On April 18th we held our Desert Ridge Community Association (Master Association) Annual Membership Meeting where we elected two new directors: Sandra Kramer, and Terry Coult to the DRCA board of Directors. Incumbent Barry Goldfarb re-elected to another term. These three board members will each serve a two-year term. We also passed several amendments to the CC&Rs (Covenants, Conditions, and Restrictions) and Bylaws.
To maintain transparency, rather than having the existing board members or the managing agent, FirstService Residential, oversee the voting and election tallies; the process was managed by the independent third-party accounting firm of Butler Hanson, PC.
Transparency in board elections is crucial for fostering trust, accountability, and inclusivity within the community. When board elections are transparent, homeowners are more likely to have confidence in the integrity of the process and the legitimacy of the elected board members. This ensures that all eligible homeowners have access to information regarding candidates, voting procedures, and election outcomes, promoting a fair and democratic election environment, encourage greater participation from homeowners, leading to increased civic engagement and a stronger sense of community ownership.
I would like to congratulate Sandra, Terry, and Barry on their election. Your willingness to serve the community is amicable and we look forward to serving with you. I would also like to thank the members of the Desert Ridge Community Association for their record participation in this year’s election.
Here are the amendments that overwhelmingly passed on April 18th:
The Association regulates public roadways within the Association, as further set forth in the Declaration of Covenants, Conditions, Restrictions and Easements. Pursuant to A.R.S. § 33-1818, the Association is required to hold a vote of the membership on the question of whether the Association retains the right to regulate these public roadways.
- This allows the DRCA to continue to enforce Section 6.3.9, Parking of the existing CC&Rs which reads:
“It is the intent of Declarant and Master Developer to eliminate on-street parking as much as possible in Desert Ridge. Vehicles shall be kept in garages, residential driveways, other designated parking areas or as otherwise required in a Subsidiary Declaration. The Association may adopt additional parking restrictions and may establish fines and assessments for their violations, and/or may elect to tow vehicles at the expense of the owner. The Association may also delegate (permanently or temporarily) its authority to enforce such parking restrictions to the appropriate Subsidiary Association.”
- The membership voted to approve this amendment by over a 95% margin.
Article I of the Bylaws was amended to add a Section 1.5 entitled “Association Meetings” as follows:
“Section 1.5 Association Meetings. All meetings of the Association, including meetings of the Members and the Board of Directors may held virtually (i.e., Zoom, Microsoft Teams), in person or as otherwise authorized by law, at the discretion of the Board of Directors.”
- This greatly improves the ability to reach quorum (the minimum number of committee or board members that must be present for official business to be carried out.)
- The membership voted to approve this amendment by over a 97% margin.
Article IV Section 4.1 of the Bylaws entitled “Number and Qualification of Directors” is amended to add a third sentence as follows:
“In addition to and notwithstanding the foregoing, regardless of the number of Memberships or number of Lots or Parcels a Member owns, a Member shall not be eligible to serve on the Board of the Desert Ridge Community Association if the Member also serves on the Board of a Subsidiary Association.”
- This is to help prevent conflicts of interest.
- The membership voted to approve this amendment by over a 91% margin.
Article IV Section 4.1 of the Bylaws entitled “Number and Qualification of Directors” is amended to replace in the third and fourth sentence as follows:
“The Board shall consist of either five (5) or seven (7) directors. The number of directors may be changed by the Board.”
- The previous bylaws stated that there will be seven directors on the DRCA Board of Directors. This change allows the DRCA board to have as few as five or as many as seven.
- The membership voted to approve this amendment by over a margin of 87%.
On behalf of the board and nominating committee we wish to thank our community members for their participation, attendance, and casting their vote during this year’s annual meeting and election. We wish our community residents a safe and enjoyable summer.
Reginald Younger, Jr.
President
Desert Ridge Community Association
