Election, Nov. 7 - Will Your Neighborhood Vote?

On November 7, 2023 the Voting Members (VM) of The Summit Community Association, Inc. are supposed to hold their Annual Meeting. Following that meeting, the Board of Directors (BOD) meets to seat newly-elected directors and elect officers.

One of the main purposes of that VM meeting is to vote for four directors, who will serve for the next two years.

Is your Neighborhood represented? (See the HOA's website. Look at RESIDENTS, then DOCUMENTS, then Voting Members.)

Autumn Glen does not have a Voting Member.

Indigo Springs does not have a Voting Member.

Pine Brook does not have a Voting Member.

Waverly Place does not have a Voting Member.

Barony Place has a Voting Member who is "recognized" by the board, but who is not a legitimate Voting Member because Barony Place has not had a Neighborhood Meeting in more than five years.

Which other neighborhoods will not be eligible to vote?

Many other neighborhoods have not held Neighborhood Meetings for years and, thus, do not have legitimate Voting Members.

The Voting Members in many of those neighborhoods are left over from the past. Many of the newer VMs got named by "getting signatures", which is not an authorized procedure for becoming a Voting Member.

Some of the Voting Members named in the Summit Scoop and listed on the HOA's website are great neighborhood representatives, even if they aren't legitimate. But they should not be allowed to attend the Annual Meeting of Voting Members or to vote for Directors. 

"Legitimate" means selected by each Neighborhood Committee, after that Committee's election at the Annual Neighborhood Meeting.

Only legitimate Voting Members (or legitimate Alternates) should be admitted to the Annual Meeting of Voting Members.

Who is the gatekeeper for the Annual Meeting of the Voting Members in November? The Secretary of the BOD. His first job at that meeting should be to certify attendance and right to vote.

Who else guards the gate? The President of the HOA, who formally conducts the meeting but does not otherwise participate in the meeting.

The HOA's office, managed by CAMS, should have written documentation from each of the 28 neighborhoods, including the date of that neighborhood's Annual Neighborhood Meeting, who attended, who was nominated for the Neighborhood Committee, who was elected to that three-member (homeowner) Neighborhood Committee, and who was selected by the Neighborhood Committee (of three) to be the Voting Member.

I would be surprised to learn that the HOA's office (CAMS) had that documentation from even one of the 28 Neighborhoods. Does the office have that documentation from at least 15 neighborhoods? That is what is needed. A quorum of 15 eligible, legitimate Voting Members must be present on November 7. Or there can't be a VM meeting and there shouldn't be an election of four directors.

The Annual Meeting of Voting Members will have to be adjourned for up to 30 days. Of course, the HOA's President, the Secretary, and the Chair of the Nominating Committee (this year, Vernell Butler) know these rules. Right? (By-Laws, Art. II, §7) 

If they follow the rules this year, there won't be an Annual Meeting of Voting Members on November 7. The BOD has had months to prepare for the elections. During those months they and the chair of the board's Neighborhood Committee should have been working with all the neighborhoods to be sure that bonafide elections could be held in November.

Isn't this exactly what CAMS and the attorney for the Association should be telling the Board?