Law sets guidelines on election of board officers

Q: Your column on Feb. 6 was interesting because we are going to be electing officers this month.

Our management company sent out a letter giving everybody another 30 days to enter the election. If I understand what I read in your column, we could make a choice to do that or send out the ballots with the two people wishing to fill the two vacancies. Is that correct?

On an unrelated matter, the board wants to replace a filter for the sauna and the permit is 31 percent of the cost, which seems outrageous. The annual inspection costs $2,400. Also, we were informed if the homeowners association chooses to close the pool at this time and then reopen it, an additional $700 will be charged to reinspect the pool.

It is my understanding that on the last day of the legislative session, a bill was approved making association pools private, not public. If true, then can our association negotiate with Southern Nevada Health District about its inspection fees?

A: NRS 116.31034 subsection 5 addresses your first question. Associations do not have a choice. If the number of candidates are equal to or less than the number of seats available on the board, the association shall send one final 30-day notice to allow any other homeowner to place his or her name for consideration. If no other member submits his or her name, then the association does not have to send ballots to the owners. The candidates would be duly elected to serve their terms as directors.

In response to your second question, NRS 444.065 states that any location, if the structure is a privately owned pool used by members of a private club or invited guests of the members, would not be included in the definition of public swimming school. What this means is that these privately owned pools of a private club would not fall under the jurisdiction of the health departments in the state of Nevada.

This provision was not meant to include homeowner associations. Homeowner associations are not private clubs -- membership is not exclusive to specific set of requirements. Anyone can be a member of an association as long as that person owns a home within the association. I would recommend that all association boards maintain their pools and spas according to all of the SNHD regulations.

As to its fee structure, SNHD does not receive funds from the general tax fund of the state. All of its income comes from the industries, businesses and associations that are required to have some form of a health permit in order to operate.

Q: In all of our elections for board of directors, we were sent a form with the candidates stating why they wanted to serve on the board and goals for the association. There has never been a candidacy disclosure statement included. I have recently been told that this is in violation of NRS 116.31034. What are the consequences, are the elections valid or do we need to hold new elections?

A: Technically, your association and board could be assessed a fine for violating this process. As to whether, the elections are valid, if someone complained to the division, your association could be required to hold a new election. Interesting enough, there is no penalty to the homeowner who is a candidate who does not return a disclosure form. The candidate can be elected to the board.

The disclosure form asks the homeowner to disclose any conflict of interests and if he or she is a member in good standing, which means that the candidate does not owe the association any assessments or construction penalties. If the candidate fails to disclose this information, the association cannot do anything other than to state that the candidate did not send his or her disclosure statement.

If the candidate disclosure contains defamatory, libelous or profane information, the association is not required to distribute that disclosure statement.

Barbara Holland, CPM, and Supervisory CAM, is president of H&L Realty and Management Co. To ask her a question, e-mail support@hlrealty.com. To view a power point presentation of the new laws that were recently passed affecting HOAs, visit hlrealty.com, click on press release button on the left side, then click on article title, "The 2009 Legislation for common interest communities."