COMMITTEES

Simone

Welcome.

Based on the fact that you are asking shows you are willing to learn versus try to force/verify your belief on other. For this I congratulate you.

My belief is that unless stated/outlined/defined/empowered in ones CC&R's, committees are formed/directed/controlled and serve at the discretion of the Board Of Directors.

Many times issues arise when a committee considers themselves to be as important as or more important then the "elected" BOD. They forget they were not elected. The BOD was and they serve the BOD.

Like it or not, the BOD can create them and the BOD fire/replace them as they so desire to.

Thank you so much for your reply. I welcome all information and answers to all comments. Just like everything else, I am also learning that you can reply to each individual comment on this website separately, LOL! Let me tell you about us. We are a Real Property mobile home community (we own our land). There are about 475 homes, with about 50 in foreclosure. I would like to say that 1/4 are retired, or live here only six months out of the year. The rest of us have jobs with overtime, if we can get it, to feed our families. Many have two or more jobs. Unfortunately, because of this many of the owners can't make it to the meetings. Many have the believe that if you can't come to the meetings, then you don't care about your community. They look down upon this, and sometimes act very demeaning. I have been living here for many years now, but being that I was a "work-aholic" doing 14 to 16 hours shifts in a Dialysis Unit, meeting times were always in conflict with my schedule. I have always been involved in my neighborhood crime watch. I am now also in the COP program. Now that I am disabled, I can dedicate more time to my community.

By governing documents, do you mean the Covenants, By Laws, Rules and Regulations? I have been reading the governing documents, and TRYING to understand the language. Going through sections at a time with another neighbor. Does one governing document have more power than the other, or are they all the same?

Okay, well, if committees are up to the board, no wonder we have never had any. They say we have non because noone wants to volunteer. There is no nice way of putting this, but it is my observation that "our" board is very prejudiced. The purpose of the International Committee or Club, (name not set in stone yet), is to allow the community as a whole to COME TOGETHER and get to know each other. To celebrate our different cultures and to learn about our countries and traditions. We could meet every three months, and have like a pot-luck where everyone that comes can bring a dish well known from their country, and maybe even wear traditional dress, etc. This is something that a group of us brought up a few days ago, and still discussing. There are many here that have created divisions within the community, and some of us would like to fix it somehow. Like for instance, there is a French Club of some sorts, but we know we are not included because they post their invitations in French, and have NEVER seen the invitation in English, let alone any other language. They have a luncheon or dinner, they even post their menu, what they are having for dinner, music(sometimes live), dance, and other activities. I have heard that people living here have tried buying a ticket, and they have been told that they ran out of tickets. Mostly, they do NOT mingle, and stay to themselves. I see them having dinners at different homes at night, and I have never seen a neighbor, or anyone "different" among them. Yes, I basically know everyone that lives here in one way or another, but not personally. Thank you JanetB2. I am sorry if this is too much info, LOL!

Simone

I did read the reply. Committees formed/created by the BOD and/or CC&R's are one issue.

Social organizations formed by homeowners is a totally different issue and in no way under control of the BOD. My HGDA (Hack Golfer's Drinking Association) quite often meets at my house in my HOA.

Do you all have a clubhouse and if so, what are the rules concerning its usage? This might well be a place to meet.

Hope this helps.

I agree with some of the above ... there is a difference between a club and a committee. A club or group is formed by a group of individuals for their own personal enjoyment.It basically has nothing to do with the Board or the HOA in general. Of course a French Club" is going to want to speak and write in french. That is the whole purpose of the club .. to be with like minded individuals.

A committee is usually something that is requested by the board for a specific purpose.It could be something that the owners request from the board but would need to be something that benefits the entire community as a whole. A beautification committe would be an example. However if there was no budget for the type of expenses that would involve, or if that was something already in the long range plans of the community, then the board would not be interested.

It sounds like you were asking the board to form a committee to force the French Club to include the whole community in their activities.

Hi Kathy, if you'd like to discuss ACC's per se, it's probably best to start a new thread.

Meantime, our ACC has the authority to approve requests for changes without the board's approval. There are circumstances, though, where the board could intervene. Its members still serve at the board's discretion.

All of our other committees have little authority although a couple have small budgets, etc. Committees make recommendations to the board. Still, all of our committees are supervised and controlled by the board, their members are approved by the Board, and their chairs are approved by the board.