Condo Association Management Blog

Usually if you dont have enough candidates you dont have an election. But at the regular board meeting with the residents you solicit the residents in attendance to apply for the job on the spot. The board then makes a motion to accept the nomination and you are on the board. So if you withdrew your name before the ellection, you still have a second chance if they dont fill all the seats.

The Board member did not require anyone to do anything in the capacity of Board president. I see no reason that a Board member or any other person should be denied his or her first amendment rights to express his or her opinion, hopes and desires.If you did not have the backbone to stand up, that is your issue, not the Board president's. To me what is at issue here is that you caved in because you did not want to make waves. That you did that tells me that you are not someone who would make a good leader. Board members need to be leaders, not people who cave in and then complain that their feelings got hurt / insulted.

I'm not surprised that you feel insulted having offered your services. 
 
The President should be independent and acted unethically and in my view displayed a lack of leadership he should encourage elections not seek to avoid them leaving himself open to the criticisum od 'jobs for the boys' 
 
QUITE WRONG

You deserve what happenes in your Condo. Make sure you do different next year.

It's a free country--the President can ask people to withdraw..but it's not right. Legal, yes. Ethical--borderline. 
 

The person posting does not mention what the board president said. His specific statements to the person are important to me. The notion of "avoiding an election" doesn't make sense unless there were replacement members to be appointed. I wish posting like this were a bit more explanatory and specific. Is there a word limit on postings?

This is a typical bully situation. Being a new board member, this person was bullied to withdraw. Obviously the Board President wanted to retain the already existing members. This happens frequently and apathy in the community feeds on these situations occurring. In the future gather likely minded unit owners and expose this behavior at an open meeting. Exposure is the key. Good Luck !

I agree, the president's behavior was unethical. I can understand the poster's withdrawing, since he was a newcomer. 
 
Bill Bondar said, "So if you withdrew your name before the ellection, you still have a second chance if they don't fill all the seats." He still has a second chance, even if there are enough nominees for the seats. At the annual meeting when the election is presumably held (the poster didn't say that explicitly), he could still be nominated, or volunteer to run.  
 
I have to wonder, how the president decided which people to ask not to run. The rationale of avoiding an election doesn't make sense. If the president wanted to keep the present members, that is not good. It's desirable to bring in new people to get new ideas and give experience to new people.

What can be done about owners that never pay associate fees and keep filing bankrupcty to keep their unit from being sold in foreclosure? Miami, Fl

If you are new to condo life you have a steep learning curve about the running of an association. I am not sure what the president's motivations were but next time get explicit information about what you are being asked to do and why. Don't make a decision unless you are 100% satisfied about the explanation. Good for you for asking, however. You might try volunteering to help the board in order to get to know the board members. There are all sorts of chores they would love to get help with. This will give you a lot of critical knowledge about what makes a board run. Good luck.

Even at the BOT level, there's always politics going on. They(board) probably have someone in mind that they want on the board. Some people have gifts, ie lawyer, CPA, real estate etc. that they try to get on the board, some have no gifts and if they get elected they basically do nothing for the association... they just wanted to be elected. I would prefer pro-active people that try to help the common good of the community.

Perhaps the President just wanted to avoid the trouble of an election. He would still be wrong, but that would be an innocent mistake.

Really! I don't know if enough info was presented here for anyone to summarize whatever happened, whether it was "bullying" or whether it was the President's right.  
 
HOWEVER - nominations for our Board are coming up, and as President of our Condo, I have made it clear that unless a candidate is ready, willing and able to devote THREE YEARS to being on the Board, please do not seek to be a Board member. Perhaps volunteer on a committee. this is not bullying, it is putting the community's interests first. We have had big issues with people being "appointed" and when they don't get their way, they resign. Being able to work on a committee is important. So is understanding Bylaws, how meetings are run, etc. 
 
And the very worst and dumbest thing a Board can do is appoint new members simply because they show up for meetings.  
 
Volunteering for a three-year term as a Board member is a lot different than volunteering to help with a community bake sale.  
 
 
 
just my nickel's worth...