President overstepping their duties

HelenN (Virginia)
Posts: 7

Posted:

Our office manager is resigning and we need to move quickly to hire a replacement since this is a one man operated office. Fortunately, the OM has given a 4 wk notice, unfortunately, it is before the next regular meeting. She has offered this extended notice to allow for training the new hire. However, our President has decided to supply the directors with two proposals(via email)with a request to review and decide within 24 hrs at which time we will be contacted by the president for our vote. Many of us sent questions, concerns and even objections to the proposals. These were met with statements like "it's very clear and I am moving forward with the original proposal. Yes, a group of us (a majority) conducted a motion via phone vote to meet in person to further discuss and refine the proposal at hand. The Vice President isn't coming and the President hasn't responded. Do the directors have to have either the VP or the Pres to discuss the proposals?

GlenL (Ohio)
Posts: 5,491

Posted:

Depends on how your CC&R's are written or any applicable state law. Ours for instance allows the president or any two directors to call a Special Meeting. Some CC&R's and state laws allow for any three directors to take action outside of meeting that is normally taken at a meeting as long as it is entered into the record.

Studies show that 5 out of 4 people have problems with fractions

TimB4 (Tennessee)
Posts: 21,059

Posted:

Any action without a meeting requires per VA law, VA § 13.1-865, the unanimous written consent of all board members.

AS far as calling a Board meeting, as Glen pointed out, it depends on what your governing documents specify on who may call meetings. Additionally, notice requirements must also be met or any decision made could be tossed if challenged.

Yes, your President appears to be overstepping their authority.
Additionally, you and the other board members appear to be overstepping yours.

I would suggest an e-mail to all members of the Board simply stating that you propose an emergency meeting of the Board to discuss this issue. Once others start responding in the affirmative, then the President may fall in line.

MatthewW4 (Arizona)
Posts: 500

Posted:

Helen,

Your board has managed to bumble its way into a crisis caused by its own incompetence.

It sounds like your board correctly identified a need for an OM, created a position, and allocated funding. Where your board screwed up was in failing to delegate hiring authority to the president or other officer. Now, your association will be without a critical employee for quite some time until several more open board meetings take place over a period of months.

The president is not helping this situation by presenting the board a choice (not clear if it is to choose between two candidates for the position or some other choice). The president is way out of bounds in demanding an email vote within 24 hours and then failing to respond.

The board should have delegated the authority to hire an OM to the president and he should not be going back to the board seeking their approval. He should have just interviewed candidates and hired the one who best fits the position.

HelenN (Virginia)
Posts: 7

Posted:

Thank you for the input and advise. All hiring decisions are made by Board, and has always been very successful. This President however, decided to change the office to a more "e-office", automated phone system, auto bill pay, payroll system, dropbox, etc. without consult to the board The directors issue was simply, we have the right to our input, the President's job is to implement the decisions of the board, not the other way around. Although we like some of the ideas, there was not enough thought nor information on how, when, who, associated costs, etc. We plan to discuss which changes best suits our community. and want to do this is the proper format. There is a large pool of unemployed people in our area as well as in our community. Which by the way is, 1100 members, 400 are residential, the others are undeveloped lots in a very rural setting.

HelenN (Virginia)
Posts: 7

Posted:

Thank you for the input and advise. All hiring decisions are made by Board, and has always been very successful. This President however, decided to change the office to a more "e-office", automated phone system, auto bill pay, payroll system, dropbox, etc. without consult to the board The directors issue was simply, we have the right to our input, the President's job is to implement the decisions of the board, not the other way around. Although we like some of the ideas, there was not enough thought nor information on how, when, who, associated costs, etc. We plan to discuss which changes best suits our community. and want to do this is the proper format. There is a large pool of unemployed people in our area as well as in our community. Which by the way is, 1100 members, 400 are residential, the others are undeveloped lots in a very rural setting.

HelenN (Virginia)
Posts: 7

Posted:

Thank you for the input and advise. All hiring decisions are made by Board, and has always been very successful. This President however, decided to change the office to a more "e-office", automated phone system, auto bill pay, payroll system, dropbox, etc. without consult to the board The directors issue was simply, we have the right to our input, the President's job is to implement the decisions of the board, not the other way around. Although we like some of the ideas, there was not enough thought nor information on how, when, who, associated costs, etc. We plan to discuss which changes best suits our community. and want to do this is the proper format. There is a large pool of unemployed people in our area as well as in our community. Which by the way is, 1100 members, 400 are residential, the others are undeveloped lots in a very rural setting.

TimB4 (Tennessee)
Posts: 21,059

Posted:

Quote:

Posted By HelenN on 08/05/2013 10:23 AM

This President however, decided to change the office to a more "e-office", automated phone system, auto bill pay, payroll system, dropbox, etc. without consult to the board

If this occurred in my Association while I was on the Board I would make a motion to remove the President from Office (which can be done but they would still be a Director and part of the Board). I would also offer my services to fulfill those duties.

Often, when this happens, the problem isn't simply with the one individual. It's actually with the entire Board for not addressing the issue earlier. I had one person who was serving as President who told someone that a repair that they did was fine and the hearing would be cancelled. Even though everyone agreed (later) that the repair was satisfactory I did place into writing to that individual that in my opinion he overstepped his authority and it shouldn't happen in the future. I also pointed out that what should have been done was to tell the person that he would consult with the Board and let him know.