Can HOA board member resign, then come back to fill their own position?
Dear Dennis,
Can someone resign from a HOA board, and then several months later come back by the existing HOA board members choosing them as their own replacement, all while there is no annual meeting or HOA board election held? I have looked at my HOA’s bylaws and it says nothing about this.
My HOA board has become musical chairs. Someone on the HOA board will leave for several months, usually there is no replacement, then they will come back to the HOA board. The HOA board is a revolving door for these people, they leave whenever they want and come back whenever they want. There’s hasnt been a annual meeting or HOA board election in years. Is this all legal?
Second, if someone leaves a HOA board and is not replaced, is that legal? If there’s supposed to be 7 people on a HOA board – and there’s 4 open positions – does the HOA board have any kind of legal responsibility to fill the open positions, or can they have the open positions unfilled forever?
I have looked at my HOA’s bylaws but the authors I dont think ever considered this would happen, there’s nothing for these kind of scenerios.
Thanks
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Sunny
Board members are free to resign at any time in their term, but their resignation is permanent for the remaining portion of their original term. They are free to run again after that original term expires and be elected back to the board, but they cannot be re-appointed during the time of their resigned term. Meetings of the members to elect board members is required by law to be held annual. The law does not say “called” it says “held”. If the association does not hold a meeting of the members annually, they violate the law.
The association is free to appoint board members to fill vacancies in their membership as long as a quorum of the board is still available. With your current situation of 4 vacancies in a 7-member board they no longer have a quorum and cannot take any action or hold any meeting of the board. Your association is totally leaderless and in total disfunction. You now need a special meeting of the members to fill the existing vacancies in the board for the remainder of the terms for the respective vacancies.
Dennis
Dennis, is there an AZ State Law that you can site for this?
Maria,
There is no specific statute that covers this situation, but a board member is elected for a term of office. They are all free to stay in office either for the full term or they can resign at any time. If they resign, they resign and cannot be re-appointed by the board to fill the vacancy that they created. The community members deserve a board willing to work on their behalf to run the association. If a board member cannot satisfy that service expectation, they are free to resign, and a quorum of the board is free to fill that vacancy. Any board member who cannot decide if they want to serve or not is of questionable value to the community. I fully understand that many board members are subjected to untold harassment by either other board members or community members. Still, I tell all well-meaning board members to hang in there because their community needs them to be strong. Many board members report to me that other board members threaten to remove them from office if they do not bend to the majority’s will. Board members can only be removed from office by either personal resignation or a recall vote from the members. State law does dictate that if a board member is removed by a recall, they cannot be reappointed to the board for the remainder of their term. Logically, the same general expectation would also apply to a resignation.
Dennis