On March 10, 2016 the City Council accepted the assets offered by the Waterwood Park Property Owner’s Association. The assets include the land owned by the WPPOA.
The Council then went into a close session, forcing everyone in the audience out of the room. However, the Council did allow certain people to enter the closed session.
Related: City Council Gives Special Access to Closed Executive Session
After the closed session was finished the City Council opened the meeting again. They voted unanimously to accept the offer from the WPPOA. No discussion was added to the topic.
The people claiming to be board members of the WPPOA include former Mayor Jim Clement, City Clerk Charlotte Rabe, and Pedro Oruno. Orduno and Rabe stated in March 2015 that the WPPOA board had never met to decide to give land belonging to the WPPOA to the city. Orduno and Rabe stated that Clement called them and told them he was going to do it. At the time, Clement was both WPPOA president and the Mayor of Sandy Oaks.
Related article: WPPOA Board Members Say They Never Met to Vote On Asset Transfer
Texas law does allow for board members of Home/Property Owners’ Associations to make decisions outside of meetings:
Property Code Sec. 209.0051. OPEN BOARD MEETINGS.
(h) Except as provided by this subsection, a board may take action outside of a meeting, including voting by electronic or telephonic means, without prior notice to owners under Subsection (e), if each board member is given a reasonable opportunity to express the board member’s opinion to all other board members and to vote.
However, the same Texas law has exceptions:
The board may not, unless done in an open meeting for which prior notice was given to owners under Subsection (e), consider or vote on:
(12) the sale or purchase of real property;
The WPPOA purchased the land in question from Waterwood Development Company in January 16, 2015 for $10. No meeting was announced to discuss the purchase of the land with property owners.
The last meeting the WPPOA held was January 15, 2015, when the WPPOA board held an election in which those who didn’t vote were automatically counted as voting in favor of the ballot item.
Since January of 2015, the WPPOA has not had any meetings.
The only member of the City Council who is not a resident of the Waterwood subdivision is Alderman David Tremblay.
I am a Waterwood property owner and member of the HOA paying assessment fees for over fifteen years. I have never been given notice or asked to vote on this action. As I understand it, it is illegal for them to take such actions without giving me notice and asking us to vote on the intended action.