The Protective Covenants of the Village of St. Marie place no restrictions on the right to vote of owners of units and commercial property in St. Marie. Each unit owner is entitled to one vote per unit, and there are no qualifications that have to be met in order to vote or to run for office.
Two directors in the Village Association, in 2009, passed an amendment to the bylaws that says just the opposite – you can’t vote or run for office unless you are current in all your fees on every unit you own. The way this bylaw was passed, without a vote of the members, violates the Montana nonprofit corporation act. In last year’s election, the ladies that were in office were so zealous to maintain control that they didn’t even follow their own bylaws. New St. Marie, LLC, was all paid up on their village fees and had 365 proxy votes cast that were not even counted, and Nilla Hansen won the election with only 75 votes.
Some of you may have read in The Buzz that Terry-Lee’s Motion for a Restraining Order to prevent this year’s village election was denied. The reason the judge gave for denying the motion was that the “case is closed” and “the court is without jurisdiction to act.” That sounds like an easy way to brush it all aside and not have to think about it any more. But was the case really closed?
Why would the judge say it was closed if it was not? You would think that the judge would know what’s going on in his own court! Right? Or is that asking too much?
True, the judge did dismiss Terry-Lee’s original complaint on June 4th. But the original complaint was amended on April 24th and the judge did not dismiss his amended complaint, which is still before the court. Thus, the court still has jurisdiction to hear the motion for temporary restraining order. A rule 60(b) motion has been filed to notify the court of the error and to reinstate the motion.
St. Marie News 