HOW TO SURVIVE LIVING IN A CONDO: Rule 1 - DON'T JOIN THE BOARD

If you want to live happily in a condo, the best thing is to let the crazies continue running the Board.   Mine is a cautionary tale.  About 6 months after I moved in I decided to volunteer for the gardening committee.  As most of my neighbors were elderly and infirm, someone who could actually kneel down and then stand up was a rare commodity.
This threw me into the rarified sphere of influence of the VP of the board, our illustrious Sarah.   I was a bit cautious as I clearly knew that Sarah and the "Truth" were at odds.  As they say, "She had great respect for the truth so she used it sparingly."
As I was anxious to meet my neighbors I continued my "friendship" with Sarah and joined her exercise group, her swimming aerobics group, and basically became her gopher.  I drove her around helping her with errands and meeting new people.
So, when the next Fall she asked me to join the Board, I agreed.  It was a fairly easy race as Sarah pretty much called the shots with elections.  She knew everyone and asked them to support her pet so I squeaked in.
Once in, I agreed to be recording secretary and spent the next 7 months faithfully recording the goings on of the Board.   I was content to do this but I was definitely not "in the know".  Decisions, issues, financial problems were dealt with by the inner circle of the Board - Sarah, Bambi, Nan and Brad.  All the rest of us were cyphers.  We weren't told what was going on, weren't involved in discussions, and were basically warming seats. 

Then I met up with Nikkie.  Nikkie was a knowledgeable resident who was curious about a number of issues concerning the association.  She started asking me questions and I realized that I was being kept in the dark about matters that were important to the entire association. 


I compiled a list of the questions and wrote up a request to get access to documents so that I could make more informed decisions and so that I would be able to fulfill my fiduciary duty to the Board.
 Innocently, I submitted the request to the Board and the stonewalling began...