Over the last month or so I have received emails, letters and complaints in regards to the behavior of a past president of our Conquistador Board of Directors. Apparently this person has taken it upon himself to be the resident cop, animal control officer, landscape commissioner and numerous other things.
This wouldn't be an issue in and of itself, but when this person wastes our property manager and Board's time resulting in accusations and remedial action, our Board begins to walk a slippery slope. Any decision or letter sent to an attorney or an individual homeowner without a Board vote is illegal. Any time that any issue is presented to our association attorney a Board vote should be taken, and not only a vote taken by those who may agree. Any time that an opinion or letter is requested or sent to our attorney it costs all of us money.
As Mr. Geronimo eluded to earlier, a lot of our by-laws need to be reviewed and cleaned up. One of my biggest issues is in regards to individuals planting along their walkways. Most of these walkways that I have seen have been tastefully done.
It has been a few years since we ripped out shrubs along the property and in some instances they were never replaced. I personally applaud these individuals that have taken it upon themselves. They may not be plants that I would prefer as an individual, but they have shown some pride of ownership in their area and that is commendable. Maybe as part of our by-law review and landscape plan we can give some latitude to homeowners related to personal planting. It can be done in a similar fashion as we currently do with limited common area improvements. Bring your recommendations forward to a vote. As a community, we need to lose the term "NO YOU CAN'T!"
Getting back to this past president's behavior, Once an individual leaves our Board then he has the same rights and responsibilities as all of us, no more, no less. If this person has an issue with this statement then my advice would be to run for a board position and "WIN".
With regards to our Community,
Keith Goldstein
Editor