Question regarding voting on SA

[gatorman]

What is the name of your state? Florida

Hi all! I have a question regarding voting an special assessments. Our HOA has a severe problem with the community swimming pool. It was built on clay and a high water table and has had serious settlement issues since day one ( It's about 12 years old now and the developer is long gone ). The board has proposed a special assessment which will be the second for this pool in five years. The board is taking a dictatorial approach to " fixing " the pool and says that they will not consider removing the pool ( which is very, very small for the community of 285 homes ) and if the special assessment is not passed, they will secure a commercial loan and do the work anyway. The board did not attempt to discover whether the membership even wants this white elephant of a pool. BTW, the " fix " is to irrigate below the pool and decking to keep the clay stable. There are no guarantees that this will correct the problem and the cost of the project is 85,000.00. It will also add to the maintenance costs of the pool. Anyway, the board has called a special meeting to vote on the SA and is out collecting proxies as we speak.

So, my question is: Our declaration regarding voting on SA's reads as follows: " provided that any such special assessment shall have the assent of two-thirds ( 2/3 ) of the votes of the total combined vote of members who are voting in person or by proxy at a meeting duly called for this purpose ". Does this mean 2/3 of the total membership ( 285 ) or 2/3 of the total voting membership attending the meeting or voting by proxy providing a quorum is met? I interpret it as meaning the latter.

Your thoughts and comments will be much appreciated. We have collected about 30 " no " proxies as of today but we are about out of time and are battling against directors that are bent on collecting proxies. At this point, if given the choice of SA or loan, I believe the SA would be less of a burden on the community than the loan. I just cannot bring myself to vote for it because I have a very strong belief that we will be revisiting this very same pool problem in the not too distant future. Admittedly, I do resent the approach that the board has taken. Maybe I'm just being stubborn, I don't know! HELP!!!

Thanks again!What is the name of your state?