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How to approach a possible overreach of power?


BabbsJohnson

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A President and property manager are good friends, and I feel their relationship creates a power overreach issue in the following:

The manager has made unilateral decisions that should have been brought to the board for deliberation.

I believe there has been discussion between the manager and the president in between meetings, where they, acting together, made unilateral decisions on items that have always been the jurisdiction of the board. 

I am wondering if there is anything in RONR that addresses this kind of issue.

There is nothing in our by-laws that grants the property manager nor the president powers to make such decisions, either as individuals, or together, as a kind of "board of two".

We have not, as a board, bestowed such powers on either individual, nor I doubt we could if we wanted to, unless we changed the By-Laws, or say, granted powers through appointing a committee and defined that in a charter or something (?)

I predict that the President will reacxt badly to this being brought up in a meeting, and I doubt the manager will have a favorable response. I also do not think the other members are aware that this indeed may be an overreach of power, and I'd like to make them see that this is fact, in a clear and concise way.

I welcome any auggestions.

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6 hours ago, jstackpo said:

Easy answer:  fire him/her and get a new manager.

I admit this is the most simple solution. However, newbie-in-ohio may not be a member of the board. If I remember correctly she is in an HOA and the board may or may not be the highest authority in this organization and as such she may not be able to do anything herself but may need to persuade a real board member to take her position. This is the reason for my question.

 

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If the assembly is of higher authority than the board (in many cases they are) then during an assembly meeting you can move a motion to request an explanation from the president concerning issue such-and-such. When the answer comes back you can then keep your peace is the explanation seems satisfactory or move some kind of corrective action if it is not satisfactory.

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29 minutes ago, Guest Zev said:

If the assembly is of higher authority than the board (in many cases they are) then during an assembly meeting you can move a motion to request an explanation from the president concerning issue such-and-such. When the answer comes back you can then keep your peace is the explanation seems satisfactory or move some kind of corrective action if it is not satisfactory.

By assembly, I meant Board.

(deliberative assembly is how I often refer to it, sorry for the confusion)

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Guest Who's Coming to Dinner

If I were you, I'd meet with the other board members privately to bring them up to speed and see if they share your concern, or persuade them to share it. You won't get anywhere in a meeting without a majority on your side. As for what to do, it could be anything from a motion to undo the President's actions to a motion to censure the President or to discipline him in some way or to remove him from office, if the board has that power. If the President runs roughshod over you, you could move to suspend the rules and elect a different chairman for the duration of the meeting. Of course, this will lead to flaring tempers so keep your wits, your friends, and the bylaws about you.

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13 hours ago, Guest Who's Coming to Dinner said:

If I were you, I'd meet with the other board members privately to bring them up to speed and see if they share your concern, or persuade them to share it.

Based on another recent thread by the OP, it appears the board may be subject to some “open meeting” or “sunshine” laws, so the OP should be certain to exercise caution and review those laws before meeting privately with other board members to discuss removing an officer.

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14 minutes ago, Josh Martin said:

Based on another recent thread by the OP, it appears the board may be subject to some “open meeting” or “sunshine” laws, so the OP should be certain to exercise caution and review those laws before meeting privately with other board members to discuss removing an officer.

I would definitely not meet with what would be considered a quorum ...perhaps as individuals only 

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15 minutes ago, .oOllXllOo. said:

...perhaps as individuals only 

In some cases, even that won't be enough. If memory serves, in Florida, even two people on a board discussing the business of that board is considered a "meeting" and minutes must be made available. Other states are likely to be similar.

In fact, if you go by the law in Florida as written, I shouldn't have been allowed to have a whiteboard in my office as an employee of a county school board, since anything we wrote was considered "public documents" and must be made available to the public on request.

Edited by Benjamin Geiger
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