By-laws reform committee’s first task

A good starting point for our president Joe DeSantis’ new By-laws and Architectural Rules Reform Committee is to amend our By-laws to allow only member homeowners to be president or treasurer of the Association, and that the president may only vote in meetings to break a tie. Many of you already know our current Board president Joe is not a member homeowner. What’s he got on the line to lose? I don’t know about you, but I’m not comfortable with that…it’s like an important check-and-balance is missing.

Many of you who attended the 9/4/08 and 9/23/08 meetings heard Board members say the Board did nothing for 3 months. Yet President Joe stated that during those 3 months he authorized the payment of more than $5,000 with no notice, meeting or vote. He certainly appears to feel free to secretly spend our money (and into the red!) defending, among other things, his policies as president at our expense. Then, after appearing to surprise Treasurer Kathy Marek at the 9/23/08 meeting with the new-to-her information our Association is also paying Comanco’s legal fees (?!!?!?!?), she blithely goes on to state that there will be a special assessment. But President Joe can’t be assessed; he’s not a member. Riiiiiiiight.

Reading the lawsuit’s allegations about the Board president’s abuse of power, one is amazed at the authority automatically assumed by that office to bulldoze almost anything over one or more other directors and member homeowners under color of law. Especially (as the lawsuit alleges) when the Board president has been on the Board for 8 straight years, “educating” novice Board members who don’t know the ropes and are thus easily led astray or cowed into silent acquiescence. That’s quite an opportunity for mischief! In fact, the lawsuit alleges only those directors who cooperate with President Joe or Manager Ruth get to serve out their elected terms; the rest get the boot one way or another. (see Elections 101)

Our By-laws mandate a majority of the Board must be member homeowners, but not its officers. Many associations require their presidents to be members only. Many others mandate their presidents may not vote in meetings at all except to break a tie. This helps establish an impartiality in the Board’s presiding officer and encourages the president’s role as sergeant-at-arms to properly moderate meetings according to the rules. This helps ensure the Association’s business gets done openly and legally.

Personally, I see no good reason to exclude renters from our Board or committees; they’re expected to abide by our community standards and should be allowed to participate in our Association’s governance. But the position of president and treasurer are important enough that only someone with a financial stake in the community should hold these two positions.

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PROPOSED AMENDMENT to By Laws Article VI Section 1

Existing text: “The principal officers of the Council of Unit Owners and/or the Corporation shall be a President, a Vice President, a Secretary and a Treasurer, all of whom shall be elected by the Board of Directors. The officers of the Corporation need not be members of the Corporation. The Directors may appoint an assistant secreatry and an assistant treasurer and such other officers as in their judgment may be necessary. The offices of Secretary and Treasurer may be filled by the same person.”

Proposed text 1: “The officers of the Corporation need not be members of the Corporation, except the President and Treasurer shall be members of the Corporation.”

Proposed text 2: “The offices of Secretary and Treasurer may be filled by the same person, so long as that person is a member of the Corporation.“