Unaccountable control freaks

The HOA we're in has a president who does not even live in our town and threatened a lien against our house (no prior notification or warning) that our house had to be painted a "modern color " even though the current paint job had only been done 6-7 years before, and with no definition of what a "modern " color was, nor approved palate for selecting from.We had to submit colors several times until they approved the ugliest one. Neighbors have had similar nightmares happen to them as well. There needs to be more accountability and recourse for what seem to be very arbitrary decisions and utter opacity about the process