Docile board is shirking its duty

Question: We’re in a Southern California rural area where there can be many acres between homes in our association. Among our problems is that the board will not give us copies of the minutes.

We go to all the board meetings, but we don’t feel like we get much out of them. The management company’s representative keeps interrupting the board members, telling them what they can and can’t do during the meetings.

When owners want to say something during a meeting, the manager says, “This is a board meeting, not an owner meeting,” or she flat-out tells us to be quiet. If we don’t do what she tells us, she orders the board to stop the meeting and adjourn. Then the board just gets up and leaves.

At one meeting we asked for the last meeting’s minutes. The manager instructed us to go to her office to look at them and she said it would cost $45 an hour, plus $5 a page for a copy.

We never receive minutes before the next meeting. To get to the management office to look at the minutes, some of us would have to drive 10 to 20 miles.

We are hardworking farmers, and there are days when we don’t make $45. I have never heard of a piece of paper costing $5. Is there anybody that can help us out with this madness?

Answer: Charging $45 an hour and $5 for a 10-cent copy, after you’ve driven 20 miles, is unreasonable. Civil Code section 1363.059(d) requires the association to distribute the minutes to those who request them “upon reimbursement of the association’s costs for making that distribution.” This should mean not more than the cost of postage and maybe as much as 10 cents per page for copies and nothing more.

It is the board’s fiduciary duty to communicate to this management company vendor that her actions are unacceptable and will no longer be tolerated. The board’s failure to warn the vendor could constitute a breach of its loyalty to the association.

Under Civil Code section 13.83.05(i), the board of directors must permit any member to speak at any association or board of directors meeting. At the board’s discretion, a time limit may or may not be imposed.

Responsible boards are receptive to discussion and suggestions by titleholders and do not leave a board meeting in the manner described. Any board member unwilling to meet his or her fiduciary duty to the titleholders always has the option of resigning.

Forcing owners to drive 20 miles to look at minutes is an abuse of the board’s duty to all titleholders. Excessive charges are in violation of the board’s fiduciary duty to its owners.

Give the board one more chance to correct this situation by requesting that it be changed. If before the next meeting your request is ignored or if the board refuses to change or fails to remedy the way members can receive minutes, proceed to recover any excessive charges you incur in Small Claims Court. Also write to the state attorney general at P.O. Box 944255, Sacramento, CA 94244-2550, seeking intervention in obtaining association documents.

Write the board requesting a copy of the name and address list for all members of your association. Before the next election, circulate a solicitation for proxies, informing members that you wish to run for the board, should you wish to do so. Make sure to relay your personal experiences with the vendors and board members. Warn owners that not participating in the association’s operations opens the door for bigger and more complicated problems. Ask owners who share similar views to join in electing a new board.

Once elected, the new board will be able to fire the current management vendor and change the way the association does business and treats its members. If you do not receive a copy of the member name and address list or if you are dissatisfied with the attorney general’s response, you might also request assistance from the governor’s office, Arnold Schwarzenegger, State Capitol Building, Sacramento, CA 95814.

Please send questions to: P.O. Box 11843 Marina del Rey, CA 90295 or e-mail your queries to NoExit@mindspring.com.