ARE YOU TIRED OF RISING FEES, UNCLEAR FINANCIAL DECISIONS, AND STAGNANT PROPERTY VALUES?
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THE SURPRISING POWERS HOAs HAVE TO WREAK HAVOC IN PEOPLE’S LIVES
The April 10, 2023 episode of Last Week Tonight with John Oliver featured a segment where the host discusses homeowners associations (HOAs) and the surprising amount of power they wield.
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Article Archive
The Dangers Of Unsubstantiated Claims
July 11, 2026
Say something twice, to a room full of the people you answer to, and you should be able to back it up. 175 E Delaware Pl. HOA Board President, Scott Timmerman, told board members and owners that document requests frequently go unclaimed. It seems reasonable to expect he could answer a simple related question: how many, exactly? What came back was everything except a number. After multiple requests, the questions just sat there, the way unanswered questions do when no one intends to answer them.
Trust Us. There’s a Reason. No, a Different Reason. No, Ask Our Lawyer.
April 11, 2026
Dennis Kmetz, an owner at 175 E Delaware Pl., asked management to send him a list of his fellow unit owners electronically. They said no: paper only, and a squint inducing tiny font size. He offered to pay for the electronic version anyway. Still no. What followed was four months of explanations that kept changing, a board meeting citation the record disproves, and a Board President who eventually said his lawyer runs the policy so don’t ask him. Let’s unpack all of this to discover what’s really happening.
When “Good Judgment” Becomes a Shield for Bad Decisions
February 22, 2026
The Business Judgment Rule is one of the most legitimate protections in nonprofit governance law. It is also one of the most easily weaponized. Understanding the difference between those two things is how owners hold a board accountable, and why the 175 E Delaware Pl. HOA’s current defense of its Holiday Fund position is a case study in getting that distinction exactly wrong. The consequences fall on every unit owner.
The Board President Put It In Writing
February 14, 2026
On Feb 10, 2026, 175 E Delaware Pl HOA Board President Scott Timmerman, replied to my Holiday Fund records request with an email intended to end the conversation. Instead, it confirmed that the Association provides confidential employee data to the committee, that no 1099s were filed, that the Fund has no legal structure, and that employee payouts can be reduced based on subjective judgments with no written policy. Every answer created a bigger problem than the question it was meant to close.
First They Said No. Then They Said Nothing.
February 8, 2026
On Feb 2, 206, the attorney for 175 E Delaware Pl HOA responded to my formal records request seeking information about the Association’s Holiday Fund. They asserted the Fund operates independently from the HOA, meaning owners have no right to see its records, while admitting in the same letter that the HOA provides staff time, printing, and distribution to the Fund. I responded with ten clarifying questions about how both of those things can be true; he stopped responding.
The Holiday Fund Black Box
February 1, 2026
At 175 E Delaware Pl HOA, the Holiday Fund is administered by board-appointed co-chairs and distributes more than $100,000 a year to building staff. An owner asked for the formula. A committee co-chair accidentally replied saying the quiet part out loud: don’t provide it. What followed was a familiar pattern: delay, deny, deflect. That prompted a formal records request under Illinois law. The response so far has been simple: none. The deadline for the HOA to respond is Mon, Feb 2, 2026.
Scrooge Evolved
January 17, 2026
In Dickens’ era, cruelty required little justification. Today, it arrives wrapped in policy language and asks to be applauded. At 175 E Delaware Pl HOA, the board recently derailed a motion to give direct HOA employees the same Association funded bonus already paid to contract management staff. The result is a familiar pattern with a modern twist: unequal treatment preserved through process, with inequity presented as virtue.
The Bonus Double Standard
December 17, 2025
At 175 East Delaware Pl HOA, contract staff receive two bonuses while the direct HOA employees receive one, a disparity that raises fundamental questions about equality and board oversight. Voluntary owner-funded donations create one bonus distributed to all workers, but a second bonus paid by the Association goes exclusively to the property management’s contract staff, leaving maintenance, door staff, and receiving room team members with the short end of the stick.
