Protect Your Vote.

• Our By-Laws define the annual meeting and its purpose.  This year the meeting must be held on October 7, 8:00 PM, not in May. ¹

• The annual meeting is NOT a Board of Directors meeting - it is a meeting of the unit owners. ¹  Contrary to what the notice states, such meetings must be open to  participation to all regardless if they are in good standing or not.   

• The notice should provide a definition of good standing because it is sole criterion for the eligibility of a nominee or casting a vote.² ³  ⁴ 

• All five (5) seats are up for election.  Who gets to fill those seats is up to the owners.  ¹ ⁵  ¹⁴ 

• Our quorum is 51% of the unit owners in person, by proxy or by absentee ballot. ⁶  ⁷  ⁸   By-Laws state the annual meeting may adjourn until such a quorum is reached. ⁹    If a meeting is adjourned, all previous votes should continue to count, votes may be amended and unit owners who were not eligible to vote may cast a vote if they return to good standing.

• The notice only provides a mailing address for submission, while the forms give an option to submit via email.  These types of inconsistencies should be fixed in the official election communications to avoid confusion and irregularities.

• The notice does not explain that nominees may submit a Candidate Statement which will be distributed with the ballots.  

• The form does not state how many seats are available (there's a minimum of five).⁵ 

• The form does not state the right of any unit owner to nominate another Unit Owner(s) for a seat on the Board.  ¹⁰  ¹¹  ¹²  ¹³ 

• There can be as many nominations as the unit owner wishes to submit, but this form only gives an option for one self-nomination.  ¹⁰  ¹¹  ¹²  ¹³ 

• The form does not state the  term for each of the available Board seats. ⁵  ¹⁴

• The form does NOT provide a definition of "good standing", which may make this term open to interpretation.² ³  ⁴ 

• The form fails to advise that it's a responsibility of the Association to verify and notify of the good standing status allowing the member to challenge this decision. ¹⁵

• Only By-Laws define "good standing", not the Master Deed as cited in the form. 

“All association members may nominate any member for candidacy, including self-nomination. The association shall ensure that all nominees are in good standing. Good standing shall be the sole criterion for the eligibility of a nominee.” 

N.J. Admin. Code § 5:26-8.9(k)(2) - pg.83 

The Board of Directors are the Guardians of the Community, Not CEOs!

The Board is not a power grab, but dedicated volunteers shaping our community's future. While qualified leadership is crucial, a restrictive information form focused solely on specific questions, such as professional experience in Finance, Real Estate, Accounting, Management disregards the diverse strengths within our 96-unit community.   

Limiting the candidate pool through overly narrow questioning hinders the nomination process and potentially disqualifies qualified individuals.  That is exactly why, Paragraph IV. "Running for Office" in  NJ DCA (Department of Community Affairs) election guidelines for the Associations states:

a(i). Written notice may be on a form provided by the association which shall only request: candidate’s name, mailing and electronic address (if any), unit or lot owned, or in which the candidate resides (if a tenant).