Voting on selecting Lawn care

Leonora,

You have one vote just like the others. You can recommend one company over the other, however the vote is up to the Board.

Mind you conflict of interest is usually not illegal. It just gives the perception of something being wrong if things don't work out.

My suggestion:

1) Have the management company select the top three candidates for the contract and submit them to the Board. I would suspect that since the VP doesn't have the insurance that he would not be in the top three.

However, if his bid is included:

1) Remind the Board that they have a duty to the Association to minimize it's risks.
2) Remind the Board that, hiring an uninsured company leaves the Association open to potential legal issues just as if they hired an uninsured company to work on their home and someone was injured. Remind them that if they wouldn't hire an uninsured contractor for their home, they shouldn't approve an uninsured contractor for the Association.
3) Make a motion that due to a conflict of interest, the VP should not have a vote on this contract.

Some States also require that contractors be licensed and insured to do specific jobs. You may want to check your local laws and see if any would apply.

Tim

I would just add that if he is to be considered, he should excuse himself from voting for the landscaping to avoid potential conflict of interest and voting on something where he would personally benefit.

Thanks Tim, Susan and Janet. I will keep in mind all of your suggestions and meet with the board to vote on the best company that will suit our community needs. It is amazing how a person can be so impossing in almost forcing board members to accept his company! The part I didn't add to my comments was that his company doesn't exist yet. He just decided he wanted to do the job and said that he would do it for less than the other bids. He is asking for a month to put his company all together to start the job. He doesn't own the proper equipment! Anyway, next Tuesday we will meet and I will let you all know the results of that meeting. Again, thank you!

Hi Lenora:

So, it appears in essence he knows how much everyone else has bid and plans to undercut and make a quick profit off his HOA. He also has not had this type of business in the past and does not qualify regarding proper insurance. This situation definitely does not generate a warm and fuzzy feeling.

It is better, especially if you have anyone in the HOA wanting to submit a bid, to have sealed bids. This insures that if someone on the Board knows anyone bidding, they cannot divulge this information to manipulate the process.

Your board could potentially suggest that he put his company together, and in the future after he is established, can furnish references, and meet the insurance requirements he can submit a bid the next time around. Again, if he wants to submit a bid, I would have all subcontractors submit sealed bids to be opened on X date at X time. You then can compare services offered to the prices quoted and choose without any under cut pricing to just get the job.

You do not happen to be set up as a LLC “Limited Liability Company”? The reason I am wondering is because we had another poster on the site also from Utah who is attempting to fix a mess handed over, and we are not sure if he has all the proper documents in hand.

Hi Lenora:

Thank you for your response. Your comparison would not be of help then as you are not an LLC and you are also a Planned Unit Development on top of everything. The other post I referenced is located here:
http://www.hoatalk.com/Forum/tabid/55/forumid/1/tpage/2/view/Topic/postid/109275/Default.aspx

If you think of something I may have missed, please let him know. Thank you!!!

Lenora:

As a past president and current board member, hiring any fellow owner for regular work around your complex is a bad idea whether or not the boss is on the board or not. Any work that is not done up to your standards becomes the 800 pound gorilla in the room. Are the other owners going to complain about the work being done by a fellow owner? Is the management company really going to hold a board member's feet to the fire? Landscaping is usually the biggest line item in most HOA's budgets and the one item that drives everyone crazy. It really doesn't pass the smell test to have an owner be the beneficiary of such a large amount of the association's money.

You know how I solved our issue with a similar person who operated without a license? I took a vote at our meeting that said that ANY contractor hire would ONLY be Licensed/Insured Contractors. They had to provide PROOF they were. This way it's OPEN to the membership of what qualifies a "contractor" to bid on jobs. If it is known he doesn't meet this standard then he either gets it or soo sorry but we have rules...

My guy was a con-man who was ripping off the association for years. I had to stay one step ahead of him at ALL times or he would be finding ways to get to the association's money. He'd try about every trick in the book but always knew what his game was. Believe me he had game but my game was better...I just got tired of playing.

So I understand the pressure that he's got on the HOA. However, if you make rules that get in his way like the insurance clause, it will slow him down or make him fly right. You have the backing of the board when you have set the honest rules. Try as he might, just keep reminding people why it's important to have ONLY licensed/insured contractor and that the HOA insurance won't/shouldn't cover him.