Our HOA had some good folks for a while, but a few years ago, we got one of those power hungry freaks who decided to go after people for nit picky things. She was argumentative. What she did ended up hurting the values of our homes; something she should’ve been interested in.
Instead of working WITH homeowners to resolve problems, she took them to court. It could have been avoided. Few in the neighborhood took kindly to her overreach. It wasn’t long before she started getting harassed, and talked about moving. I wish she had.
One family that she had sent a letter with a fine in it was for grass that was tall. Instead of reaching out to the homeowner first, she sent them a nasty letter. It made a bad situation worse. Turns out there was a death in the family, the husband/father, and they just needed some help. The HOA sending a threatening letter as a first resort is just not helpful. We can do better than that.
Thankfully, after that fiasco, she resigned and several neighbors took up the roles of board members and president. Now when we see something amiss, we approach the neighbor first with, how can we help you?
For the record, I’m not on the board. I wish I didn’t live in an HOA in the first place. We almost got to overturn the rules a few years ago, but guess who counted the ballots, and the rules stay in place for 10 more years? You guessed it. That same woman with the power trip. Funny how the vote was so close, but her side “won” by just a few votes.
Excellent! Glad your neighborhood was able to avert total disaster. Keep after it; talk to people, certainly new people — explain the set-up. Most people don't pay attention to what they are signing on to at settlement.
One good thing done a few years ago here was that a few of us got our board to create and publish a condensed version of the by-laws containing the most important community rules and general info-- what is our board's responsibility, what is the county's, when are the trash and recycling pickups and what are the rules for putting cans out, what are the dog rules and the pool rules, permits for outside renovations, how to be a courteous neighbor, etc.
That "rules" document is one sheet of heavy, colorful paper printed on both sides, distributed to every door, and also appears on the community's web site. During the pandemic so many people were home all day and impinging on others, it had to be reissued—and it has helped a great deal with trespassing, lawn maintenance, trash and dog issues.