A group of concerned Tamarron homeowners are lodging an election campaign to remove at least four of the current members of the board of directors of their association from their posts after an impeachment proceeding to remove all seven directors failed on November 17.##M:[more]##
The conflict arose after the homeowners’ association sent letters to the residents at the end of the summer advising them of design changes that would cost the residents money to replace siding, doors, and windows on their units.
“It was a pretty big uproar in the community,” said Bill Scism, who has lived on Tamarron Drive since April, 2006. “Some of the other residents got together a petition to put a stop to the project,” and over 200 people signed it, he said. “We sent that petition in, and that stopped the project. They said they’re going to re-explore it in the spring.”
Scism, who is a contractor himself, cites language in the bylaws for the homeowners association, states that the association is responsbile for the common area, which he says the siding would fall under, while homeowners are responsible for windows and doors on their units.
He said the board of directors cited annual maintenance costs of around $100,”000 as the reason they would require the replacement of the siding — from cedar wood to vinyl — and new windows and doors for the units. However, the costs to most homeowners was between $7,”000 and $9,”000 depending on the size of their units. A one-bedroom townhouse unit in the develoment typically sells between $140,”000 and $150,”000, while three bedroom models might sell for around $250,”000. Most prices are in the mid-$200,”000s, said Scism, who has a 1,”263 square foot two-bedroom unit.
He said he called up vendors he uses in his construction work and determined that the price to replace windows and doors should only cost around $2,”600.
Scism says, though, that the project has only been put on hold for a later discussion, but also that residents were discontent with the way they felt the board members had treated them during the meetings they attended. “The board was just horrible to deal with, yelling at the residents, almost calling us names,” Scism said.
The residents put together a new petition — this time to remove all seven of the board of directors from their positions. This petition was for a special meeting and vote for November 17, with 100 of the community’s 280 residents in attendance.
However, under the community guidelines, which Scism says are vague, 50 percent of the eligible voters need to vote to remove the board from office, and despite a final vote of 96-23 in favor of removing the board from office, the measure failed, he said. “The bottom line is we needed 133 votes to remove them, and we got 96,” Scism said. “We got 80 percent of the vote, yet we still lost.”
Scism also says that a proxy was sent out, with 54 responses coming back. However, the proxy had two questions — asking whether the owner of the unit wanted to remove the board or not, and, if so, who the owner would designate to replace the board. “If you leave it blank, it means your vote goes to the outgoing secretary, so even if we voted them out, they can vote themselves back in,” Scism alleges.
Still, Scism says that the residents have been holding their own meetings every Monday at 7 p.m. in the Caddyshack restaurant behind Tamarron and Hunters Glen. Right now, the concerned residents are looking at running a campaign against the incumbents in the upcoming regular election, which is scheduled in December, in which the group is hoping to elect four of its own members to take control of the majority. “I don’t think we’re going to have any trouble getting four members on now,” Scism says. “Only 30 people voted in the last election.”
Scism says the group had seven members who are willing to take over on the board, including himself, but will be narrowing that down to four. The other option the group has is to request an arbitration, in which the state gets involved, but that is unlikely given the upcoming election.
“We contacted the township, and they don’t have any authority over it,” Scism says. “I personally contacted the Community Affairs office in Trenton. They can’t do anything until we request an arbitration.”
Still, Scism says concerned residents are optimistic that they will be successful one way or another. “If they only got 23 people to come out and vote with them, how are they going to get re-elected?” he asked, pointing out that the 23 votes included their own, some of whom can vote twice because voter eligibility is determined by the number of units owned in the development, and some people own more than one.
A message left for Sharon Maldonado, who is listed as the property manager with Executive Property Management, out of North Brunswick — the management company for the Tamarron development — was unreturned. Sheila Hundley, who is listed with the township as the president of the condo association, could not be reached for comment.
— Cara Latham
