Further questions have arisen about the document filed in Brazoria County on January 14, 2014 in which the Board shows its intent to repeal the Election Guidelines for the Community. This document refers specifically to the 2009 Election Guidelines that were filed under Brazoria County number 200932658:

RESOLVED, that the Pine Hollow Subdivision Guidelines for the Election of the Board of Trustee Positions filed under Clerk’s File Number 200932658 in the Real Property Records of Brazoria County, Texas, along with any amendments or supplements thereto are hereby REPEALED in their entirety; its further

RESOLVED, that pending approval of new guidelines, the Association will rely upon and operate consistent with its existing governing documents and the Texas Property Code statutory provisions relating to homeowner association elections.

On its face, it appears that the Board only repeals the original 2009 Election Guidelines and any amendments or supplements that were made to that particular document. However, that document had already been superseded. On January 23, 2012, the Board replaced the 2009 guidelines in their entirety when it approved the 2012 Election Guidelines and subsequently filed them in Brazoria County under number 2012014842 on April 9, 2012. The 2012 guidelines were neither an amendment nor a supplement to the 2009 guidelines, but an entirely new set of guidelines. Moreover, the 2012 guidelines were written in large part to comply with the 2011 State Laws that govern the Association elections. The 2012 Election Guidelines were reviewed and approved by the association attorney for compliance with all applicable statutes.

In light of the fact that the 2009 Election Guidelines were no longer in effect, the recent so-called repeal of them by the current Board is puzzling. By use of the phrase “pending approval of new guidelines” the Board seems to indicate its intent to adhere to new election guidelines that comply with statutory requirements once such guidelines are approved. In fact, such guidelines have already been approved, in 2012, and properly filed with Brazoria county. Does this mean that the Board intends to adhere to these 2012 election guidelines, which ironically were approved by a Board on which the current HOA Board president sat?

This whole sequence of events raises a number of questions. Why did the Pine Hollow HOA Board completely ignore the existence of the 2012 Election Guidelines when it conducted last year’s election? Why now is that Board trying to eliminate any formal election guidelines? Why is the Board implying that the election guidelines were out of compliance with State laws when in fact they were not? Why did they then use this pretext in a failed attempt to repeal the election guidelines and claim that authority for themselves? And the biggest question – since the 2012 election guidelines are still in effect, will the Board comply with those guidelines in its running of the 2014 elections or will the Board again this year disregard approved policies and processes to pick and choose how it wants the election to be run?