April 21 Update
March 17 Update
March 1 Update
Hi
Neighbor,
At
the February 27, 2012 Board Meeting I was voted off the Board.
Can
you believe the gall of these people! There is nothing in
our bylaws, the CC&Rs, or the Arizona Revised Statutes that
allows directors to remove a fellow director. I don't know what I
can write here that will make you understand what went on at that
meeting. But, fortunately, I don't have to: I have a recording of
the meeting. If you were at the 2011 Annual Meeting, you know I
gave the Directors and Members a letter which began, “If you
have a device you can use to record this meeting, please turn it
on. It can't hurt and it may help.” So, of course, I recorded
the board meeting, and I am very glad I did.
Because I believe our elections are a sham and we are not legitimate directors, and our directors insurance is void, I intend to abstain from voting, or vote “no”, on most motions. I'm not doing it to be obstructionist or contrary. I'm doing it to make the point that we must have proper elections, or at least we must inform the membership that there is a problem, and ask the membership to call for a special meeting, as per our Bylaws. There is a world of difference between members who volunteer to serve on the Board and are not trying to deceive anyone, and members who go to extraordinary lengths to deceive the membership and control the Board.
I'm
on the Board to do what I think is best for the Association; to
represent the members who voted for me; and to offer suggestions
and present motions I believe beneficial. Obviously, my
abstentions won't stop the passage of anything the other directors
want to pass and, just as obviously, I have the right to vote “no”
if I deem it proper. But when I tried to explain this to them,
they went ballistic. They have absolutely no right to tell me how
to vote. But that sure doesn't make any difference to them.
So,
if you would like a copy of the recording of the open portion of
the 2/27/2012 board meeting, I will gladly give you an audio CD or
email you a file attachment. On the recording, you can hear the
other directors tell me how I'm doing all
sorts of inappropriate things; you can hear me tell Jon
Zimmerman, James French, and Jamie Layton that I very much want to
work with them and would like to talk with them after the meeting;
you can hear Jon Zimmerman tell me I'm a troublemaker; you can
hear Susan Jennings declare that I'm not allowed to have this blog
and not allowed to post these “newsletters”; and you can hear
my next door neighbor James French put forth a motion to remove me
from the board. It passed unanimously with Jon Zimmerman, Judith
Kyrala, Susan Jennings, James French, and Jamie Layton voting. (I removed an incorrect statment from this space on 3/1) I wish I could
post the recording here but there is no way to do so.
Note:
Even though I've stopped writing “so called directors” or
putting directors in quotes, I am still convinced that we are not
legitimate directors.
What
follows is the text of an email I sent Jim Joyce after the
meeting.
…...............................................................................................
February
27, 2012
Dear
Mr Joyce,
I
will be writing a follow-up letter that I will post at my web
page; however, in the mean time, I assume that you will continue
to treat me the same as the other directors, and that you will
provide to me all notices and documents that you provide to them.
Below are the procedure for the removal of directors, and an
excerpt of the statute regulating the recoding of meetings.
Clearly, I am still as much a director as any other director.
BYLAWS
Article
IV
Directors
Removal
Section
5:
The
entire Board of Directors or any individual director may be
removed from office by a vote of shareholders holding a majority
of the outstanding shares entitled to vote at an election of
directors. However, unless the entire board is removed, an
individual director shall not be removed if the number of votes
voted against the resolution of his removal exceeds the quotient
arrived at when the total number of outstanding shares entitled to
vote is divided by one plus the authorized number of directors. If
any or all directors are so removed, new directors may be elected
at the same meeting of shareholders.
ARS
33-1804
Open meetings; exceptions.
“Persons
attending may tape record or videotape those portions of the
meetings of the board of directors and meetings of the members
that are open. The board of directors of the association may adopt
reasonable rules governing the taping of open portions of the
meetings of the board and the membership, but such rules shall not
preclude such tape recording or videotaping by those attending.”
Note:
Directors are not limited in any way concerning the recording of
meetings, and there is no requirement for anyone to announce that
a meeting is being recorded. Frankly, I think all meetings should
be recorded and copies be provided to directors upon request.
March 1 Update
Hi Neighbor,
I've decided not to give out copies of the
recording. Instead I will keep the recording private and use it only
as evidence when needed. I have, however, found a way to post small
segments of the recording so I'm posting the Motion to Remove,
beginning with James French offering the motion, and ending with the
declaration that the motion had passed and I was removed from the
Board. I'm posting it to prove that they did, in fact, move to remove
me from the Board even though they had no right to do so. Also, it
was not 45 minutes of the same thing as Mr. French claims. It was 26 minutes since Mr. Reich, the association attorney, left
the meeting and in that twenty-six minutes several items had been
addressed and disposed of.
Also, I think “ballistic” may have been too strong a word to describe the reaction of the directors to my telling them that I would abstain or vote no. However, I did feel somewhat badgered and stand by my description of what you can hear on the recording, though you can judge that for yourself. That portion of the meeting is posted below as 1 thru 9, and is followed by the Motion to Remove. The beginnings and endings are kind of herky-jerky but it's the best I could do with the tools I have.
1
2
3
4
5
Also, I think “ballistic” may have been too strong a word to describe the reaction of the directors to my telling them that I would abstain or vote no. However, I did feel somewhat badgered and stand by my description of what you can hear on the recording, though you can judge that for yourself. That portion of the meeting is posted below as 1 thru 9, and is followed by the Motion to Remove. The beginnings and endings are kind of herky-jerky but it's the best I could do with the tools I have.
1
2
7
8
9
Motion to Remove Part 1
Motion to Remove Part 2
Here are the full sized pictures I used for the video.
NOTE: March 2 update: The Fire Lane sign, which had been in the alley for about 4 years (see 2011 Annual Meeting Results) was removed this morning. At the February 27 board meeting I gave Jim Joyce a copy of an email from Fire Marshal Kristin Smith suggesting that it be removed, and forwarded that emial to Mr. Joyce on February 28.
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
March 16 Update:
After I was voted off the Board, the
other directors and Mr. Joyce put away the tables and chairs and left
the library, intending to reconvene the meeting at another location.
I wasn't told the location, but I assume it was at the Coldwell
Banker Narico office near Harkins Theater. It is hard to imagine
anything more disruptive to a meeting than to move the meeting,
during the meeting, to an undisclosed location, as they chose to do.
On Tuesday, March 13, I received the
February financial statement and, in a separate envelope, seventeen
pages of information about removing disruptive directors. There was
no cover letter explaining why I had been sent the information, and
most of the pages were in small print, so I gave it no more than a
cursory look; however, because it is the least contentious
explanation, I will assume that Mr. Joyce was just letting me know
that I am still a director and that nothing I said or did at the
February 27 board meeting could be construed as disruptive. One
obvious benefit of the mailing is that I now have additional
information about HOA advocates to whom I can appeal for help and
advise, if the need should arise. I have no doubt that most HOAs have
much more trouble with boards that overstep their authority, than
with disruptive directors.
For the sake of comity, I will now
consider the matter closed.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
A final word on recording the meetings:
My note-taking skills are poor and my
memory is less than perfect, so I find it very helpful to record the
meetings and will consider it understood that I am recording any
meeting I attend. Also, I think it would be beneficial to have the
property manager arrange for an audio/video recording of every HOA
meeting, with copies of the recordings made available upon request to
directors and members. (For members, a copy from which the closed
portion of any meeting has been edited out.)
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
In the future, if asked about these
matters during a board meeting, my response will be: I have no
comment other than what I have already posted on my web page.
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
April 21 Update
A walk thru inspection with the landscaper is scheduled for April 26, 2012 at 11:00am, meeting at the King Street/North Eva Loop intersection.
A Board of
Directors meeting is scheduled for Wednesday, May 2nd at 6:00pm
at the 4th Street Library.
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
And here’s a bit of irony. The following is from the Minutes of the May 2nd Board meeting.
7.
The Board Elected James French to be President, Judith Kyrala to be Vice President/Treasurer,
and Bill Lee to be Secretary.
