A power struggle in Carson -- latimes.com: "Southern California churns with homeowner association disputes, but the one that has consumed a sprawling complex of town homes in Carson is in a whole different stratosphere -- disputed elections, a city official threatened with arrest and armed guards stationed at the association headquarters. Even the Boys and Girls Club got caught in the middle."
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Thanks to Fred Pilot for this link to another example of HOA dysfunction.
2 comments:
My HOA had it's annual election earlier this month.
Less than 10 homeowners -- meaning half were board members -- plus at least one of the property managers -- at nearly $100/hour -- showed up.
The required quorum of twenty was reached by proxy -- or so we were told. Without any oversight, who really knows?
Perhaps more people would have showed up if the meeting didn't start at 5:00 pm on a work day, the day after a snow storm.
Although notice of the election was sent out (a little less than) 3 weeks prior, no mention was made as to which seats were up for re-election. This happens every year.
If they were trying to create as low a turnout as possible, I'm not sure what they would do differently.
It is time that HOA elections be conducted by an independent 3rd party -- perhaps the city, county, or state, since they all have election divisions. Of course, that would mean paying somebody other than the property management company to "manage" HOA elections.
And ballots should be mail in (to the independent 3rd party). SInce HOAs already accept mail-in proxies, there should be no objection.
But that would mean that (1) more people might actually participate in HOA elections, and (2) the HOA board, property managers, and lawyers would not be overseeing the elections and counting the ballots. Therefore, it will never happen.
Re the behavior of the armed security guards (eg, "According to an affidavit, a security guard approached her and said 'he was instructed to tell me to leave the premises or be escorted off per order of President Cyd Balque . . . that I was a city official and they were not welcome on private property.'"):
How long before HOAs decide that their private police forces have police powers within the HOA community -- such as searching your home or detaining you -- without having police responsibilities?
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