Finally, Jonathan can enjoy a mundane meeting

The Jonathan Association held its annual homeowners' meeting last month in Chaska and, for the first time in years, it was peaceful.

No threats. No fights. No lawsuits. No walkouts. No disruptions. No coups.

That was certainly not the case a year ago, when the survival of the largest homeowner's association in the state was very much in doubt.

Things were so quiet this year that there weren't even enough candidates to fill the three empty board seats.

"We're better now," said Nate Bostrom, the new president of the group, which last year was looking at a civil war brought on by board members wanting to dissolve the association.

The board then was run by a group that was seen as trying to disrupt or break the association, the largest in the state with dozens of neighborhoods and about 2,900 households.

The dissident group two years ago mounted a legal challenge in which the association, in effect, tried to sue itself because it was believed that some of the newest neighborhoods were added to the association improperly.

"There's been a much more positive change in that the board is now seen as looking forward," said Mike Sibley, a seven-year association member who helped engineer the takeover.

At the height of the problems, hundreds of homeowners had stopped paying their annual dues in protest of the infighting going on with the board.

According to some members, that is no longer an issue, although Bostrom said the bad economy is still causing problems for some homeowners trying to catch up with dues.

"I've had several people come up to me or e-mail me to say that now that the former board members are gone, they started paying their dues again," said Sibley.

Legal fees an issue

Past and present board members said that spending has been curtailed significantly as the focus has shifted to maintaining facilities.

"That group spent thousands of dollars on legal fees which really put us behind the eight-ball financially," said Walt Ripplinger, a former Jonathan board member who opposed efforts to break up the association. "Now we're just playing catchup."

But Jonathan officials said they welcomed focusing on mundane issues such as maintenance and administration instead of court battles.

Fireworks a year ago

Last year, in a wild meeting, a procedural coup led to the ouster of six board members who were seen as trying to undermine the association.

This year only one person signed up to run for the three open seats, so the board had to appoint a second person and expects to appoint the third next month, members said.

"It's changed a lot for the better in the past year," said Maria Awes, a Jonathan resident and former association board member. "Everybody now is invested in making the association work, and that wasn't the case before."