Banning a Former Condo Board Member from Future Service

A.G. from New Haven County writes:

Dear Mister Condo,

Can a condo Board of Directors make a motion to ban a previous board member (past president) from entering the BOD again?

A situation with the past president, who was unseated in the past election by a landslide, created a dysfunctional environment in the community. Stakeholders find that the previous Board did a disservice to the entire community through their actions. Now the new board must 1) bring good faith back to the stakeholders in the community; and 2) fix the problems created, most likely through an assessment and investments in the 200+ unit community. Thank you.

Mister Condo replies:

A.G., I am sorry that your community association went through such an unfortunate experience. I am not aware of any provision that would allow you to ban any eligible member from ever serving on the Board again. In fact, if you were to attempt such a ban, I believe this individual would be well within his or her rights to bring action against the Board for attempting to limit his or her rights as a unit owner within your community. My guess is that it would be a cold day in hell before unit owners would reelect this person to the Board, let alone President. I would leave well enough alone. The good news is that this person is off of the Board now. If he or she runs for the Board again, be sure you do a banner job of reminding fellow unit owners of how they handled the job previously. Best wishes!