On January 15, 2015, the Waterwood Park Property Owner’s Association (WPPOA) held a vote to amend its bylaws. The vote drew 87 people to the WPPOA clubhouse for a meeting that lasted an hour before ending in angry shouting. Towards the end of the meeting, paramedics and Bexar County Sheriffs were both called in.
The purpose of the vote was to replace the existing 7 page bylaws with a new set of bylaws 32 pages long.
The meeting started off with Pedro Orduno, Charlotte Rabe, and Luann Cox seated behind a head table and led by Jim Clement. Clement claimed to be the WPPOA president and the others claimed to be board members. Also at the table was Alex Tovar, an attorney. Behind them stood a marshal from Von Ormy.
Once Clement began the meeting, people started asking questions faster than he could answer them. Tovar, the attorney working for the WPPOA, began to explain what the vote was for and why they were having it.
According to Tovar, the current bylaws of the WPPOA had been written in the 1980’s and were outdated. He said
There’s been substantial changes in the law with regards to, for instance, the gathering of this meeting here today, agendas, the issues that are to be discussed, records that the HOA maintains, different things that have occurred that the legislature has enacted is required now for HOA’s to abide by. It’s one of the reasons for amending the bylaws. I think anyone can understand that these were originally drafted in the 80’s; they’re obsolete.
Audience members continued to shout over one another. Topics included Clement, Orduno, Rabe, and Cox being board members, the $180 assessment fee collected by Waterwood Development, and the state of the roads and community park.
After a lot of shouting from different people in the audience, one woman said “But there hasn’t been an HOA.”
This spurred on Joe Hillen, one of the first people to ever move to Waterwood, who explained that at one point there was both a Property Owner’s Association and a Home Owner’s Association. He said
The first days…there was two Home Owner’s Associations. There was the Waterwood Property Owner’s Association and then there was the Home Owner’s Association. The Home Owner’s Association fell under the purview of the Property Owner’s Association. …Home owners [only] actually had voting rights. I think some time in the 90’s or so that changed.
During Hillen’s explanation Clement repeatedly said “No, there was only one.”
Explanation from Waterwood Development
After shouting back and forth with members from the audience on various topics, Charles Krause was introduced by Clement as one of the owners of the Waterwood Development Corporation. Krause said
We would like to close down our relationship here – and turn over – and if you look at the restrictions it says that at some point we will turn over the assessments and everything over to the homeowners. That’s what this process is all about.
Krause also confirmed what Hillen had said, that at one time there was an HOA and a POA and only home owners had the ability to participate in voting. He said property owners, not just home owners, would have a vote in the meeting. He said
All we’re trying to do is get this turned over. We cannot turn this over to an association that is a voluntary association. The association must represent all the members. So I said since the original bylaws indicate there was a dichotomy between the two, home owners vs property owners, I’d like that changed so that it says all of property owners. That’s what this amendment is all about. That’s what you’re here for tonight.
Krause said his company was turning over the right to collect the assessment fees to the WPPOA. Hillen asked what would happen if the group voted no and Jason Gale, son of developer GG Gale, said Waterwood Development Company would continue collecting the fee forever.
Legal and Ethical Issues
Legal issues were brought forward at the very start of the meeting and continued to be brought up until the end.
Yolanda Parsons, a former treasurer of the WPPOA, wanted to know why ballots were mailed directly to Jim Clement and not to an impartial 3rd party. Clement’s reply was “Because I was as good a person as anyone else to receive them.”
Clement, Rabe, Orduno, and Cox couldn’t provide any evidence that they had been elected as WPPOA board members, even though they were claiming to be.
When Charles Krause got up to address the crowd it was explained to him that the signature ballot was marked January 2014, not 2015 and people said the ballot was invalid. Krause, an attorney himself, waved off their concerns and said “No it doesn’t.”
Many people in the room were upset that the ballot said anyone who didn’t vote would automatically be counted as voting “Yes” in favor of the new bylaws.
WPPOA attorney Alex Tovar replied “That’s not what it says.”
After people showed the ballot to him he responded “But that is not going to occur”, which made many people in the room shout even more.
Jamie Hale, the person who takes care of the community park, pool, and clubhouse, was sitting in the front row of the audience. Hale said there hasn’t been a POA in the last 3 years she’s been living in Waterwood. Krause (her boss), brushed her off and stated “I’ve got their certificates from the state.”
Krause never showed anyone any official documentation, however.
The issue of Jim Clement being both WPPOA president and City Mayor was also brought up during the meeting. Someone from the audience shouted at him that he couldn’t be both because it was a conflict of interest. Clement shouted back “Why can’t I?! No it’s not!”
Texas Property Code Chapter 209
Catherine Rendahl got the room to quiet down enough for her to read a snippet of Texas law regarding HOA voting. According to Rendahl, Texas Property Code Chapter 209 requires there to be a special paragraph that needs to be on the ballot. She stated that it was missing from the ballots that were sent out to property owners and therefore a violation of state law.
Rendahl then made a motion:
I move that this vote on the first amended bylaws be postponed until such time as the votes can be taken in accordance to existing bylaws and Texas laws.
The entire room erupted with “Hear hear!”
Charles Krause then walked out the door and never came back.
Chaos
A woman in the audience asked Tovar about something and he replied “Are you talking to me? I can’t tell who you’re talking to.” So she got up, walked across the room, leaned over the table into Tovar’s face and asked him if he could see her better.
The crowd burst out laughing, and soon after others started surrounding the table and the WPPOA board members.
Once the front tables were surrounded, people in the room had a harder time hearing what was going on and being heard themselves. The room erupted in shouting and yelling.
When the Von Ormy Marshal attempted to quiet the room down a woman told him “Shut the fuck up.” He then backed off and kept silent.
The crowd around the table began asking Tovar questions. Tovar told everyone that he didn’t work for them, that he worked for the Home Owner’s Association. The crowd then explained to him that under the existing bylaws they were all representatives of the HOA. Tovar then changed his wording and said he worked only for the board.
At this point the Bexar County Sheriffs arrived. They were called in by one of the members in the audience.
People started leaving, some casting votes and others just walking away.
Enough people finally got the attention of everyone to remind them that there was a motion to postpone the vote until it was done legally. Tovar replied “Member’s don’t make motions, only the board does.”
“You better read those bylaws again, buddy” could be heard from across the room as people around Tovar explained to him that in the current bylaws members could make motions.
Jim Clement eventually said the vote would be redone at another time.
As the room started to empty out, the same woman who marched across the room to talk to Tovar passed out and fell backwards. Paramedics arrived soon after.
County and City Refused to Help
After the meeting, Rendahl said she had contacted Bexar County Commissioner Chico Rodriguez’s office regarding Clement’s plan to count absent people as voting “Yes.” She said Sylvia Mendelssohn from the office responded back that, because the area was now a city, it was the responsibility of the city government to address the issue.
The Sandy Oaks City Council knew about the vote ahead of time and knew that absent people would be counted as voting “yes.” No one had publicly spoken out against the vote or tried to have the city intervene. Alderman Micki Ball, however, posted on a facebook page that she runs anonymously the names and contact information of WPPOA board members.
Aldermen Tremblay and Tomasini were the only other Council members present at the meeting. Before the start, Tremblay said he was in favor of the WPPOA continuing and collecting the $180 assessment fees so that the city wouldn’t have to pay for roads.
Towards the end, Alderman Tomasini said “I don’t understand what the big deal is and why people wouldn’t be in favor of [the new bylaws].”
When asked if he had read them he admitted he hadn’t.
Comments are closed.