Board candidate nomination form must comply with rules

Q: I have been on several boards over the past 10 years and have often referred to your columns for clarification.

The purpose of my letter is to get your opinion on a recent event that has happened in my community. One that I have never experienced in all the years I have served on boards.

Our community is declarant-controlled. There are two residents elected in alternating years; the other three are employees of the declarant (homebuilder).

The ballots were sent out with the biography for each candidate attached.

In my case, the biography I sent in was rewritten by the senior community manager. The rewrite eliminated more than half of the information I put into the biography. I could not believe my eyes when I saw the ballot package arrive in the mail.

My questions are:

a) Has she violated any state rules?

b) If so, could I demand a new election?

c) If I choose to not demand a new election, could I demand her dismissal from the homeowners association board? Would the ombudsman support that demand?

I appreciate your time and again thank you for valuable information you have been providing over the years.

A: Nevada Revised Statute 116.31034 pertains to the election process. Section 16 states that a candidate who has submitted a nomination form may provide to the association a candidate informational statement which must be no longer than a single, typed page and must not contain any defamatory, libelous or profane information. The informational statement may be included with the mailing of the secret ballot or be in a separate mailing.

If your informational statement complied with this state law, the community manager should not have rewritten the information. If the informational statement did not meet the state law requirements, the community manager should have informed you that you would have to rewrite and resubmit you informational statement. In any case, the community manager should have contacted you for your review of approval of the edited informational statement.

Has the community manager violated the NRS rules? The Ombudsman Office would need to make a decision based upon the facts and the intentions of the community manager. The community manager could obtain a warning or a sanction.

Barbara Holland is a certified property manager, broker and supervisory certified association manager. Questions may be sent to holland744o@gmail.com.