“It’s not just about water, It’s about The whole community”, He says David Martin. This phrase, pronounced after a tense vote and in the midst of a legal conflict, summarizes the background of a dispute that has shaken the residents of Canyon Trailsin USA.
The controversy began with a simple gesture: offer free cold water From a container at the entrance of his house, but has led to a battle for representation and norms within the neighborhood association (HOA).
For five years, Martin Place daily bottles of ice water on a portable fridge at its entrance, accompanied by a handwritten message: “Please take a free water! Even you, hoa”. The objective, he explains, is to provide a small relief to drivers, families and children in the neighborhood, and contribute something positive in difficult times.
However, this act has had unexpected consequences: Martin has accumulated several fines of $ 100 by the Canyon Trails Home Owners Association. The administrator of the HOA, Residential First Servicehe declared to 12News That, although they do not oppose a resident distributing free water, community regulations prohibit advertising water distribution from a visible portable cooler from other properties.
In the words of the organization: “The association does not oppose a resident to provide free water bottles to the community; however, the rules of the community do not allow a resident to announce the distribution of water bottles from a portable ice cream, located next to its garage and visible from neighboring properties.”
Before the sanctions, Martin He refuses to pay the fines and ensures that he will not remove the small container. “I am firm that I will not pay the fines. The icebox is not going anywhere and I will fight for it, ”he says. This position led him to start a request to dismiss three members of the Board of Directors of the HOA.
According to Martin, he managed to gather enough owners’ firms for Activate the process And, on Thursday, a special vote was held. Two members of the Board participated in the meeting whose positions were not at stake, around Two dozen neighbors and his own Martin. During the meeting, attendees addressed other problems with the HOA, such as the Lack of response to the concerns of the residents and the delay in the resolution of incidents.
“I am not the only one who sees that There is something wrong In our community, ”said Martin. Two volunteers were in charge of counting votes and announced that they received 210 ballots, of which 190 supported the dismissal of the three members.
Deryl Rileymember of the HOA, confirmed that the necessary quorum was reached and that, with the majority in favor, the aforementioned members would cease to be part of the Board as of Friday.
However, the three affected members questioned the legality of what happened. Although they refused to talk to the cameras of 12NewsThey claimed that Martin had not gathered enough signatures to proceed with dismissal.
This motivated one emergency meeting The previous Wednesday, in which the Board canceled Thursday’s vote for lack of signatures. In addition, they argued that the vote was invalid because the owners were not notified 24 hours in advance and questioned if 210 votes are enough for quorum in a community with more than 1,000 homes.
For its part, Martin He maintains that he did meet the requirements, and sent to 12News a notification supposedly issued by the Community Administrator of Residential First Servicewhich indicates that both the company and its legal advice determined that the petition complied with state legislation.
Yet, Martin He anticipates that the conflict will end in court and ensures that he is already preparing for legal battle.
