HOA SECRETARY SHOULD BE A BOARD MEMBER?

For the past 10 years, our HOA Board Secretary has been our "Bookkeeper", a paid employee, not on the Board of course. Our Bylaws clearly state that the Office of Secretary is to be a voted on annually Board member. As a Board member, I have pointed this discrepancy out to the President and want it fixed immediately to be a Board member. Does everyone here agree with this, or how better could it and should it be handled?

Thank you. Our 7 member board was elected last September. None of the Board members are paid for their work on the Board and none of them are employees of the Association. It is just clearly a matter that needs to be fixed, and of course, as a Board member, I'd volunteer for the position. My point is that it should not be a position automatically handled by our paid employee "Bookkeeper", who is not on the Board.

Linda,

If your Incorporation papers list a Secretary as one of the Officers, then you need to have one. If the Board wishes to continue to have a paid employee write the minutes and do other secretarial duties, then those documents should be sent to the association Secretary who should be responsible for keeping all association documents, notes and other duties which should be spelled out in your Docs. A "bookkeeper is totally different than a secretary and you should follow your documents. Do volunteer to take this position.

Yes. I would suppose the Board could delegate the responsibilities to our current nonboard, paid employee as it has been. But there needs to be a Board Secretary voted by the Board to hold the position. Question would be, assuming that happens, who determines if we delegate the minute taking, etc. (per our Bylaws) to our "Bookkeeper". Would that be the Board-assigned Secretary to decide that or would the whole Board make that decision?

Sorry if I confused any or all. Here's how the Bylaw reads, specifically the section entitled "Officers".

The executive officers of the Association shall be a President (who shall be a director), a Vice President (who shall be a director), a Treasurer, a Secretary, and an Assistant Secretary, all of whom shall be elected annually by the Board of Directors and who may be perremptorily removed by vote of the directors at any meeting. Any person may hold 2 or more offices, except that the President shall not also be the Secretary of an Assistant Secretary. The Board of Directors from time to time shall elect such other officers and designate their powers and duties as the Board shall find it to be necessary or convenient to manage the affairs of the Association.

Also under the section entitled "Secretary" it says....The Secretary shall keep the minutes of all proceedings of the directors and the members in a businesslike manner and available for inspection by apartment(condo) owners and directors at all reasonable times. He(she) shall attent to the giving and serving of all notices to the members and directors and other notices required by law. He shall have custody of the seal of the Association and afffix it to the instruments requiring a seal when duly signed. He shall keep the records of the Association, except those of the Treasurer, and shall perform all other duties incident to the office of Secretary of an Association and as may be required by the directors or the President. The Assistant Secretary shall perform the duties of the Secretary when the Secretary is absent.

Up until now, our Property Manager (CAM) and Bookkeeper of our property have been doing all of this. I feel strongly according to the above excerpts of our Bylaws, it should be a Board member assigned those duties. Am I correct?

Sorry, forgot to address this question.

I would interpret this to be that the Secretary was responsible for the issuing of the notices,etc. However, that doesn't mean that they couldn't delegate the actual work to someone else, like the property manager. They are just responsible to make sure the task is properly done.

Tim