Huntington Village
Community Association
February 18, 2002
One-Sided HV Newsletter Demands Changes To Deed Restrictions and More of Your Rights & Money!
HV Homeowners are waking up to discover that according to the HV Board and their latest one-sided newsletter, a CRISIS and a CROSSROADS is at hand. Their newest "propaganda piece" with no opposing views allowed, further explains that HV homeowners have little choice but to open their wallets and give up more of their rights if life as we know it is to continue. As usual, the very same Fear Tactics used so successfully in the past is the weapon of choice selected for this latest power-grab scheme.
The latest newsletter even includes a ballot that must be signed and notarized to pretend that the rights the unsuspecting homeowner is so freely giving away is needed and legitimate. One can only hope that the trusting homeowner who considers signing it will read and understand what precious rights are being given away before agreeing to it's single sided contents.
NO OPPOSING VIEWS ALLOWED!
A RED FLAG should be raised by every HV Homeowner who may consider agreeing to the well worded propaganda in this very legal but so one-sided argument. We say one-sided because there is no opposing voice included in your paid by you newsletter even though written requests were made to place opposing views in the next newsletter you were to receive. These requests as you now see have been blatantly and systematically ignored.
Why Should we Worry?
Good Question and that should have been asked long before now by more than one HV Member. A Series of Questions Need to be Answered Before Any Change in Your Rights and Your Wallet are Considered. To name just a few:
01.
The Amendments You Are being Told Requires Your Notarized Signature Before HVCA Can Raise Your Annual Assessment from $144 to $175 AND it is back-dated to 1999. The current Deed Restrictions Allow a Maximum of $96, but today you are being billed $144. How can that be? The answer to this question is simple. In 1984 a special assessment allowed for a one year only increase to $144. The Board simply continued to invoice that $144 knowing full well that they did not have the approval by you to do it. The Board knows full well that no documents exist to legitimize that increase from $96 to $144 and this fact has been admitted to the Texas Attorney General. You have been billed 50% OVER the published MAXIMUM limit since 1985 and that fact is now undisputed.02.
Our existing Deed Restrictions require your approval before your Annual Assessment can be raised. The Amendments you are being told to approve will allow the Board to raise it WITHOUT your knowledge. The existing Restrictions require your approval before your annual assessment could be changed. Why would you want to give that right up? What will you do when the annual assessment climbs to over $1000 and you then discover you had given up that control?03.
Our existing Deed Restrictions require an approval of 75% of ALL homeowners before a change can be made to these documents. That wording was purposely written into your documents precisely to protect you from future unscrupulous boards. The Amendments you are being told to approve will allow the Board to change your deed restrictions with less than a 20% approval. This dangerous tactic would allow under 20% of our community to dictate to the remaining 80% who choose to be free. Why would you want to give your rights to a 20% community minority?04.
The Board is quick to tell us that since 1972 prices have gone up and they need more of your money. Why aren't they also telling us that in 1972 Alief did not have adequate HPD protection and we were required to hire and pay for our own security. Today we have an HPD Westside Command Station 10 minutes from our community that was not here in 1972. We are today paying taxes for that Command Station in our Property Taxes that were not there in 1972. Why are we not considering replacing the expensive private security with the expensive HPD security we are already paying for?05.
Why Did our Board's D&O Insurance Increase from $2500 to over $17,400 (a 696% increase) in one year? The answer to this question and many others are not so readily available, but consider the fact that insurance companies operate in a very business environment and the history of our "Lawsuit Happy Board" will have much to do and explain the reason for this increase. History has demonstrated that if you question HV's board actions, a lawyer paid by you is not far away. This 696% increase in our D&O insurance is the price you pay for our Board's policy of calling the lawyer first before calling the homeowner.06.
Why is the amendment that the board wants back-dated to 1999?
Good Question! Why don't we ask them? As a matter of good business, why aren't these questions and others being asked in a Town Hall Meeting convened for specifically this purpose? Why are we not allowed to see opposing viewpoints in our newsletter paid for by us? The answers to these questions and more coming soon....
Have a question of your own?
Let us know and we will post it!
HV Resident Responses
JSmith8221@aol.com asks:
Are the elected board members of HVCA required to be members of the neighborhood??? I really don't know. If so, are the present board members residents? I see nothing wrong with a meeting between homeowners and board members. They represent us. HOWEVER, to give them a chance, there has to be a better participation of community meetings. I'm to blame as well as anyone. At our meeting on February 21, 2002, four people showed up because of letters; they left and six people attended the meeting. Not very encouraging folks. Let's turn out and support our neighborhood and the board (or raise the questions that need to be raised to enhance our living area....
Answer:
Board Members are required to be members of Huntington Village and the present members of the board are HV members first. We agree with you JSmith8221@aol.com. There needs to be more community involvement and sharing of ideas and concerns. This has been a long standing concern for several years.
The bottom line is simple:
- The Board of Directors are REQUIRED by Texas Law and our Governing Documents to operate within the confines of our
Deed Restrictions and Bylaws (their job descriptions).
- The Board of Directors CANNOT amend and/or modify (contrary to what some would like you to believe) OUR Governing Documents at their whim. Those rights belong ONLY to you and REQUIRE a 75% Majority Paper Ballot Recorded Vote of The Property Owners to Modify our Deed Restrictions or Bylaws.
- Our
- Their is no workable mechanism short of expensive court litigation to force a Board of Directors to operate within our governing documents if they choose to ignore them. This creates a needless and expensive string of abuses when a board chooses to abuse their authority using our money defending indefensible actions. This abuse of our governing system must stop.
NOTICES OF FORECLOSURE
What if out of a clear blue sky you received a letter from a lawyer placing a lien on your property for some unknown violation you did not commit? This has happened to more than one Huntington Village resident.
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