Condo Association Management Blog

The first vote was taken legally and the amendments failed. That is a done deal. Then the Board decided to revisit the same issue and a new election with new proxies was held. From what you have told me it seems that there is nothing wrong with what they did and how they did it unless you can find something in your governing documents or state law that limits the time between one vote and the next on an issue. If you can you would have a valid complaint.  
 
Your Board appears to have realized that unless they became pro-active the amendments they wanted to pass would not pass once again, so when it came time for the second vote they did become pro-active. I see nothing wrong with that. Recently amendments that our Board proposed would have greatly benefited the Association financially but the amendments did not pass because all our Board did was to mail out the bylaw amendments and did nothing to promote them or get them passed. That was our Association's loss. So I like that your Board learned from its experience and became proactive. If you were opposed to the amendments you could have done what your Board members did - namely to campaign for what they believed in. 
 
If you can find something in state law or your Association's governing documents that says that the Board cannot contact people and promote certain issues, then you would have a valid complaint.

Lynn: Well written and right on the mark. 
Boris.

Folks, on the surface it seems like no harm was done. However, there is a proper way to get a vote amended or rescinded, so that it clears the way honorably for a new vote. Check Roberts Rules on amending or rescinding a vote duly taken, there are some layers of notification that has to be done, but worthwhile to avoid taking shortcuts and being unethical, if not illegal, depending on statutes and such. The reason for going through the amend/rescind process is to honor the original legitimate process of the first vote. Imagine if at each board meeting the board said, "nah, we changed our mind about the last decision we made, lets just vote again, because we got someone to come over to the other side this time." A card laid is a card played - and unless the vote was illegal, you should withdraw it properly and do the revote. You go on record as honoring process and being honorable too. Thanks for listening!

This happen in our association several years ago....A very controversial matter was voted on by having owners return their vote on a signed ballot....The existing board did not like the outcome and got 9 owners to sign a statemant stating " THEY DID NOT FULLY UNDERSTAND WHAT THEY WERE SIGNING AND VOTING FOR"...the board got their way with the association attorney stating it was perfectly legal!!!!

they did this at my association too. 
My story is better though to pay attention. 
When my board was rejected twice they then decided to lie and pass the new bylaws anyway. 
 
First they were flatly trounced, then they lost, then they lied. 
 
It forced a count and made them show the votes.  
 
When they couldnt hide what they did, only then did they go to the county and correct what they had done. 
 
The lesson here is that if your board files the new bylaws with the county, they will get away with it unless you force them to show you the evidence. 
 
In georgia we only had a year to fix this. They could have easily gotten away with this had nobody said anything 
 
Worse than this is that many of you are covered by namby tamby rules/laws. You could easily find yourself in situtation where they can make it hard on you to get to the evidence. Fortunately, my association is from the 70's and we had none of this bend over backwards to please the board crap in our documents.

Your message is somewhat confusing and perhaps does not tell the whole story. IMO, the board cannot recess a meeting then hold another vote. A meeting may be recessed if there is not a quorum. The quorum is announced at the beginning of the meeting before any action or voting takes place. However, if there was a quorum and the vote failed the meeting is over.  
 
Check your bylaws with regard to recessing a meeting. Normally a meeting is recessed then reconvened to take up where it left off or it is recessed in order to gain a quorum. In this instance the vote was taken, so the meeting cannot be recessed then reconvened to take another vote. Also, if the meeting was adjourned it cannot also be recessed.  
 
IMO, there is nothing wrong with having another vote taken on the amendment issue, I just do not believe it can legally be done in the manner you describe. The board may revisit the matter by calling another meeting, including sending another notice, as required in the bylaws, gathering proxies and holding another vote. IMO, all the members must be informed of the new vote, not just the ones who voted "no" or did not vote.

This also happened with us - we voted on securing the services of a management company and got the necessary votes - however, those that weren't in favor claimed they thought it was just a vote to get information. Nobody on that board had the resolve to push the issue so we did not get a management company

To most who have posted comments:  
Most of the responses here are based on your personal feelings, beliefs, and opinions about what should be, not on what the law requires, which is that condos must to be run in accordance with state law and the governing documents of the Association mandate.  
 
to MLD: I am very well versed in Roberts Rules and have actually taught them. Based on what was stated in the original post, a vote was NOT RESCINDED - A NEW VOTE WAS LEGALLY TAKEN, regardless of how you feel about the matter. As for the role of Roberts Rules, they only come into play when the governing documents do not address an issue (and I would be surprised that they would not address amendments). And by the way, I would encourage you to actually READ Roberts Rules.  
 
While my comment is more critical than my writing usually is, I am being critical because I see the harm that is done when people don't know what condos are to do legally and then do what they think or feel should be done and demand that others follow suit. While the law is far from perfect it exists often to prevent past mistakes from happening again.

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Sounds like they are with legal boundaries, unless something in your particular bylaws indicates that this should not happen within you HOA. Unfortunately, instances like occur frequently. I would suggest finding a way to secure votes for the next meeting.

I'm asking if your Association is looking for a manager. I'm an independent manager that will work closely with your Association. 
 
Thank you for your time

As the post is written, I believe what the Board did is illegal. If they had enough votes and it failed, Then the matter is over with. They would have to start over to have a second vote, which it sounds like this is not what happened. They cannot "reuse" ANY votes or "add" votes from the first vote to change the count in their favor. All new votes need to be received. They can ask people to change their minds on a "new" vote, but reusing old votes is definitely a no-no. Any attorney would contest this. In, fact you could send a certified letter notifying the assoc.'s lawyer to contest this "modified" vote. Barring that, have another lawyer look at it. Lawyers tend to back off quickly when confronted by another of their kind on a shaky deal like this.

No one mentioned the fact that the Board went back to the people who vote no. In California and a number of other states, voting is done by "secret ballot". How was this done?

To Lynn: thank you for you response to my comment on rescinding or amending. It's good you are well versed in Roberts Rules and that you teach it, it's rare to find someone with that depth of knowledge who is willing to instruct others. Indeed, it is just a guideline for deliberative groups and not the law, people do make that mistake sometimes. I feel, though, you were a little harsh about the rescind/amend issue, got a little personal there about reading RRs. I hope I didn't sound like I was trying to one-up you or anybody on any of the points. In this one small point I have some successful experience with my HOA over the years, and was sharing it with the blog folks. Nevertheless, you may well be justified at getting angry that people get things wrong and don't understand and make bad decisions with condos and HOAs. Sounds like you have had some really bad experiences. Hope things get better where you are. and..thanks again for listening.

Lynn, 
 
 
 
You may be well versed in RRO, but I cannot understand how you can say "a new vote was legally taken".  
 
The OP stated the meeting was recessed -- not adjourned. There is a big difference. Perhaps the OP was mistaken however we only have her word on what happened to form our opinion. IMO, if a meeting is recessed, when called back to order the meeting continues where it left off. If a new vote was called for then all the members of the assn should have had the opportunity to vote, not just the ones who voted "no" or didn't vote. A vote cannot be suspended midway by recessing the meeting and trying to get more "yes" votes. In fact how would you know whether or not the vote failed unless the ballots where counted which is done after the voting is over. IMO, the second vote was not undertaken properly.