Homeowner wants to oust HOA board of directors

Q: I am circulating a petition asking for an election to remove all seven members of our homeowners association executive board.

If the removal petitions are successful and a removal election is held, do the unit owners have the opportunity of voting separately on each of the seven directors named in the petition and on the ballot? Or must the ballot require an all-or-none vote in which the voters cannot pick and choose which of the directors they may want to remove, since all seven are named on the petition?

In a removal election, is the association required to notify the removal proponents beyond what statute seems to require, which is to schedule the election and send out the ballot with a prepaid return envelope?

Our statute stipulates that an association or its agents cannot interfere in any way with the collection of petition signatures, but is there anything to prevent those subject to removal and their supporters from campaigning aggressively against removal after an election?

What happens if all seven of our directors were to be successfully removed and we are left with no directors at all? I can't find anything in NRS 116 that covers this. Would the Division of Real Estate become involved? Would we go into receivership? How should the transition from the previous board to a new board with new directors be handled?

A: The procedure per state law is that homeowners can vote on each director independently of those listed on the ballot. It would be a decision of the homeowners of who would remain and who would be recalled.

The association is to play a neutral role. Similar to the election process, in your newsletter, you should have a paragraph that would state that the homeowners can vote on the recall and how many days they have in which to return the ballot. The newsletter should print the list of directors and the ballot. If individual board members want to send flyers or e-mails to the membership, they can, but they are not to use the resources of the association.

There is nothing in the rule book that would prevent members from taking sides. Members either for or against can support their position publicly. The law does not allow the board members to even touch the ballots of the other owners prior or after the ballots have reached the management office. There is no proxy voting and the votes are counted at an open meeting which would be stated in the newsletter with the ballots.

NRS 116 does not really address that issue. The members would have 30 days in which to place their names in nomination and another 15 days for the election ballots to be returned. I would surmise that the members who want the recall already have replacement directors that they would like to place on the board. One interesting point, the state law does not prevent a recall director from placing his name on the election ballot. Technically, you could have a vacated board for about two months. If one director or more are not recalled, they can appoint members to serve on the board in the interim according to most association covenants.

You can check your covenants to see if the members at the recall meeting could elect a temporary board of directors. If you have a management company, much of the daily operations could continue until a new board is elected. The only issue is that of check writing and I think the management could contact the division to make sure that the basic recurring bills are paid such as utilities, insurance, taxes, contracts for landscaping and pools. The management company would not approve anything extra ordinary unless there was an emergency, which is covered in their management contract with the association.

Editor's note: Congratulations are in order for Barbara Holland. She was selected by Valley Outreach Synagogue to receive the prestigious Morat Derekh Award at the biennial Jewish Reconstructionist Federation Convention, Nov. 11-14 in Newport Beach, Calif.

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.