that time, I have attended several Board of Directors meetings of the HOA and even served as a Director for a year. She went to one meeting and said it was too boring and I can go for her if I want to. We got involved when we received a violation letter that was wrong. I then found out that many were even for items not in our deed restrictions. Our documents define a member as a person who holds interest in a property, so officially, I am not a homeowner, but they had never had a problem with that. They do specifically state that a Director does not have to be a home-owner. My presence on the board kept them from sending out invalid letters. I felt confident in its leadership when I left to tend to personal matters.
Since then, a dictatorship seems to have emerged. The board has 8 Directors and 4 of them are two husband and wife teams. One of the husbands has now left the board and become the CAM, but his wife is still on the board. Allegedly, she does not vote on items regarding the CAM. I went to a meeting just to see how it was going and commented on one thing. That's when I was informed that the board had created a resolution about how members are to speak at the meeting. I looked into it and found that the board has issued this resolution and implemented it contrary to Florida law. Florida law states that all members have a right to speak on any agenda item or item discussed in the meeting for a minimum of 3 minutes but that the board can adopt reasonable rules expanding those rights. The board created a rule that members can only speak on two items for a maximum of 3 minutes each and they must sign up in advance to speak. Then they address the member forum after all agenda items have been decided.
At the next meeting, with the help of a director, this rule and invalid violation letters were put on the agenda. I signed up and spoke on those items. Apparently, this didn't sit well with the President. At the next meeting, last week, she had brought the association attorney, using association funds, without a vote from the directors. She only informed the directors she is friends with, the CAM, and his employees that he was coming. I signed up to speak on any items discussed per state law and their rules, but the first order of business, which was not on the agenda, was to keep non-homeowners from attending the meetings. This seems to conflict with the rule that directors don't have to be members, since they can't be elected if they're not allowed into a meeting. Friends of the president outnumber the directors that try to follow the rules and the resolution was passed. The fifth vote they need (a non-member) only shows up at meetings when they have pre-decided the outcome. The CAM's wife voted on this rule which seems to be a conflict of interest since my willingness to speak on their improprieties affects the relationship with the CAM, and could affect her family income. I was told to leave the meeting. I also have been told by two people that one of the CAM's employees who is not a homeowner was allowed to stay and another homeowner who has become an employee of the CAM signed up to speak on "the Andy problem" (that's me). Board members had already spoken about board business with the CAM and his employees and decided the results before the meeting. This is two homes deciding the fates of 917 homes.
Am I the only one that sees anything wrong with the above?
Can I be designated a proxy, agent, or power of attorney to be allowed back into the meeting and speak for my girlfriend, the member? Which would be best?
Also, since directors routinely gather proxies from members for the annual election, wouldn't I also be allowed to gather them from multiple members and speak twice on each item for each member or would I have to group them?
