In this week's tip, we offer a way out for an HOAleader.com reader who says they're isolated by the board president and community manager who unilaterally make decisions and then
cover themselves with email consent and ratification after the fact.
According to our reader, the full board simply doesn't weigh in on many significant issues. The president and property manager didn't ask the board to vote on the decision
to change law firms. They often meet with two of five board members and then get two more board members to give email consent to their decisions. The whole board then ratifies those decisions at a board meeting.
Now the president is
proposing upgrades to the common elements without getting owner input. But the documents say two-thirds of owners must approve material alterations.
Click on the arrow below to hear a short clip in which two of HOAleader.com's experts—Nancy
T. Polomis, a partner at Hellmuth & Johnson PLLC in Edina, Minn., whose clients include local developers and condos and HOAs throughout Minnesota, and Bree Anne Stopera, an associate at Makower Abbate Guerra Wegner Vollmer PLLC in Farmington Hills, Mich., whose firm represents more than 2,000 community associations throughout the state—first spell out why this is risky for the board member kept away from decision making and for the community as a whole.
