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This is my HOA

Contributed by: Jan Jackson on 11/30/2008

The following is a short email exchange between the President of my HOA and me. Remember, as you read it, that I am under a court order to not mention the name of my HOA, nor any member of it, in anything I write. That court order is on appeal in the Colorado Appeals Court in Denver, Colorado.

I am writing this piece for HOA homeowners throughout Colorado and nationally so that they will be aware that we HOA homeowner advocates are just as beleaguered -- if not more so -- as HOA homeowners everywhere are. That is, the harder HOA homeowners (and we homeowner advocates) fight against our HOAs' power and money seeking presidents and boards of directors, trying to bring logic, reason, law and justice to our HOAs, the more difficult it is for us all to live in our HOAs -- socially and financially.

However, in spite of that sad state of affairs, I believe that if any justice is ever to be found in our HOAs as we battle against the corruption within them, we must continue to persevere toward our goal of ridding each of our states of their HOA Acts/statutes. Also, I believe that those of us who are able should try to get Amendments to our states' Constitutions which will ban HOAs forever.

That's exactly what I will be trying to do in 2009 in the state of Colorado.

The below email exchange betwen my HOA president and myself is a minor point of dissension between me and one of the powers-that-be in my HOA. There have been many, many disagreements between my HOA "cabal" and I over the years which were much, much worse.

For example, as you will recall, I have been assaulted by a member of my HOA's board of directors. My husband and I have survived liens placed on our home, and another property we own, by the President of my HOA. Liens which appeared to be filed with the intent to foreclose on them and which cost us $73,000 for a supersedeas bond in order to save our home from the greed-ridden fingers of my HOA's president and board of directors. I also managed to emerge in one piece -- emotionally and physically -- from a Colorado court of law (which is another horror story that would make readers' here hair curl if they knew the details of it) during a trial which resulted from my filing a lawsuit against my HOA in 2006.

I posted the resultant Order from that trial online and have received many, many comments about it from outraged HOA homeowners, as well as from decent, law-abiding lawyers and judges all over Colorado and this nation. They simply could not believe something like that court order could happen in these United States of America. Nor could I, when I first read it. But it did happen, and it's on record in the courthouse in Cripple Creek, Colorado, where it happened.

And now we come to the latest power and control effort of the current president of my HOA. After you read it, you may wonder why he and the rest of my HOA's board of directors wouldn't want to record my HOA's BoD meeting. I believe that the reason they don't want their meetings recorded is really quite easy to figure out.

It's probably because, during that meeting, my HOA's president and board will be discussing changing our HOA's covenants to allow "guest" (and "accessory") houses (read "rental" houses) on every 35-acre parcel/lot here in my HOA and they don't appear to want the details of that discussion recorded. Why? It seems that it's probably because they don't want any kind of a "paper trail" that might later come back to "bite" them.

Also, as you may recall, my HOA's former president (the current president appears to be either his lackey or has a personality flaw just like our former president appeared to have) is a very wealthy California developer-builder who arrived in Colorado a few years ago with the intent, or so it appears, to bring his ecologically and financially destructive (to others) business dealings to this area of Colorado in general, and to my HOA in particular.

Read the email exchange between the president of my association below, and stay tuned for the next power-and-money-seeking episode of "This Is My HOA"....

Jan

-------------------------------
From: wiwleb@netzero.net
Date: Thu, 6 Nov 2008
To: [President of my HOA]
CC: [Board of Directors of my HOA]
Subject: [Board Meeting of my HOA] on November 8, 2008

(1) I will not be able to attend the above-subject meeting due to a previous commitment.

(2) On the date, and during the time of, the above-subject [my HOA] meeting, I will be attending a meeting in Colorado Springs where we (knowledgeable folks in our respective fields of interest who are already well-known in the state of Colorado, as well as nationally) will be talking about the particulars of a new radio show which will, in part, discuss homeowners associations -- locally, statewide, and throughout the U.S.

(3) Since I am very interested in the details of the matters which are going to be discussed during the above-subject [my HOA] meeting, as well as any new matters not previously mentioned in the 11-8-08 Meeting Agenda (as every other member [of my HOA] is, or should be), I respectfully request that

(4) the above-subject meeting be audio/video recorded with a suitable camera or other equipment which includes the date and time periods throughout the entire recording period (even during any short 'breaks' in the meeting).

(5) I would be most pleased to provide the audio/video recording equipment for this one meeting, should [my HOA's] board not be able to do so, for whatever reason.

(6) Thank you for your immediate attention to my above request.

Jan
wiwleb@netzero.com
719-689-5807

*************************************
From : [President of my HOA]
To : Jan <wiwleb@netzero.com>
Subject : Re: [my HOA's] BoD Meeting on November 8, 2008
Date : Thu, Nov 06, 2008 11:00 AM

-- [The President of my HOA] wrote:

Dear Jan,

Sorry you will not be able to attend the board meeting this Saturday. I understand you have another appointment, but when possible you should attend all board & annual membership meetings.

This meeting like previous board and annual membership meeting will not be recorded using a voice or video recorder. There will be minutes taken by the board secretary or another appointed person present. Those minutes will be mailed to all members of the ranch association including you.

Respectfully,
[President of my HOA]

***************************
From : Jan Jackson <wiwleb@netzero.net>
To : [President of my HOA]
Cc : [Board of Directors of my HOA]
Subject : Re: [my HOA's] BoD Meeting on November 8, 2008
Date : Fri, Nov 07, 2008 01:19 AM

Thank you for you prompt response to my request. While your refusal of my request will not allow me (or any other absent member [of my HOA]) to know specific details of [my HOA's] BoD meeting on 11-8-08, it does provide me with a very interesting HOA subject for discussion among my readers throughout Colorado and this nation -- on the radio (can television be far behind?) as well as in the usual print media and forums.

Thanks again!

Jan


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CONTRIBUTOR INFORMATION

Jan Jackson

Florissant , CO

Jan Jackson has posted 637 stories and 41 comments since joining on 9/14/2005. Jan Jackson 's average story rating is 4.43.
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