Entire Condo Board Resigns; Interim Leader Elected

L.F. from outside of Connecticut writes:

Dear Mister Condo,

The entire board resigned, effective immediately. Bylaws and declaration are silent regarding procedures when this happens. A majority of owners quickly voted to elect a “go to” person to serve in the interim as a “president” for 21 days when at a meeting we will reelect a board. A member of the former board is making quite a fuss insisting this good faith effort to ease the situation makes everyone liable and we must “just do without” until the meeting occurs. Must we?

Mister Condo replies:

L.F., small condos like yours face all sorts of challenges when it comes to governance. For starters, there just isn’t a very large pool of volunteers to draw from when it comes time to elect Board members. It is unfortunate that the entire Board resigned at one time but not completely uncommon. As a matter of law, your former Board member may be right about the proper election of replacement Board members but there is also the question of practicality and the will of the “majority of owners”. While I doubt anything criminal has happened here, there may be something questionable that has occurred. However, with the majority of unit owners in agreement, there isn’t likely to be any backlash or lawsuits arising form the interim appointment. The goal is to get the community back on track as quickly as possible, which I am guessing was done after the 21 days passed and the new election held. As long as no one is crying foul, the governance cycle is restored and it is business as usual for your association. Hopefully, whatever caused the entire Board to resign in one fell swoop has been resolved and order restored. Best of luck to your community and your new Board members!