Condo Board President Accused of Getting Special Treatment!

B.C. from Hartford County, Connecticut writes:

Dear Mister Condo,

Our president was getting special treatment from our landscaper. He made allegations to another board member and a unit owner and so did this landscaper’s worker. He’s afraid to come forward with this information for fear of losing his contract. We told him we would take it up at the next board meeting. We did and asked for an investigation. All they did was ask for letters from the unit owner and NEVER questioned the landscaper to tell the truth with a meeting of all parties. Then one board member sent a letter to all unit owners and said the investigation was over and our president did not abuse her powers. Nothing was done. How can we get this landscaper to admit what he said?

Mister Condo replies:

B.C., letters like yours cause me great concern. Whether or not there was any impropriety occurring between the landscaper and your Board President, the appearance of impropriety is causing division among the community. The charges you are levying against the Board President and the landscaper are serious, perhaps even criminal, but they are also beyond the scope of the association’s board’s investigative powers. If there is no clear paper trail from the landscaper to the president, then you may have a purely circumstantial claim and will find it very difficult to prove. It sounds to me as though your Board responded to the request for an investigation by taking statements from the involved parties. Since they are not a court and have no legal authority whatsoever, they did all they can do. Ideally, one of the folks they questioned would have confessed but, since they didn’t, I don’t see what further recourse there should be from the Board’s point of view. Unless some hard evidence can be unearthed that wrongdoing has occurred, my advice is to focus on more important issues at your community. If you feel you have a dishonest person serving on your Board, be sure to vote them out of office at the next election. Of course, you need to be ready to replace that volunteer with another will and able Board member. Perhaps this is your time to volunteer for your association. Best wishes!