Board seat left vacant for a year - Why?

Why has the Summit's HOA Board of Directors left a board seat vacant for a year?

Was it to cover up a mistake they made in the November 2021 election?

When you go to a board meeting, you'll see seven directors sitting there. Martin, President; Game, VP; Thomas, Secretary; Butler, Treasurer; and three directors, Bryant, Holmes, and Rybicki.

What you should see are those seven PLUS an empty chair for the seat originally filled by Paul Hill (until his death in April 2022) and then by Dennis Rybicki, who succeeded Paul in May 2022.

How did this happen?

Three directors were elected in November 2020. George Reynolds died in April 2021. His seat was never declared vacant or filled (for 18 months).

To make it appear that the board had seven living directors, the board allowed an improper election of five (5) directors (Martin, Game, Thomas, Hill, and Bryant) in November 2021.  One of the five (but which one?) was not a legitimate director!

No one else seemed concerned about non-compliance with the By-Laws, when ALL SEVEN should have been concerned!

Paul Hill was re-elected in November 2021, but he died in April 2022. Rybicki was appointed by the board to fill Paul's vacant seat in May 2022, but Justin told him he could serve just six months (not the full 18 months of Paul's unexpired term (according to the By-Laws). Rybicki ran for election and, in November 2022, was elected to a two-year term.

BUT Rybicki never resigned from Paul Hill's seat!

Hill's seat was silently vacated-by-resignation in November 2022. It was never declared vacant and has not been filled. 

Why doesn't Justin Martin, President of the HOA, comply with the By-Laws? Why doesn't the VP, Mary Ann Games, speak up? Why doesn't the Secretary, Gregory Thomas, speak up? Why doesn't the CAMS Property Manager speak up? Why don't the other directors speak up??? Why don't the Voting Members speak up?

The Board will try to fix this problem with the November 2023 election. If four directors are elected, they join the three who were elected in November 2022 (Butler, Rybicki, Holmes (who succeeded McCarthy*), to restore the board to its legal size of seven (not eight).

But another lingering problem exists. There aren't enough legitimate Voting Members to even hold an Annual Meeting of Voting Members, at which directors are elected!

Why won't the Board get legal advice on these problems?

* Vicki McCarthy was elected to the board in November 2022, edging out Auby Dellinger. But Vicki resigned from the board in February 2023. She has never explained why, but I can guess. 

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