Management & the Board

I have seen so many posts on this forum that speaks poorly of management or board members. Posts that down association living and I can only assume that many of the posters are unaware there are laws that management and the board has to follow govern associations. Board Members are volunteers and give freely of their time. In general most boards I have had the privilege to work with have served with great fortitude, enthusiasm and concern to see the community values rise.

Being in this business since 1982, I never like taking on a new community because of its growing pains, the education process management has to go through, and the pure lack of knowledge of the Owners that are first time buyers or first time association residents.

It is always a painful process for management to go through and almost always after transition the new board fires management and the landscaper with the idea behind it, we are the developers contractors and we are there for the developer. This philosophy is so far from the truth. Management is there to help the board, educate the owners and keep the property values rising.

This help or services management provides can only be as good as the board they serve. I say this with no disrespect but with the expectation that the board get on the same page with management and that the board begin giving management the directives that we need in order to move forward. Again, I mean no disrespect and I am speaking truth here; without the board management cannot make decisions for the association. Management can take care of the day-to-day operations, but the spending of funds, projects, setting policies can only come from the Board of Directors.

I have said all of that to say this; management is only as good as the board. We need the board to instruct us in the goals you as the board sets forth. We are only the letter writers; you are the enforcers. We are only the order takers; you are the order givers. We can educate and guide but the decision is always the boards. We need you! NC Law states if a Covenants Committee chairs the Hearing, the Owner can appeal it. NC Laws states that if the Executive Board of Directors chairs the Hearing the Owner cannot appeal their decision; it is final. Management does not make the decisions.

Our management company will give out to new board members at the annual election a Welcome to the Board package. In this package it explains how management is here to serve the board and the community. It explains how the board should utilize our services by giving us directives, allowing us work for the community. It also includes a “What it takes to serve on the Board”. It explains that the board sets policies, adopts rules and regulations. It explains the expectations of a governing body and what they need to know in their new role of being a board member and what they can expect from us as management.

I agree that there are some poor management companies out there, but in general it is always the desire of management to work together for the community. Management can assist in setting policies, help with amendments to the CCR’s, adopting Rules and Regulations, enforcing the governing documents, securing bids, preparing budgets and so much more. A professional management company wants to assist in the goals that the board has set and precede forward for the enhancement of the community.

I hope I have not upset anyone, but that I have encouraged teamwork and inspire everyone to come together for all neighborhoods.

Respectfully Submitted,

GloriaM - The MC has power, and can quit if the Board isn't listening and exposes the MC to liability. If the MC does not quit, than it is a participant and is as guilty as the Board, IMO.

GloriaM - too bad you're not the MC in my HOA/COA!!

Gloria

I am sympathetic to the difficulty that a property manager must have in educating new communities as to what they should expect and what their own responsibilities are. Many residents, like myself, have never been involved with an association before. But, my five years of experience dealing with our MC has given me a different view.

To begin with let me say that our MC is a large and respected firm and the developer could hardly be faulted for selecting them. In fact it is doubtful that there is another firm with a branch office in our immediate area that has the capability to handle a 500 home HOA. I believe they have made a sincere effort to support us and in many respects have done well. But, they are a business, and as is the case with many companies the quality of the support you receive is only as good as the specific people assigned to you. Of course all companies claim, as I'm sure yours does, that they have great backup capability to their PMs but in fact good employees don't grow on trees and the HOA is stuck with who it gets.

Even a good MC that is hired by a developer (but paid out of HOA funds) will report to that developer. We didn't have to fire our first landscaper because they went belly-up in the middle of the summer. Did the MC know they were an unstable company. Heck yes! They were hired because they were cheap and the builder/developer wanted to keep assessments low while they were still selling houses. There are any number of other ways that the MC was at least quietly complicit with the developer before transition. Nothing illegal mind you, just business. No MC is going to put the HOAs interest ahead of the people who hired them.

As a transition resident Board member I was amazed to read the MC contract. I went over it with the MC's corporate VP and he didn't disagree with how bad it was. It talked about a lot of things the MC was supposed to do but nothing about what might happen if they weren't. The assigned PM had no specific number of hours that she was to spend on our community (as compared to the five others she was assigned). Other than the threat of being fired an MC really has no responsibility for anything. Gloria: Do your contracts have a clause that indemnifies you from any possibility of being sued? Our local MC manager didn't show up for a small claims suit filed by one of our residents against them, didn't notify our attorney, and then pointed to the indemnification clause when the claim (big surprise) went against them.

During transition we found that our volunteer residents were doing more and more of the leg work and that our Board was being continually consulted on even routine decisions. Part of the reason was that we were not getting enough of the PM's time, but the cost of paying the MC for full time support was prohibitive. We finally solved the problem by hiring (with the MC's consent) the PM as a full time on-site GM. We absolved the MC of any supervisory or management responsibilities but retained them for payroll and financial reporting services. I cannot begin to tell you how happy we are with this decision.

I will say again that we did get many benefits from the MC up front. They continue to make their training courses available to our employees. But, my point is that even well run businesses have problems and do not always best suit the needs of an HOA.

Dave