Knowing your community

Define Community.

Is it the block you live on, the development you live in, the city, the county, the State? Is it the individuals of those areas, the businesses the governmental process or something else?

Did you intend to say be active in your Association?

Since you mentioned knowing about how your money is being used, I expect that you are considering the community the Association.


To me, being part of the Association can be as little as paying your assessments on time to as active as serving on Boards and Committees.

How do you define being part of the Association?


Since serving as a Director is often a voluntary position, those who serve may or may not be willing to put the needed time into the position (or they may have a difference of opinion of how much time is needed). As you are aware, a lot of this time is learning the governing documents and applicable laws so they may be properly applied and complied with.

Often if there is an individual who appears to know the statutes, documents or how things are ran, other Directors will defer to that individuals comment or interpretation. If that interpretation is wrong and nobody checks, then issues may develop. Personally, I like to trust but verify. However, many won't put in the additional time to read the statutes or governing documents themselves.


I agree.

Just remember that often what is legal doesn't always mesh with what people believe is ethical. Therefore, common sense needs to be used as well.

Indeed. Sometimes I think people forget that ultimately the homeowners decide through their actions (or not) what kind of community or neighborhood that they have, and if there's something about it they don't like, they CAN change it. That doesn't mean it'll be easy or happen overnight, but it can happen if you're willing to do the work.

I was reminded of this at our meeting last night. One of our residents only comes to board meetings when she's pissed off about something and yesterday it was her continuining feud with the tenants of one of our board members. She really does have a legitimate complaint about them and so the guy basically had his arse handed to him last night (which he really deserved). And yet, as this lady was going on and on about complaining for the last two years and not getting any response, I finally said "you know, if you don't think this board is doing what you feel it should be doing, you have every right to vote us out and put in someone who will." To which she replied "but no one else shows up!" and continued yelling, adding she's not going to keep calling to complain or attend meetings or do anything else because she works and has health issues, and so on.

In the middle of all this was another resident, who's been a homeowner for 30 years and yesterday was the first time - ever - that she'd attended a meeting (and after last night, I don't know if she'll want to go to another). It's very frustrating because our community also has some issues that must be addressed, but the Board members aren't the Avengers or X-Men (and women) with superpowers to fix everything overnight. We really need help from the homeowners, but no one seems to want to do anything other than complain and then they scream about their property values being in the toilet.

I did the same thing Laura as your President did to keep up with my community. I adopted a dog and then adopted him a dog. (LOL). It allowed me to walk around the neighborhood and meet and greet people. I got to know who was renters, why some could not attend meetings, what issues some had, and just allowed me to keep a pulse on the community. Dogs were a great way of communicating in your community and for protection!