Red Flags in the Current TLTR Bylaws
These pages are one homeowner's plain-English reading of the Association's bylaws and the proposed amendment. They are not legal advice. Check everything against the documents yourself; the bylaws and the proposal are linked below.
The short version
The bylaws we live under were adopted in 1969 by the company that built the neighborhood and have been amended since (most recently in 2011, when “registered mail” became “certified mail”). They were designed to keep the developer in charge, and most of that structure is still in the rules we are governed by today. Here are the four biggest problems:
- Three board seats belong to the “Declarant.” The Declarant is the original developer, CWB Corp. Those three directors do not have to own a home here. They serve five years at a time. And they get to decide how the other directors are elected. If people still hold those seats, they can outvote everyone else. If nobody holds them, the board cannot legally hold a meeting (more on that below). The amendment removes these seats, but swaps in a board that picks its own size and whose members stay until replaced.
- A tiny group can change the rules. Only 10% of owners need to show up (in person or by proxy) to hold a meeting. The bylaws can be changed by a majority of whoever shows up. So about 5% of owners can rewrite the bylaws. The amendment makes this worse: a second-try meeting needs only 5%, so about 2.5% of owners could change the bylaws.
- The board controls who gets on the ballot. To run for the board, you must send a certified letter to the board’s own chairman 60 days before the election. The board does not have to tell anyone when that deadline is. The board can also move the election date whenever it wants. The amendment keeps all of this and only adds email as a way to file.
- Big gaps. The bylaws never say how to fill an empty board seat. They mention a “Nominating Committee” that is never actually described. When rules are missing, the board fills in the blanks for itself. The amendment deletes the Nominating Committee instead of defining it, and still says nothing about filling empty seats, except that directors can be “appointed.”
A few words you will see a lot:
- Quorum = the minimum number of people who must be present for a vote to count.
- Proxy = a signed paper that lets someone else vote for you.
- Declarant = the developer that built the subdivision.
- Lien = a legal claim on your house for money you owe. A lien can lead to foreclosure, which means the house is sold to pay the debt.
This is a plain-English reading of the documents, not legal advice. Your lawyer should confirm anything before you act on it.
Who controls the board
| Rule | What it says | Why it is a problem | What the amendment does |
|---|---|---|---|
| Art. IV §1 – Declarant seats | The board is 3 “Declarant Directors” (from the developer, do not need to own a home) plus 1 director from each section. The Declarant Directors decide how section directors are elected. | This is a developer-control setup from 1969. Ask who holds those three seats today and how they got them. If the board has just been ignoring this rule, every election run that way can be challenged. | Removes the Declarant seats (good) but replaces them with a 5-to-9 member board whose size the board itself chooses, with no section seats. Needs member vote. |
| Art. IV §2 – Five-year terms | Declarant Directors are elected every 5 years. | That is a long time with almost no way to remove them (next row). | Replaces with 2-year staggered terms (good), but directors stay in office until a successor is elected or appointed, which can mean forever if elections stall. |
| Art. IV §4 – Removing a director | A section director can be removed by a majority of owners in that section. A Declarant Director needs a majority of all owners in the whole neighborhood. | “All owners” means everyone, not just the people who vote. With a 10% quorum, that is basically impossible. | Not touched. With section seats gone, it is unclear whether any owner removal rule still applies to at-large directors. |
| Art. VI §3 – Board quorum | The board can only act if a majority of the Declarant Directors and a majority of the section directors are present. | If the Declarant seats are empty, the board can never legally meet. If they are filled, those three people can block everything. | Not touched. The amendment deletes the seat types this rule depends on but leaves the rule in place. |
| Art. VI §4 – Who gets to vote | The board decides whether a question is for one section or the whole neighborhood. | The board picks who is allowed to vote on any issue. | Deleted if section seats go away; the board says this needs no owner vote. |
| Art. VI §1 – Board meetings | Board meetings “may” be held monthly. | Nothing says meetings must happen, or that owners can attend. Texas law (Property Code §209.0051) now requires open board meetings with public notice. The bylaws do not mention that. | Adds the legal notice methods (mail 10–60 days, or posted 6 days ahead); the board says this needs no owner vote. Still no minimum number of meetings and still no statement that owners may attend. |
| Art. VIII §1 – Officers | Only the President and Vice President must be board members. The Secretary and Treasurer do not have to be. | The two people who control the records and the money can be anyone the board picks, even non-owners. The board can fire or replace them at any time. | Not touched, and the amendment also deletes officers’ one-year terms, so a non-owner treasurer could stay indefinitely. |
| Art. VIII §6 – Empty seats | Officer vacancies are filled by the board. Director vacancies are never mentioned. | Boards usually fill empty director seats by appointing their friends. That is how a board keeps itself in power between elections. | Not fixed. New text says a director serves until a successor is “elected or appointed,” which quietly confirms the board can appoint. |
| Art. IX – Nominating Committee | Says there is a Nominating Committee “as provided in these By-Laws.” | There is no such provision anywhere. So there is no independent group to recruit candidates. | Deleted rather than defined. Needs member vote. |
| Art. VII §1(a) – Rules and fines | The board can make rules about the common areas and the “personal conduct” of owners and guests, and set penalties. | The board can write rules and fines on its own. Texas law now requires notice and a hearing before fining anyone (§209.006). The bylaws say nothing about that. | Not touched. |
| Art. VII §1(d) – Hiring a manager | The board can hire a manager or contractor and decide their duties. | Normal by itself. But there are no rules about bidding or conflicts of interest, so the board could hire a friend or a board member’s company. | Not touched. The amendment also deletes the theft-insurance (bonding) rule for people handling money. |
Elections and voting
| Rule | What it says | Why it is a problem | What the amendment does |
|---|---|---|---|
| Art. V §1 – Running for the board | You must send a certified letter to the Chairman of the Board by midnight, 60 days before the election. | The person already in charge is the gatekeeper. Nobody has to announce the deadline. Miss it by one day and you are off the ballot. | Keeps it. Adds email as a filing option. Still no duty to announce the deadline. For a November 13 election that deadline was September 14. |
| Art. V §1 – Election date | Elections happen at the annual meeting “unless otherwise determined by the Directors.” | The board can move the election without asking anyone. | Keeps it word for word. |
| Art. III §1 – Annual meeting date | Held on the same day and month as the very first meeting, at 8:00 PM. The date is not written down. | You cannot tell from the bylaws when the meeting is supposed to be. Ask for the incorporation date and the first meeting’s minutes. | Not touched. |
| Art. III §2 – Owner-called meetings | Owners holding 25% of the votes can demand a special meeting. | Getting 25% of owners to sign anything is very hard. | Lowers to 20% of lots, adds a 30-day deadline for the board, but makes owners deliver notice to every lot themselves if the board stalls. Needs member vote. |
| Art. III §3 – Meeting notice | Notice is mailed 15 days before a meeting. | Not terrible, but there is no email and no sign posted anywhere. Owners who moved or rent out their house may never hear about it. | Makes it worse, and the board says no owner vote is needed: a sign posted 6 days ahead would count as notice of an owner meeting. |
| Art. III §4 – Quorum | Only 10% of the votes are needed for a meeting to count. If not enough people show up, the meeting can be put off again and again with no new notice. | The board plus its collected proxies can be a quorum all by themselves. A re-scheduled meeting needs no new notice, so absent owners never find out. | Makes it worse, and the board says no owner vote is needed: a second-try meeting within 60 days needs only 5%. |
| Art. III §5 – Proxies | Proxies must be written and filed with the Secretary. They never expire until you sell. | The board can hold a proxy you signed years ago and keep using it. Nothing says who counts the ballots or whether owners can watch. | Improves it (board vote only): proxies expire after 11 months; mail-in and email ballots allowed. Still silent on who counts ballots and on recounts. |
| Art. V §2 – Secret ballot | Votes are by secret written ballot. | Sounds good, but nothing says who counts them. In practice the board counts its own election. | Not touched. |
| Art. IV §3 – Criminal record | Any conviction for any crime (except minor traffic tickets) means you cannot run. | Texas law only bars felonies and crimes of “moral turpitude” from the last 20 years (§209.00591). The board could use a decades-old misdemeanor to block someone they do not like. | Fixes it to match Texas law. Needs member vote. |
| Art. IV §3 – Where directors live | Section directors must live in their section. Declarant Directors can live anywhere. | Three board seats can be held by people who do not live here at all. | Makes it worse: no director has to live here. Any owner, or an employee of a company that owns a lot, can serve. |
Money, fines and foreclosure
| Rule | What it says | Why it is a problem | What the amendment does |
|---|---|---|---|
| Art. VII §2(c)(3) and Art. XI – Foreclosure | If dues are 30 days late, the board can foreclose (force the sale of your house). It adds 10% interest, court costs and lawyer fees. | Thirty days, no warning, no payment plan. Texas law now requires payment-plan options (§209.0062), a written notice and a chance to catch up (§209.0064), and a court process before foreclosure (§209.0092). The bylaws act like none of that exists. | Not touched. The board fixed the rules that limit its power to act, but left the foreclosure rule as is. |
| Art. VII §1(b) – Losing your vote | The board can take away your right to vote and use the pool or other amenities if you owe dues. | Taking away someone’s vote for unpaid dues is illegal in Texas (§209.0059). If anyone was turned away at a past election for owing money, that election is tainted. | Fixes it (required by law); the board says this needs no owner vote, which is fair here. |
| Art. VII §2(c)(1)–(2) – Dues | The board sets the yearly dues 30 days before the year starts and mails everyone a notice. | The board alone decides how much you pay. No cap, no owner vote on increases. The Declaration (a separate document) may have limits; the bylaws do not. | Not touched. |
| Art. VII §2(d) – Paid-up letters | When you sell, the board can charge “a reasonable charge” for a letter saying your dues are paid. | “Reasonable” is not defined. Texas caps resale certificate fees (§207.003). This is a common place for junk fees. | Not touched. |
| Art. VIII §8 – Checks | The Treasurer signs all checks and the President co-signs. | Two signatures is good. Make sure the bank actually requires it. | Not touched, but see the next row. |
| Art. VII §2(f) – Bonding | Officers who handle money are “bonded” (insured against theft) if the board thinks it is appropriate. | Already optional. The proposed amendment deletes it completely. That removes the only mention of insurance that would pay owners back if a treasurer steals. | Deleted with no reason given, and the board says no owner vote is needed. |
| Art. X – Records | Any owner can inspect the books during business hours. Copies of the governing documents cost about $5. | This is actually a good rule for owners. The proposed amendment replaces it with a slower, more expensive process. Use it before it changes. | Makes it worse, and the board says no owner vote is needed: certified letter required, 10 business days to respond, board sets fees. Documents do go online (good). |
Rules that already break Texas law
Texas Property Code Chapter 209 is the state law for HOAs. When a bylaw conflicts with it, the state law wins. These bylaws are already unenforceable, no matter what the board votes on. That matters because a board enforcing a dead rule is acting outside its authority.
- Taking away your vote for unpaid dues (Art. VII §1(b)) – not allowed, §209.0059.
- Banning anyone with any criminal record from the board (Art. IV §3) – the law only bars felonies and moral-turpitude crimes within 20 years, §209.00591.
- Board meetings owners cannot attend (Art. VI §1) – meetings must be open and posted in advance, §209.0051. The law also lists things a board may never do outside an open meeting: fines, dues increases, lawsuits, big contracts, borrowing money.
- Foreclosing 30 days after dues are late (Art. XI) – the law requires notice, a chance to catch up, payment plans, and a court process (§209.0062, §209.0064, §209.0092).
- Fines with no hearing (Art. VII §1(a)) – notice and hearing are required, §209.006 and §209.007.
- Records only in person at the office (Art. X) – owners can request records in writing with deadlines (§209.005), and governing documents must be posted online (§207.006).
- The board running its own election (Art. V) – board members, candidates and their relatives cannot count ballots (§209.00594); owners can demand a recount (§209.0057); absentee and electronic voting must be allowed (§209.00592).
The board’s own amendment notes cite several of these laws, so they know the bylaws are out of date. The amendment fixes the vote-suspension rule, the criminal-record rule, voting methods, and board-meeting notice. It does not fix the foreclosure rule, the fines-without-hearing rule, or the board counting its own ballots. And it uses the records law as an excuse to make records harder to get, not easier. The second document goes through each change.
What the board’s own posted minutes show
The HOA website posts meeting minutes going back to January 2024 (meeting notes page). Read together, they show meetings on no fixed schedule, board members who arrive and leave with no recorded election, and a run-off election that was simply canceled.
| Meeting | Day / time | Who ran it | What the minutes say |
|---|---|---|---|
| Jan–Jun 2024 | Monthly | prior board | Six monthly meetings, then a special meeting July 25, 2024. |
| Aug 20, Sep 10, Oct 8, 2024 | Tuesdays, 6:30 PM | prior board | Monthly. |
| Nov 18, 2024 | Monday, 8:03 PM | Hawthorne, Garcia, Johnson | Refers to “the vision of the New board.” No election or appointment recorded. Minutes list the meeting as adjourned at the same minute it opened. |
| Dec 2024 | — | — | A resident later asked “why the December run-off elections were canceled.” No minutes posted. |
| Feb 18, 2025 | Tuesday, 7:00 PM (site lists Feb 19) | Hawthorne, Garcia, Johnson; attorney Ashleigh Musselman introduced | Board announces meetings “would be held quarterly, and go from there.” A resident’s letter of intent to join the board is declined. Elections promised “in November as scheduled.” Robert Ethridge named to the ACC and a new Advisory Committee. |
| May 18, 2025 | — | — | Referenced in the November minutes as approved; minutes not posted. |
| Aug 2025 | — | — | No meeting posted, despite “quarterly.” |
| Nov 18, 2025 (annual) | Tuesday, 8:02 PM | Garcia, Hawthorne, Johnson | No election, nominations, ballots or count recorded. Notes “the need for additional help in the sections that are missing a section director.” |
| Feb 12, 2026 | Thursday | — | Link on the website is broken (goes nowhere). |
| May 12, 2026 | Tuesday, 7:01 PM | Ethridge, Campbell, Johnson | Two of three attendees are new since November. No election or appointment recorded anywhere. A resident asks whether “new deed restrictions” would include the HOA buying back the pool and park. |
| Aug 2026 | — | — | No meeting posted. |
| Nov 13, 2026 (planned) | Friday | Ethridge, Campbell, Johnson | Bylaw vote. The website says member meetings are the second Tuesday of the month, which would be November 10. |
Three things follow from this.
- The annual meeting is in November, so November 13 is almost certainly the election meeting, and the 60-day candidate deadline (September 14) was never properly announced. If it went out at all, it went out on Facebook and the sign at the entrance. Neither counts: Art. III §3 says notice is mailed, and Texas §209.0056 says election notice goes by mail or email. Facebook’s algorithm decides who sees a post, and nobody is guaranteed to drive past a sign.
- The current president and vice president have no recorded election. The November 2025 annual meeting shows no vote; by May 2026 they are running the meeting. Ask how they took office. If they were appointed, the bylaws contain no provision allowing it.
- Section seats are vacant by the board’s own admission, which means the Art. VI §3 board quorum (“a majority of the section Directors”) may not have been met at any meeting since 2024.
The HOA has had an attorney since at least February 2025. The amendment was almost certainly drafted with that attorney’s help, at the Association’s expense.
Sources: Nov 18, 2024 · Feb 18, 2025 · Nov 18, 2025 annual · May 12, 2026
Rights you have right now
The same bylaws give owners some real rights. Several of them shrink or disappear under the proposed amendment. Use them first, and the paperwork you collect will be exactly what your lawyer needs.
- Look at the books any business day (Art. X). No certified letter, no waiting, no fee to look. Ask for the general ledger, bank statements, the management contract, board meeting minutes, and the file of proxies.
- A yearly audit by a public accountant (Art. VIII §8). Ask for the last three audit reports. If there are none, the Treasurer has broken this rule every year.
- A yearly budget and income statement delivered to every owner (Art. VIII §8). The rule says deliver, not “make available.” Ask for copies.
- A report on what the board did at every annual meeting (Art. VII §2(a)).
- Insurance on HOA property (Art. VII §2(e)). Ask for the current policies.
- Remove your section director by a majority vote of your section (Art. IV §4).
- A vote on every bylaw change (Art. XIII §1). The bylaws say only members can amend them. Nothing lets the board do it alone.
- $5 certified copies of the governing documents (printed at the bottom of the bylaws). Get a certified set now, including the Declaration and the Articles of Incorporation, so nobody can later claim you have the wrong version.
Questions to send the board in writing
Send these by certified mail and by email so you have proof of the date. Under Texas law (§209.005) the HOA has 10 business days to answer a records request. Send them now: the board plans to vote on its amendments at the general meeting on November 13, and a request sent this week is due back around October 22. Bring the letters and whatever comes back to your lawyer.
About the November 13 meeting
- Will directors be elected on November 13? If so, the filing deadline under Art. V §1 was September 14. When and how was that deadline announced to owners?
- Give me the written notice of the special meeting where the amendments were announced, and the date it was mailed. Was 15 days’ notice given under Art. III §3?
- On what date will the mailed notice of the November 13 meeting go out, and will it include the full amendment text and a mail-in ballot as Texas law requires (§209.00592)?
- Who will count the ballots on November 13? Texas law bars board members, candidates and their relatives (§209.00594). Will owners be allowed to watch the count?
- Will each amendment be voted on separately, as the ballot format in the amendment itself requires?
About the board’s claim that eight changes need no owner vote
- The amendment labels eight changes “without membership vote.” What rule or law would let the board adopt those without a vote, when Art. XIII §1 says only members can amend the bylaws? Will the board agree in writing not to adopt them unless members vote?
- Give me the full Declaration of Covenants, including the “Section 11 Covenant for Maintenance Assessments, part (5)” the board cites for cutting the quorum to 5%. Does that clause apply to all meetings or only to dues votes?
- Who drafted the amendment? If a lawyer did, what did it cost and who approved the expense?
About the changes themselves
- Why is the bonding (theft-insurance) rule being deleted? No law requires it. Does the HOA currently carry a fidelity bond or crime policy, and for how much?
- Under the new board rules, how many seats will there be, who decides, and will every seat be on the ballot at the first election or will current directors keep their seats?
- Seats 5 through 9 are not covered by the staggered-term schedule. What are their terms?
- What counts as an “emergency” for an emergency board meeting with no notice to owners?
- Why is the live-here requirement for directors being removed? How many lots are owned by companies, investors or non-residents?
- Why does the amendment make records harder to get (certified letter, 10-day wait, fees) when Texas law only sets a minimum?
Records to request now, while Art. X still allows walk-in inspection
- Who holds the three Declarant Director seats today, and what document gave them that right? If nobody does, how has the board met the quorum rule in Art. VI §3?
- What is the date the HOA was incorporated, and the date of the first annual meeting? (That sets the annual meeting date under Art. III §1.)
- Give me the last three yearly audits required by Art. VIII §8, and the letters hiring the auditor.
- Give me the last three yearly budgets and income statements as sent to owners.
- Give me every proxy currently on file with the Secretary, with the date each was received.
- Who counted the ballots in the last two elections? Was any owner refused a ballot for owing dues?
- Give me the current management or contractor agreement, and any contract with a board member, a board member’s relative, or a board member’s business.
- Has the board adopted the payment-plan rules, records policy, and fine schedule Texas law requires? Give me copies and the dates they were filed with the county.