Pilot Prop

Now that we have removed the ugly TV antennas from our communities, we have oval dishes with a diagonal or diameter measurement up to 36 inches in length, appearing and being hung suspended from anywhere. Associations used to be able forbid the installation of dishes visible from anywhere in the common area. The FCC (Federal Communications Commission) took away that right and ordered that associations may not require prior requests for installation approval. The FCC was telling associations to create a dish installation policy and only take action against owners who do not comply with the policy. Many associations have still not produced a policy and therefore have no enforcement rights against the ugly or open installation of these dishes. The association may make reasonable restrictions on their placement so long as those restrictions do not impose significant additional cost or reduce its performance. The restrictions must include all of the following:

1. Requirement for application and notice, 2. Requirement to obtain approval from the association, 3. Provision for the maintenance e repair or replacement and 4. Requirements for installers to indemnify or reimburse the association for loss or damage caused by the association. The rules are not uncomplicated. While the FCC has ruled that owners may install on exclusive use properties including balconies. Patios and roofs in condominiums however it also issued a ruling that determined that associations may not be forced to allow installation in common areas. The FCC has said that if an owner has installed

 

Older associations almost always had a provision that allowed for cumulative voting. Cumulative voting allows a member to use all his votes in favor of one candidate. So if 5 members were up for annual election as board candidates, a member could cast all five votes for one candidate and none for anyone else. In a smaller association it would not take many people doing the same thing for one candidate to get elected if he had just a few stalwart friends who always voted for him. In a larger association the same holds true but less certainly. As a rule, it is not uncommon for members not to know the candidates personally, except perhaps in a senior community. The result is members will tend to disperse their votes evenly among the candidates not favoring any one person. A determined effort by one person accumulating 5 votes at a time can lead to a minority candidate being elected. Nowadays most associations do not allow cumulative voting and members are forced to choose from among a few perhaps unknowns or to cast maybe a single vote or two for their favored candidates.

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