Should Voting Membes Oversee the Board?

When the HOA's Board of Directors takes action detrimental to the Association (or fails to take action that benefits the Association), should the Voting Members step up and say so?

This is one more reason that it is critical that there be legitimate Voting Members and not just a bunch of Rubber Stamps.

For too long there haven't been legitimate Voting Members. Since May 4th the HOA has had one (1), and only one. Barony Place elected a Voting Member in compliance with the By-Laws.

Four other Neighborhoods (19.6% of the homeowners) don't have Voting Members and haven't had for many months. Those four are Autumn Glen,  Indigo Springs, Pineclave, and Waverly Place. A responsible BOD would have fixed that. 

Many other Neighborhoods have "Voting Members" who are recognized by the BOD but who are not duly-elected, legitimate Voting Members. Those are the "Voting Members" who "got signatures", or are hangers-on, or who inherited the office.

Homeowners should care whether they are represented by legitimate representatives.

In November 2024 the Board of Directors dodged its very important responsibility to create an honest budget. In past years the Annual Assessment ($510/year) has not been raised. Perhaps past Presidents and Treasurers wanted to "look good". They didn't want to be "the one" who increased dues.

My guess is that most board members do not understand finances. They don't understand Balance Sheets and Monthly Financial Statements. 

Past Treasurers rejected my suggestion to add an essential column to the Statements - a Percent-of-Change column. This column would reveal "red flags". Not all larger-than-expected changes mean something is wrong. Often, there is a satisfactory  explanation for a large variance.

In order to balance the 2025 Budget, the Finance Committee apparently deleted the $100,000 for Bad Debt Expense (Line 5020) that was in the 2024 Budget. That was a -100% Change but, without a Percent-of-Change column, few will spot this important omission. 

No one thinks that all homeowners will pay all of their billed Assessments in the coming year.

When the Board makes bad decisions, the Voting Members should call a Special Meeting and determine whether to remove any Directors who are harming the HOA. The problem is that there are not enough legitimate Voting Members to make a quorum! (This doesn't stop them from meeting to elect directors, but it should.)

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