Padre Island residents question the legality of the PIPOA meeting

• Island residents are furious over the Padre Isles Property Association (PIPOA) board and how it has been operating recently.
• Earlier this month, residents objected and protested the board's idea to hold 'Zoom only' meetings.
• Residents said Tuesday, Aug. 27 PIPOA meeting was illegally held because the board failed to give a notice 144 hours prior to the meeting.
• Islanders do not believe that the PIPOA is operating ethically.

Padre Island residents claimed that the Tuesday, Aug. 27 PIPOA regular monthly Board of Directors Meeting was held illegally.

Earlier this month, KRIS 6 News reported that island residents objected and protested the Padre Isles Property Association (PIPOA) board's announcmeent that they wanted to hold 'Zoom only' meetings for members with no in-person option. Fast forward to Tuesday, Aug. 27, PIPOA's regular monthly Board of Directors Meeting, and the board allowed residents to attend in person.

However, they still expressed frustrations with the board members, stating that the meeting was illegally held because the board failed to give a notice 144 hours prior.

“State law requires that the POA board send out a notice 144 hours in advance of the meeting, and that did not happen. Therefore, based on state law, this would be an invalid meeting tonight," former PIPOA President Marvin Jones said.

While some islanders were relieved that the PIPOA did not move forward with their 'Zoom only' meeting announcement from the July 30 meeting, they were not happy at this Tuesday's meeting.

“I hope that this board will become more considerate of its members. And be more transparent because they’re not doing that," Island resident and former PIPOA board member Sandy Graves said.

Islanders said that not only is the PIPOA board failing to follow the law when it comes to meeting procedures, but some also believe the board is hiding things from the members.

"We've sent emails out. We've spoken on social media. And still, they're silent," Graves said. "One thing that kind of bothered me was when the agenda was put out, the executive director, Mr. McGinley, stated that the agenda may change as he’s awaiting approval from some of the board."

According to the Texas State Property Code, "A 144 hours notice is required for regular meetings. A 72 hour notice is required for special meetings; By posting notice on the association's website and notifying the owners by email."

During Tuesday night's meeting, the PIPOA board members argued that since it was a Board of Directors meeting, they only had to follow the 72-hour notice policy. During the public comment section of Tuesday night's meeting, resident Tom Gottemoller stated the meeting announcement was posted 129.5 hours prior to the meeting.

He, and others along with resident and former PIPOA Board president Marvin Jones, argued that the 144 hours notice should have been the standard because it was a regular public meeting.

“During the course of the meeting, the president admitted that they did not give 144 hours notice for the meeting," Jones said.

The PIPOA board did not announce when the next meeting will be held.

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