Property Owners Associations Face Additional Problem; Failure to Get a Quorum
POAs already facing financial difficulties can’t hold an annual meeting or elect a new Board of Directors.
Palm Coast, FL – December 20, 2009 – In a predicament probably echoed throughout Florida, two Property Owners Associations near Palm Coast failed in their first attempt to hold a state mandated annual meeting. Both the Ocean Hammock and Palm Coast Plantation POAs fell far short of the required quorum, thus were unable to elect officers to their respective Boards of Directors.
Proxies collected by the associations are valid for only 90 days, leaving boards with a limited time to gather enough more proxies to constitute a quorum. If they are unable to do so, the election process will have to start over from scratch. The rescheduled meetings require another mailing to each property owner and public notice, estimated to cost about $1,500. Palm Coast Plantation’s POA has already planned a January meeting, preserving the validity of proxies already submitted. Ocean Hammock’s POA plans to do the same.
POAs already suffer financially from property owners who neglect to pay assessments. Fortunately, owners who are at least three months delinquent lose their right to vote at annual elections. Their removal from the roles reduces the total eligible voters and, proportionally, the quorum. Apparently, this is not enough. The boards must also overcome voter apathy. With so much at stake, how can property owners not care enough to fill out a proxy? Just do it.
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HOA
We recently inherited a condo in the center of Palm Coast that has, over the years, been allowed to deteriorate to such an extent, the units a virtually impossible to sell.
Dealing with the HOA is a nightmare.
Owners in other developments are probably having the same problems and don’t want to risk spiking their BP by responding to them at all.