Power-mad HOA president tries to cover up bylaw violations and accidentally exposes them, so new homeowner plans to vote her out next annual meeting

Author image for Etai Eshet
Etai Eshet • Editor
Apr 27, 2026 10:30 AM EDT

The only board i've been on is a skate but what i love about so many of these stories is that you don't have to be a retired HOA veteran to know exactly what this person is talking about. Because that's a universal true to any individual who craves authority over anything and everything as long as it comes with a title plaque

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  • Smiling middle-aged woman wearing glasses and a red shirt, standing outdoors with an arm extended as if mid-conversation.
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  • HOA President might have shot herself in the foot

    We have an HOA president who is drink with power and is terrible. Ever since we had an to update our covenants I have
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  • been trying to get information from her and she is resisting everything.
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  • HOA boards attract the kind of people who want authority so badly they volunteer for a thankless unpaid position just to have somewhere to exercise it. Most of them are harmless nuisances. Some of them discover that nobody is really reading the bylaws and start treating the neighborhood like a small personal kingdom, which works fine right up until the moment someone starts reading the bylaws.

  • Our annual meeting is this Thursday so I have been reading the bylaws to make sure I'm ready with all of my questions. I
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  • noticed that our bylaws state there is only to be one member-at-large. I'm good friends with one of my neighbors who
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  • became a member-at- large at the last annual meeting because she was also unimpressed with the President's
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  • shenanigans. I asked my neighbor how she became member-at-large and she said that at the end of the last annual
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  • Woman with glasses seated at a wooden table, arms crossed over her shoulders, looking to the side in a casual indoor setting with people in the background.
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    Woman with glasses sitting at wooden table indoors, arms crossed, looking aside in a casual social setting.

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  • meeting they asked if anyone wanted to, she raised her hand and that was that. No voting to elect her.
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  • When I realized what the bylaws stated I looked at the latest newsletter we had received and it showed 5 members-at- large. My neighbor stated
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  • that at their last meeting (in March) the Board approved two new members-at-large. I emailed the President asking about this. She
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  • doesn't know I'm friends with said neighbor so I didn't mention anything about what went on at their last meeting.
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  • She ignored my question and then finally sent out an email to the entire neighborhood. All of a sudden, my neighbor was listed as an "interim"
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  • Smiling woman with curly hair sitting at an outdoor café table, resting her chin on her hand with a relaxed, friendly expression.
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  • member-at-large. Texted my neighbor and she said she had no idea she was interim or even what that meant. The President's email stated this: "At-
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  • Large Member, per the Bi-Laws page 4, Section 1 is (1) One Member. Additional At-Large members shall be known
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  • as an Interim position, which is a non voting position. These positions are for those who express an interest on how the
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  • The interim member-at-large reclassification is a masterpiece of retroactive rule invention. A neighbor raised her hand at a meeting, got added to the board, voted at multiple meetings over the course of months, and then one day received the news through a neighborhood-wide email that she had apparently always been in a non-voting interim position, a term nobody used at the time, a concept nobody explained to her, and a designation that was invented specifically because someone asked a question the president did not want to answer. The neighbor found out she was interim the same way everyone else did, by reading the newsletter.

  • HOA and Board works and become familiar with respecting the value of each Homeowner, our Covenents and Bi-Laws."
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  • Neighbor said no one ever said she is a non- voting position and that she has in fact voted at multiple Board meetings.
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  • Misspelling of bylaws as bi-laws in an official communication explaining what the bylaws say is a small detail that somehow makes the whole thing worse.

  • Our bylaws state that: "The books, records and papers of Meadowridge Homeowners Association, Inc. shall be subject to
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  • inspection by any member at the regular annual meeting held in April.
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  • The by-laws of Meadowridge Homeowners Association, Inc. and any amendments thereto, shall be available
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  • for inspection by any member from the Secretary at the regular annual meeting held in April."
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  • But what makes this situation genuinely entertaining is that the president created most of her own problems by trying to get ahead of them. Ignoring a direct question and then blasting the entire neighborhood with a hasty clarification drew more attention to the issue than a straightforward answer ever would have. Now there are records showing board members voting in a capacity the president is now claiming they never had, meeting minutes with disputed omissions that the board refuses to correct, and an annual meeting coming up where the bylaws explicitly require full inspection access that is already being quietly walked back.

  • I asked the President if all of the records would be available for inspection at the upcoming meeting and she told me:
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  • Showing up to that meeting with a thorough read of the actual bylaws, a list of documented inconsistencies, and a nomination ready to go is not a dramatic power move, it is just being prepared. The president handed over most of the ammunition herself, which is what tends to happen when someone is more focused on controlling information than on actually running things correctly.

  • "Minutes of Open Homeowners Association meetings for 2025 will be given, as per Meadowridge's Annual Meeting procedure."
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  • These minutes have already been shared with members by email. The Board has also had requests to update the
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  • minutes because some items were left off, but they refuse to edit them and say they are complete.
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  • There are so many other issues with this Board. If no one else does, I'm nominating myself for
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  • As they (almost) say, bi-laws be bylaws. 

    The meeting should be very interesting.

  • President is to get her out. This meeting should be interesting! F HOAS!!
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  • SufficientOpening218 the bylaws are your friend, it sounds like!
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  • StraightOutOfZion I would cross check with state laws. any state law trumps the bylaws/ccrs. Many boards are clueless and make stuff up not in ccrs, and are ignorant of all the stuff that has been voided by newer state lawss
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  • Speakinmymind96 In most HOAs, a person gets elected to the board, but the board determines who serves in each role you can't run for the role of President. Even if the existing board decided to make you President, you represent only one vote. Get 4 others to run with you to have a shot at changing things.
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  • chortle-guffaw This behavior really hints that she has something to hide. Transparency should be assumed. Anything less than full transparency is highly
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  • suspect and should be grounds for dismissal. By that I don't mean you should expect her to drop everything for every request, but it should be a yes answer and a reasonable
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  • timeframe. For the bylaws request, she should have directed you to the management company. They would have copies ready for sellers, etc.
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hoa neighbors neighborhood petty revenge payback entitled people
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