non board members having access to bank funds

Ann

Some allow their property manager to have access.

Annie,

Who is allowed to withdraw funds from an account is determined by the Board of Directors.

As John said, some Boards delegate paying bills to managers, management companies or independent contractors.

If your asking if a non board member can have access to the financial information from those bank accounts (i.e. copies of the bank statements), then yes. However, this information must be requested through the Board as the bank will only release that information to whomever is listed on the signature card.

Hope this helps,

Tim

@timb4...I am with the board. I am a new vice president and I am only going by what they tell me, however things are not sounding right and I want to be 100% sure that she is not entitle to be managing the budget or still have a credit card to our HOA funds. She was only hired to be a "consultant" to the board once she resigned. I have brought this up to the president many times, but to no avail has anything been done. I want to make sure she is not legally entitled to have access to these funds whatsoever. We already have an office assistant who does paperwork, copies, send out statements, etc. She does this as well and then wants to be paid overtime for these services, but we did not hire her for this! Please let me know if this is right.

thank you

The president motioned and we agreed. But until she can teach us the systems and how to run the meetings. I am new to this and I wanted in to see what they are actually doing with our funds. The consultant has beed asked numerous times by me to show me how to use the quickbooks so I can have access to see what and how this is inputed into the datas and she refuses to let me know, cause she does not one anyone to touch it, or "quote/unquote" it will get messed up. However they treat me and the other new member like gofers, go do this and go do that. I want to be able to assist in all aspects of the HOA and make sure that everything is fine. Your right it is a sweet deal and I knew, but I was going to be out voted.

Annie

You are saying that you were one of BOD Members that voted to give her signatory power. Is that correct?

You can also make a motion to relieve her of her duties. See how that goes. See if you get support.

Also as a Member of the BOD you have full access to all records, contracts, etc. Some of what you want might can only be done in Executive Session as not in a public session for confidentially reasons.

Hope this helps.

Annie:

I have the strong feeling that you and your fellow board members may be in over your heads as you (collectively)seem to not understand what the board of directors does.

Among other things, the board appoints/elects/hires the officers of the corporation and those officers serve at the pleasure of the board. The former president had no business making motions to the board if she was no longer a board member. She also has no business telling the board to keep out of the books or holding the association's funds in an account in her name. As I understand it, the board does not know how much money it has or where it is and cannot find out because the accounts are not in the association's name.

Your board of directors is way outside the envelope of excercising "the care an ordinarily prudent person in a like position would exercise under similar circumstances." If your board cannot account for the funds you are each personally liable for the loss.

My advice would be to immediately call an emergency meeting of the board and go into executive session and fire the former president, and demand that all funds, records, and other property belonging to the association be turned over to the board within the next business day. If she refuses, call the police and report the theft of the funds. This woman is not in possession of any expertise that someone else cannot figure out, so there is no advantage to keep her and a lot of liability if the board fails to act.

You will be treated like a "gofer" as long as you act like one. Legally, you have the same standing as any other member of the board so I would suggest that you stand up for yourself. As a director, you are the boss and not the employee.

After getting all theses great response, I can inform you that I found out the funds are under the association, however, she was still hired as a consultant to show the president or train us to work the applications and train us on her board experience. She supposedly works 15 hrs a week. When I asked the president for her job duties descriptions he stated they were at the office, I asked our office assistant and she stated there was none. I mentioned to him and he stated he had them at his home. I went to his home and he then stated he did not have one for her. I advised him that he was supposed to outline her job duties and as to why she was not clocking down her times, our office assistant does it who is an employee to the association, what makes her different. How are we supposed to know what hours she worked and with who did she spend time training? He motioned once that she needed to be paid overtime because she was working over 15hrs doing what our office assistant is supposed to be doing. Like previously said I believe she made this into a "sweet deal" but I am going to motion her to be removed from all association accounts and relinquish any credit cards in her possession. And I am going to make sure she starts to clock her hours to know exactly what she is getting paid for.

Annie, are you saying that you have no signed contract with this person specifying her duties, pay per hour, how long the contract will last, etc.?

To help get rid of her, you might let the other Board members know that it's possible that the Board is spending HOA funds foolishly, which could get you all in trouble. Well, it's worth a shot if you cannot get the board to support dumping the person.

But I agree with Glen that it sounds as if no director on your Board seems to have any knowledge about your HOA or its governing documents. How may directors are there? Are they all new?

Your board may want to hire your HOA attorney to give you a seminar of something--could be worth the cost.

But you probably won't be able to do any of this on your own, Annie, and need to find support from someone.

Annie, are you saying that you have no signed contract with this person specifying her duties, pay per hour, how long the contract will last, etc.?

That is right we do not, and I do not believe they have a CAM license. Can you specify what this is, so I can inquire about that. Thank you all this is helping me greatly!

CAM is Community Association Manager. There's a certificate involved that must be earned through coursework, etc. If EdC5 is correct, you want to get yourself on record (in the minutes) as opposed to this person's role as "consultant." Otherwise you & the Board are not acting in the best interests of your HOA.

Since your pres. has served on the board for awhile, I cannot understand why he & the other experienced directors cannot train you new ones.

Yes you can go after her if you can prove it. I would start, if you have the support of other Board members by replacing the person who is president. While it would take a membership vote to recall him, most officer positions are at the discretion of the Board and may be changed by a simple Board vote. Thus president becomes member at large and another Board members is appointed to the position of president.

I do have copies of time sheets and bank statements showing they were getting paid, I only have the support of one director, for a fact, however your saying we can have a community meeting to vote any BOD out and have them replaced? I only have the communitys support, there are alot that are aware of this fiasco. Can I still be a BOD to bring them to justice?

Ok, now our president resign due to requesting financial papers being asked for, however he stated in his resignation letter for lack of communication and cooperation, which is not true, however me as vp is now filling in as president until we set up the votes. But the "consultant" that we have had for 6 months now has not consulted us rest of bod, and now changed passwords on pc that we dont have access to! Can I fire her? She is just an "employee" to the hoa. It seems to me she is keeping info from us and the treasurer removed files from his folder without the rest of us bod knowledge!

Personally, if I were you, I would paid your association's attorney to meet with you along with two other board members and your 'consultant' and your treasurer. Get some straight answers and advice.

Also, as vice president, you should know or should be able to find who owns the computer in question and the software being used.

It's not clear to me that you, acting alone, even as president, has the authority to fire her. It may require a decision by the entire board. Much would depend on the terms of her employment. However, in my opinion, she did not have the authority to create new or additional passwords, nor does she have the authority to exclude any board member from access to HOA files.

I'm curious, though. Are we dealing with a conflict only between you and her? Or, are we dealing with a conflict between this person and the rest of the board?