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Recent matters of record

From the association's own board minutes and financial statements.

• September 17, 2026

  Annual meeting fails for want of quorum — 49 ballots of 192; adjourned to October 15

  All five board seats were on the ballot, with four candidates named on it: Greg Atherton, Lori Barker, Jan Furstenfeld and Tricia Halsema. At the meeting, held by Zoom at 5:00 PM, the Inspector of Elections announced 49 ballots returned. The Bylaws set quorum at a "majority of owners", defined as 51% of the votes — 51% of 192 is 97.92, so 98 — and the ballots were not opened. The meeting was adjourned to Thursday, October 15, 2026 at 5:00 PM, where Civil Code § 5115(d)(2) sets quorum at 20% of the members, 39, and § 5115(d)(1) counts every ballot already received as a member present. The Inspector also announced that votes cast for Tricia Halsema would not be counted, because she no longer owns a unit, which leaves three candidates for five seats. Forty-nine is two fewer than the 51 returned in February 2024, when the same failure was adjourned "until the next Annual Meeting" instead of to a date. No written report of this meeting has reached us; these figures are as announced.

  Source: The Inspector of Elections' announcements at the September 17, 2026 annual meeting, as recorded in an owner's contemporaneous notes; Notice of Annual Meeting & Election of Directors, HOA Elect CA, for September 17, 2026; Bylaws Art. II §§ 2 and 3; Civil Code § 5115(d), read on leginfo September 17, 2026

• September 15, 2026

  Two ballots mailed to one unit, neither arrived, and the Inspector expects quorum to fail

  An owner who bought his unit in March 2026 saw through USPS Informed Delivery that a ballot had been mailed to him on August 14, addressed to the previous owners. It never arrived. He asked the Inspector of Elections for a replacement on August 21. Eighteen days later, on September 8, Shawn Clay, Principal Inspector of Elections at HOA Elect CA, replied that he had "personally printed and mailed it" the week before. That one did not arrive either. By September 15 the owner was reporting two ballots undelivered, a signed replacement request sent by certified mail on August 31 also undelivered, and at least one neighbour saying the same about their own ballot. The Inspector then arranged for a ballot to be held for collection on proof of identity at his mailbox address on El Cajon Boulevard, which Civil Code § 5115(c)(2) expressly allows: the return envelope "may be mailed or delivered by hand to a location specified by the inspector or inspectors of elections", and "the member may request a receipt for delivery." In the same message he wrote that "it does not look like we will make the quorum requirement of a Majority of members", and that a meeting reconvened twenty days later would need 20 percent. That is the first time the person who counts the ballots has said so in writing. Quorum for Thursday is 98: Bylaws Art. II § 2 defines "majority of owners" as those holding 51% of the votes then entitled to vote, and 51% of 192 is 97.92. At a reconvened meeting § 5115(d)(2) sets it at 20 percent of the members, and 20% of 192 is 38.4, so 39. How widely ballots failed to arrive is not established here: the neighbour's report reaches this record second-hand, and what would settle it is the Inspector's own count of ballots sent against ballots returned, which is item (2) of the owner records request of August 30, 2026.

  Source: Email thread between an owner and Shawn Clay, Principal Inspector of Elections, HOA Elect CA, August 21 to September 15, 2026, copying Pernicano Realty & Management; Civil Code §§ 5115(c)(2) and 5115(d)(2), read on leginfo September 15, 2026; Bylaws Art. II §§ 2 and 3, verified transcription

• April 30, 2026

  Insurance is running at 37.1% of the budget that justified the increase

  Insurance (account 07280) stands at $74,197.06 year to date against a year-to-date budget of $199,740.00 — $125,542.94 under, on an annual budget of $599,220.00. April alone came in at $18,549.27 against $49,935.00. Insurance is the reason the Board gave both for the 20% dues increase and for the 2025 special assessment, so the gap is worth following. One caution before reading too much into it: the budget divides the annual figure into twelve equal months, while premiums are not necessarily paid that way, so timing may account for part of it. What the statement establishes is the position at April 30, not the outcome for the year.

  Source: Income Statement for the month ending April 30, 2026, account 07280

Know your rights

1. Your Right to Organize
2. Getting Association Records
3. How Directors Are Supposed to Be Chosen
4. Assessments: Why Dues Went Up 20%, and What to Ask Now
5. Fines and Due Process
6. Meetings, Agendas, and the Open Meeting Act
7. Internal Dispute Resolution
8. How a Board Actually Changes
9. Renting Your Unit
10. Balconies and the SB 326 Inspection
11. What Serving on the Board Actually Involves