It's all personal in our H.O.A.

Our H.O.A. President is a somewhat capable, but very opinionated and a controlling person. Because he appears thorough and strong-willed, other board members follow him blindly, never questioning whether his actions

are proper nor legal. When I realized our board was hiring engineering work done by a board-member's own engineering firm, I pointed out that she must, at least, recuse herself from discussions related to that company. The board president moved her from board to architectural control committee and began treating me as his enemy. A couple years later, I noticed that our by-laws require board officers to serve a maximum of 3 years in any officer position. I pointed out that the treasurer had held his position for at least 12 years, because that is how long I had been in the H.O.A., and he was treasurer when I started building my house. Coincidently, the president had a severe stroke, so, the treasurer moved to president. Black mark # 2 for me. I had questioned the new president. Now, the president placed changes on the annual ballot deleting term limits on officers. My third strike is when I asked the board to enforce our covenant that requires trees over 40' tall that shade a solar collector to be removed. The only reason I built here is that the covenant would protect my passive solar system, my south-facing windows that heat my house, from shade of neighbors' trees. Note C.R.S. 38-32.5-100.3 defines my windows as solar energy devices. But, not to know-it-all controlling board members, who never read and have no background in building. I have filed suit. The H.O.A. argued to the judge that they should be dismissed because they are not compelled to enforce covenants. The judge told them that is their only job! So, how is it all personal? Because I display a yard sign for each race in local elections, the board limited political yard signs to one per lot. I have asked neighbors if they got letters about their yard signs. "No," they said. But I got a letter asking me to remove all but one yard sign. Selective enforcement of rules by the board who claims they don't need to enforce rules. It's all personal! They are trying to intimidate me because I have questioned their unending, but selective, authority. If I were writing laws governing HOAs, I would limit their scope to taking care of common land, lakes, etc., and remove their power to govern neighbors. That is their real purpose, to provide the city with a way around managing a hundred "neighborhood parks." They could be useful and minimize corruption in that role. Thanks for reading.