I think I've told the story before of how our HSA was out of control, walking around the neighborhood with clipboards and issuing notices to residents for grass length, cars in driveway, shrub-trimming, etc - and how I got elected to the board by promising to stick a screwdriver in its spokes at every possible turn.
Anyhoo, at one point before I got agitated enough to infiltrate, the "pretty-committee" decided it would be nice to have all the garbage cans the same color on Thursday mornings, and so we should contract with one service for the whole neighborhood. They went ahead and made the inquiries based solely on the suggestion having been made, got it lined up, and informed homeowners of their awesome deed on our behalf. All we needed to do was let our individual services know about the change.
Well, TSHTF, and residents said
The HSA board got smacked down big time. Lucky for us, the HSA covenants are weak to the point of impotence. The board has no legal authority, cannot sue, and thus has no power outside an individual home owner taking it upon themselves to sue - which is how it would be without the HSA.
A city has the force of law, an HSA does not. We have allowed government bodies to claim tyrannical powers, and have not stood up to them when they did. They really should be as impotent to affect our daily lives as my HSA.