HOA elections are rigged - (or pretty close to it)

I understand that one of the board members has / is leaving.

This is good news as fresh blood in the board is good, turnover is good. But this is not really what prompted this writing. What prompted this was the fact that the person who has left the board was the board president. Hasn't that guy been president of the board for, for... forever! Well, I didn't vote for him so I'm glad he’s gone. But then I didn't vote for any officer position on the board.

If you want to be a HOA officer you must first win the popularity contest. Nope, I'm not talking about residents voting in elections. Say you want to help make Stonegate a better place to live, do some public service. Naturally you have your own opinions and ideas. So you run for the board and win a seat through the electoral process. Now what? Say your opinions are different from that of the other board members, but you believe you reflect better the views of the residents. What can you do? Sadly, the answer is not much. Since board members elect which one of their own will be president, treasurer etc., if you are elected by the residents and you don't reflect the popular opinion of the board, you will: 1) have no power, 2) never, ever be an officer and, 3) never be a real voice for those who elected you.

Talk about a good ol’ boy (and girls) club.

Solution? This one was mentioned at a meeting and ignored by the board. Anyone running for office on the board should be required to write in their own words what their objectives would be if elected. And just like the county and state elections, residents should receive candidates’ statements in the mail. The management company could send this out with our monthly news letter before we should vote. The point is it wouldn’t be that hard to know who the heck where supposed to vote on, what they stand for, a glimmer into what their agenda might be. I've heard complains that no one cares about our elections. That there is too much apathy, that not enough people take an interest in their HOA. And just like that stuff that was receintly floating around in our pool, endangering our kids, I say its a load of crap!

Attention Board members who think no one cares during election time.

Ya you who rule in the protection of obscurity…. Nobody knows who you are! So how the flock are we supposed to make a decision on who to vote for. And don't give me any B.S. about how we should attend meetings to get to know you. I,ve been at your meetings and personally I'd fire the whole lot of you. Also, not everyone can attend meetings, so that would be discrimination against those who have to work, etc. But every one does get mail!

Also, this business of the board members voting among themselves for who will hold office must stop. The residents should decide who is president, secretary, etc. We should not be subject to the HOA good ol’ boy club!

Energy Drinks - fraud or freedom

Mail "fraud" and HOA inconsistency... How rife with hypocrisy they are.

Fact: A mailbox is for the sole use of the United States Postal Service and any letters, packages, etc. that someone puts in or on a mailbox must have proper postage... otherwise is seems your a nasty little lawbreaker.
Well, someone named Mike has put advertisements on our beloved and sacred mailboxes. At least stuck on everyone's mailbox I saw was a card for some drink called "Liftoff". It’s supposed to be a "New Kind of Energy Drink".

In the past the board has taken aggressive legal action against one of our Fellow Stonegateons for using our mailboxes to distribute their views of the HOA.

Spending our HOA dues to quiet the protestor, the board based the legal action against this lawbreaker on the fact that he or she used our post boxes to distribute information without any postage. Naughty! Naughty!

I wonder.... Will the board seek to use aggressive legal action against this new filthy lawbreaker who uses our post boxes without proper postage for his corporate gain? Or is it only wrong when someone exercises free speech? Since Mike is offering a free sample of his "New Energy Drink" maybe the board members will feel bribed into not using a lawyer this time?