Request for Judicial Notice: Laws & Regulations Exhibit 2 Limits on HOA Board’s authority to impose sanctions

Nevada laws

NRS 116.1104         Provisions of chapter may not be varied by agreement, waived or evaded; exceptions.

NRS 116.1108         Supplemental general principles of law applicable.

NRS 116.1112         Unconscionable agreement or term of contract.

NRS 116.1113            Obligation of good faith

NRS 116.3102         Powers of unit-owners’ association; limitations.sociation; limitations.

NRS 116.3103         Power of executive board to act on behalf of association; members and officers are fiduciaries; duty of care; application of business-judgment rule and conflict of interest rules; limitations on power.

NRS 116.31031   Power of executive board to impose fines and other sanctions for violations of governing documents; limitations; procedural requirements; continuing violations; collection of past due fines; statement of balance owed.

NRS 116.3106         Bylaws.

      1.  The bylaws of the association must:

      (d) Specify the powers the executive board or the officers of the association may delegate to other persons or to a community manager;

NRS 116.3106(1)(d)

NRS 116.31065          Rules

NRS 116.3108         Meetings of units’ owners of association; opening and counting of ballots for election of members of executive board required; frequency of meetings; calling special meetings; requirements concerning notice and agendas; requirements concerning minutes of meetings; right of units’ owners to make audio recordings of meetings.

NRS 116.31083       Meetings of executive board; frequency of meetings; notice of meetings; periodic review of certain financial and legal matters at meetings; requirements concerning minutes of meetings; right of units’ owners to make audio recordings of certain meetings.

NRS 116.31084       Voting by member of executive board; disclosures; abstention from voting on certain matters.

NRS 116.31085       Right of units’ owners to speak at certain meetings; limitations on right; limitations on power of executive board to meet in executive session; procedure governing hearings on alleged violations; requirements concerning minutes of certain meetings.

NRS 116.31087       Right of units’ owners to have certain complaints placed on agenda of meeting of executive board.

Sun City Anthem Governing Documents

SCA third amended & restated CC&Rs 2008

SCA Third Amended and Restated Bylaws, 2008

Sun City Anthem CC&Rs 7.4 Compliance & Enforcement

Sun City Anthem bylaws 3.15 Open HOA Board meetings

Sun City Anthem bylaws 3.15A Executive session HOA Board meeting

Sun City Anthem bylaws 3.17        Powers of the HOA Board

Sun City Anthem bylaws 3.18. Duties of the HOA Board

Sun City Anthem bylaws 3.20. Management; Defines what HOA Board duties SHALL not be delegated

 Sun City Anthem bylaws 3.25. Board standards. Directors are fiduciaries

Sun City Anthem bylaws 3.21 (f)(v) Delinquency reports must be published quarterly

Sun City Anthem bylaws 3.21      Accounts and reports: delinquency report

(v) a delinquency report listing all Owners who are delinquent in paying any assessments at the time of the report and describing the status of any action to collect such assessments which remain delinquent ( any assessment or installment thereof shall be considered to be delinquent on the 15th day following the due date unless otherwise specified by Board resolution).

SCa bylaws 3.21 (f)(v)

Sun City Anthem bylaws 3.26. Enforcement procedures

October 26 SCA Board meeting wrap-up

Here are a few highlights from the October 26 SCA Board meeting that will give you a perspective that the Board tries to suppress.

GM Compensation is a really big concern
Rex made the almost off-hand comment during the President’s report that the BOD discussed “GM performance” in executive session, but gave no further details. My next post will be about GM compensation since my trying to get the board to handle GM compensation correctly is one of the main reasons they kicked me off the Board.  The issue of GM compensation is really important because seeing how the Board mis-handled it will show you that the real threat to SCA owners is the GM and the attorney duping the Board into handing over our wallets – not that my service on the Board was going to change the outcome of quiet title litigation.

Foundation Assisting Seniors
Rex noted the Foundation Assisting Seniors was being ordered evicted as the court agreed that no SCA Board in the past would have had the authority to transfer that space to FAS in perpetuity. (I thought it had been transferred to FAS by Del Webb before the entire property was taken over by the Association, but I could be wrong.) Rex said that Sandy would make a recommendation about the use of the space.

Restaurant Consultant RFP is Out
Sandy will be hiring a consultant according to some unknown RFP for some unknown amount of unbudgeted money to give us the answer to the question “Just what’s it gonna take to have a successful restaurant”. You already know how I feel about her spending unbudgeted funds to pay a consultant to answer the wrong question after she’s left a major amenity out of service the entire time she’s been on the job.

Opinions about the recall proponents destroying our property values
Rex broke his silence about the recall in the paternalistic tone I find so grating, reprimanding the small cadre of negative proponents of the recall who have defined SCA’s character over the years with their history of unwarranted vitriolic attacks. These “people” will force a death knell to volunteerism, and these malcontents are responsible for SCA’s negative reputation and the destruction of our property values. The attorney says their rhetoric is actionable defamation even if the most horrible attacks have been “scrubbed” from their online posts.

In my view, Rex should be more introspective. Rex seems blind to his own personal contribution to the community schism and to sustaining the unhealthy divide. But then, there were more comments on the subject at different points on the agenda.

Apparently some helpful soul decided that it would be good for the community cohesiveness to incite Art with 54 pages of diatribe from some unnamed blog. Art was predictably upset by it, stunned by the negativity and unfairness of it. Art has developed a total respect for the other board members who he sees as competent and blameless. (He didn’t mention me because I have become invisible. It’s as if they feel so utterly justified in taking the law into their own hands to erase me and 2000 owners’ votes, it’s as if I never happened.) Art blamed instead that unknown blogger’s disinformation, errors and false charges to be the prime contributor to a major loss of our reputation and property values.

I am irritated with the “helpful” individual who baited Art. If it was who I think it was, he’s been helpful like that in the past, and I believe he too should be more self-aware in terms of the impact he has on perpetuating a toxic culture and on enabling the Board’s unlawful actions against me.

It’s hard to say whether our property values have actually taken a hit by virtue of SCA’s negative reputation (which all seem to agree exists now as well as in the past), and if they have gone down, who is to blame. In the Financial Report, revenue of $103,000 over budget from asset enhancement fees was described as being caused by an unexpectedly high number of home sales. Although no information about home price was given, the fact that the number of sales is up which would lead one to the opposite conclusion about the impact of our reputation on prospective purchasers.

Three more spoke in this echo chamber, not surprisingly all representing the same point of view.
I didn’t catch the name of the man who demanded that the owners be given the names of the originators of the petition and that the names of those who signed the petition should be posted on the association’s website. Sandy helpfully said that anyone could have the names of those who signed the petitions by filling out the proper form.

Yes, this is the same Sandy who authorized expenditure of thousands of your assessment dollars for the attorney to conceal SCA records from me, a sitting board member. She threatened SCA and me personally with litigation saying “employer liability”would be created if I could see SCA records related to her compensation and the transition to self-management.

Is it fair for the GM to gleefully release information that could be used to harass and intimidate petitioners who oppose her management style at the same time she spends large chunks of unbudgeted SCA funds to prevent my review of her compensation with the ludicrous claim that I was violating her privacy rights?

It is my prediction that SCA will have no peace as long as the Board forces the community into two camps. The definitions of the camps may have been different in the past, but now, they seem to be camps of Sandy’s friends vs. Sandy’s foes.  I imagine you can see why I have a little bit of trouble being silent watching the two faces of our leading lady as she inconsistently enforces the rules, bestowing blessings on the one camp and curses on the other.

Next speaker to chastise the petitioners was Jean Capilupo who stated that she had made a commitment to come to each board meeting to say something positive to help the unfairly maligned directors buck up under the strain. Clearly, she identifies completely with the directors in a “there but for” sense and so her sentiments are myopic, but understandable.

Where I get off the train is having to listen every month to the criticism of the people who don’t come to the Board meetings. I am amazed at the current and former directors’ self-righteous disdain for a large chunk of the community and their utter lack of comprehension about why those people would find the constant self-congratulation vs denigration, us vs. them, patter to be quite alienating.

The grand finale was brought home by none other than David Berman who claimed he only decided to speak after being inspired by Jean’s profound remarks. He expressed confidence that the recall will fail (no surprise, recalls usually fail at the petition stage even without overt interference), and foretold ominously, “When this is over, the originators will find they have awoken a sleeping tiger!”  Catchy turn of phrase, but I’m not sure what it meant.

 

How To Lose Control Of Who Represents You On The SCA BOD

There is a lot of confusion about what is happening to the recall petitions (with 825 signatures) to remove four directors from the Board. In my opinion, the homeowners are purposely being kept in the dark. The General Manager (GM), Sandy Seddon, is using a lot of dirty tricks to stop owners from voting. The suppressing of accurate and timely information is just one way to make it less likely that you will vote.

The removal election update at the Sept. 28th Board Meeting consisted of the reading of a letter from the HOA attorney that listed which petitions had enough signatures (715) to place a director on the removal ballot; Rex Weddle (758): Aletta Waterhouse (734); and Tom Nissen (726). However, the petition against Bob Burch fell two signatures short (713) of the 715 needed to place him on the recall ballot.

It is important to note, that the oral report did not contain any attorney-client privileged information, but did include specific details about the procedure for the recall election that should be immediately available (in writing) to the homeowners in order for them to plan their vote.

The letter reported decisions made by the attorney (that were not approved by anyone with legal authority) to restrict the owners’ rights and to change past voting practices including:

  • Changes to the dates the ballots are mailed to the homeowners (Oct.9 instead of Oct. 2);
  • Changes to the ballot return process
    • No ballot boxes;
    • Ballots must be returned by mail only (to the CPA’s unknown address, not to the Anthem Center);
    • Redefining the deadline for the returned ballot as the date received (by 5 PM October 26) and not the date of the postmark;
    • Makes no provision for those who will not be able to receive their mail during those dates.

So why not place this important information on the www.sca-hoa.org website in the official record of the Sept. 28 Board meeting.? According to Sandy Seddon:

“The Update was provided for reliance in relation to an oral summary of the status of the review of the petitions/removal election to be given at the meeting, and the update was drafted in a manner to be read aloud, not conveyed in writing. Written documentation will not be provided as part of the board book.”

I believe that Seddon’s justification is simply another attempt to obscure information in the hope that the homeowners will not correctly vote or not vote at all. The acts of suppressing dissent and disenfranchising voters are intolerable practices that permeate this administration. It violates one of the most fundamental principles of good governance: FAIRNESS!

I have forwarded my request to make this oral report available on the HOA website, along with Seddon’s refusal “justification,” to the Nevada Real Estate Division (NRED) Investigator assigned to my complaint. I have stated that the attorney, management, and Board President Rex Weddle are interfering with the removal election process and asked that the NRED look into this matter.

Click here to see the notarized complaint regarding election interference.

While the attorney, GM, and the Board are doing everything they can to obscure information from the homeowners, the “anti-recall” people are doing everything that they can to confuse the issue. Recently, the anti-recall people sent a letter to everybody’s home claim there are no complaints on record against the Board members that are up for recall. That is simply not true as I have personally filed four complaints which are being investigated by the Nevada Real Estate Division investigation unit, and Interference in this removal election process is one of the complaints.

Here are a few examples of a pattern of totally unacceptable conduct by management in biasing this removal election process:

  1. Taking over the removal election process and usurping all duties of the SCA Elections Committee in violation of their charter and the SCA Election & Voting Manual.
  2. Using the attorney in excess of the adopted budget ($73,000 over the approved budget in four months) to interfere with the owner’s rights to vote and to control who represents them on the Board.
  3. Making a secret contract with a CPA for at least $10,000 that was not in the approved budget and which has been concealed from owners, despite a legal right to see any contract of which SCA is a party.
  4. Refusing to step aside and allow the Election committee to do their job as usual with unpaid volunteers and, in this case, utilizing the expertise of the State of Nevada to ensure the integrity of the Removal Election process.
  5. Providing information and control to President Rex Weddle, who is subject to recall, and giving information access to David Berman, the self-proclaimed head of the Oppose Sun City Anthem Recall (OSCAR), anti-recall effort.
  6. Information was concealed from me, an elected Board member and liaison to the Election Committee, even though I was not facing a petition to be recalled.

In summary, I would like for you to ask yourself a question.

How is it ever good for homeowners to understand and properly participate in the community affairs if management prevents timely access to information such as voting rules controlling a removal election?

I may be going out on a limb here, but I say it’s never good for homeowners if management conceals information that owners need and have a right to know. So, who does benefit when management makes a fair and open removal election nigh on impossible?

Again, out on that shaky limb, I say it is beyond “not good for homeowners.” It is horrible for homeowners that this manager and this attorney, are working in concert with this Board to unlawfully interfere with the homeowners right to a fair election to remove President Rex Weddle, Secretary Aletta Waterhouse, and Director Tom Nissen, in accordance with the legal requirements afforded in the HOA By-Laws, but which they unlawfully suspended when they removed me from my Board position.