Declaration Awareness Month
I was quite surprised to see a notice of our condo board meeting in the mail a few weeks ago. I've lived
here many years and never received such notice before. I had mixed feelings about that. Being a tree hugger and a cheapskate,
I'd prefer to receive this notice via email as had been done prior. Going forward, I'd like to consider that we make email notification
available in place of postal mail delivery for those owners who prefer that option.
I'm sure this was a result of the
Palm II decision as it relates to our condo declaration.
Our declaration by-laws on pages C-3 and C-4 clearly state that notice of all meetings must be made by postal
delivery not less than 10 days nor more than 30 days before such meeting is held.
It seems as if our condo board suddenly awoke to the fact that there are binding documents that apply to their conduct.
Very troubling was a statement made by George Pauley at the condo board meeting on April 29th 2014, where he said publicly, before
all of the members in attendance, that our condo dec was never amended. I was stunned. Not only have our board members failed to follow our dec,
it appears they haven't even read it, nor know of amendments made to it.
Now, I'm willing to give our esteemed president the benefit of the doubt and assume he merely has a bad memory in light of the fact that his
signature is on two amendment documents dated November 19, 2007 and June 11, 2012. These documents are available for download from our
DKCondo web site.
The amendment from 2012 covers the combination of 2 units, not very interesting in itself other than the fact that several other
units in this building have been combined without any amendments made. The amendments made in 2007, however, require much more
careful inspection. These amendments were made to bring our dec into compliance with Illinois law.
The 2007 amendments specifically required written notice be delivered to all association members regarding their adoption.
I never got one, nor did any other association members. Could it be conceivable that the board never sent out such notice?
One more piece of evidence illustrating the chronic proprietary and secretive behavior of our board, as well as their disregard
for the regulations they are required to follow.
It is incumbent upon all board members to have an understanding of our dec, both the original document and all its
amendments, as well as the relevant municipal and state laws that govern their conduct, in much the same way that members of Congress must have an understanding of our
Constitution and it's amendments. If they don't, then they are not qualified to hold their position in office.
Our dec and its amendments are not something to be ignored or tossed aside and used on an ad hoc basis, when it suits the whims of the board.
We live in a society based upon the rule of law. This association is not anyone's fiefdom, our finances are not anyone's personal piggy bank, and the
members of this association will not be intimidated into submission by any administrative clique.