Issue 1

There is an issue between the Association Board of Directors and a member of the Association. The member has asked for Architecture Committee documents and the Board has refused. The Board has asserted that the California Statutes controlling associations, the Davis-Stirling Act or Civil Codes §4000 to §5999 inclusive, forbids access to any Architecture Committee documents. At the same time and despite this prohibition, the Board is willing to allow inspection rights to the material, but not copy rights.

The member has investigated the relevant statutes, the Homeowner Assoociation Bylaws and CC&R, and has found the Board arguments unpersuasive. The interpretation of the statutes is incorrect, and the Association governing documents specifically permit unrestricted inspection and copying rights of the Architecture Committee documents.

The Board works for its members in their best interest. In this, the members have a right to oversight of the Board and all member committees. It makes no legal sense to prevent this oversight by denying a member access to any member committee documents, excepting only the minutes of the Board’s Executive Session and legally privileged documents.

The Timeline shows all interactions between the Board, the Association lawyer, the Managing Agent(s) and the member. The links are to documents or emails.

Documents
Some documents are noteworthy enough to bear separate mention. All documents are available through use of the Timeline, but some have a particularly warm place in my heart.

• Legal Opinion
• Response and analysis of opinion
• Attorney response to analysis
• Attorney denial of right to copy
• Board Presentation
• IDR request
• IDR Meeting Minutes
• ADR request
• Complete analysis of Attorney opinion and Board position