The Arizona Open Meeting Law (A.R.S. 33-1804 / Condo A.R.S. 33-1248) makes it clear that associations, including the Pointe South Mountain, must follow specific and consistent rules of engagement.
Phoenix-based Mulcahy Law Firm, a group of community association lawyers, helps to clarify those rules, which were created to address consistency in adhering to an association’s governing documents.
In particular, the association must give a 48-hour notice of open board meetings, and is required to include an agenda. When the rules are not followed, the results can be significant, impacting the entire community.
For example, on Tuesday, March 14, 2023, the Pointe South Mountain association held a “workshop” meeting on Zoom that was, in reality, an Open Board meeting. The “workshop” included none of the possible 48-hour notices (alerts, emails, sandwich boards in the community, posting on the management company’s calendar or agenda). With few in the community aware of the meeting’s occurrence, attendance at this meeting was low (of the 841 total potential attendees, less than 25 were still present on the Zoom call toward the end of the meeting). With few members of the community available to offer input at that time, a Board member introduced an unexpected motion to SPLIT APART the entire community. Thankfully, a majority of Board members agreed to take a more rational, stepped approach and first investigate the legal costs associated with such a drastic and far-reaching motion.
Meanwhile, several meeting attendees observed that the rules for the meeting itself were not followed, and believed that the Board violated Arizona’s Open Meeting Law. Thankfully, there are several resources available to the members/owners of the many Arizona homeowners’ associations who believe their interests are not being fairly represented, namely through the Arizona Department of Real Estate. Such is the case relating to the “workshop” meeting held on March 14, 2023, and on April 4, 2023, a member representing the Pointe South Mountain Resident Advocacy Group filed a Notice of HOMEOWNERS ASSOCIATION (HOA) DISPUTE PROCESS PETITION.
On May 2, the attorneys representing the association (Carpenter, Hazelwood, Delgado & Bolen) responded to the April 4 filing with a Motion to Dismiss. In response, the Arizona Department of Real Estate denied all complaint items that were included in the Motion, and on May 2, 2023, a Notice of Appearance was filed, meaning the attorneys will appear in person before the ADRE at some point in the future to further present/defend their case.
Rules such as A.R.S. 33-1804 / Condo A.R.S. 33-1248 are promulgated to protect, with fair and equal measure, the rights of members of Arizona homeowners’ associations. Please watch this space for further updates as they occur.