11-23-2014, 02:09 PM
Yesterday's meeting (at least the first hour of it - I left in disgust at that point) was a circus. It appears that a faction of members convinced several Board members (or vice versa) that proxy voting should be allowed at meetings -- something that has never been allowed in the past. Numerous members showed up with pre-printed proxy authorization forms, which were accepted by registration volunteers at the direction of the Treasurer. The general membership was never informed that the "no proxy vote" history of the organization had been changed. None of the proxy authorization forms were notarized, and to the best of my knowledge there was no verification a) that the person holing the form was the name on the form, b) that the person who supposedly authorized the proxy form had actually signed the form, or c) that the 'witness" signatory even existed in actuality. All that was verified was that both of the community member names on the forms were members in good standing. When I asked one Board member if there was any verification that members has,m in fact, authorized a proxy vote, she replied "Do you want us to delay the meeting while we call everyone?"
When several members questioned this unprecedented practice, the President decided to take a voice of the membership without allowing any discussion of the pros and cons. When several members insisted that discussion was necessary under Robert's Rules, the president relented and allowed several members to speak, but did not intervene to maintain order when other Board members or community members heckled those with the microphone.
Although the Bylaws grant one vote per lot owned, the President then took a vote by asking members to stand up in turn to indicate whether they were for or against his motion (so that each member only got one vote). He then declared that the disputed ballots would be accepted and continued with the order of business, at which point I left in disgust. He may have conducted a more legitimate vote on the proxy issue after I left, however.
In any event, after that, two Board members who had been elected by the entire community were ousted with the use of the proxy votes. I believe that leaves us with only one Board member who was elected by the entire community; the remaining members (6, I believe, but hard to say because there's no list of Board members on the website) were voted in by the Board and a smattering of members who had attended recent Board meetings.
Unfortunately, unless the meeting's votes are nullified asap, I suspect there will be more lawsuits in our future.
When several members questioned this unprecedented practice, the President decided to take a voice of the membership without allowing any discussion of the pros and cons. When several members insisted that discussion was necessary under Robert's Rules, the president relented and allowed several members to speak, but did not intervene to maintain order when other Board members or community members heckled those with the microphone.
Although the Bylaws grant one vote per lot owned, the President then took a vote by asking members to stand up in turn to indicate whether they were for or against his motion (so that each member only got one vote). He then declared that the disputed ballots would be accepted and continued with the order of business, at which point I left in disgust. He may have conducted a more legitimate vote on the proxy issue after I left, however.
In any event, after that, two Board members who had been elected by the entire community were ousted with the use of the proxy votes. I believe that leaves us with only one Board member who was elected by the entire community; the remaining members (6, I believe, but hard to say because there's no list of Board members on the website) were voted in by the Board and a smattering of members who had attended recent Board meetings.
Unfortunately, unless the meeting's votes are nullified asap, I suspect there will be more lawsuits in our future.