How Do Self Managed HOAs deal with statutory BOD restrictions?

We’re not self-managed, but I think board members should keep each other in the loop – if one had to step down for whatever reason, the others could pick up the slack until he or she was replaced.
You might want to start with your governing documents to determine what absolutely should be reviewed and voted up by the entire board vs. routine things that a single board member might be able to handle. Generally, I would think certain expenses exceeding a specific amount must be pre-approved by the board, while routine services could be handled by the designated board member. Certain decisions, such as approving exterior change requests, rule enforcement or collecting on delinquent assessments should be also decided by the entire board.

During board meetings, each director should be giving an individual reports for his/her problem (hit upon the highlights during the meeting and put the details in the written report). Those reports should be attached to meeting minutes and made available to other homeowners upon request, along with other related documents, such as emails, receipts, invoices, etc.

When it comes to communications, email is a great way to speed things along, but be sure everyone is being copied. You should also have a process to preserve those emails in case a homeowner wants to inspect them. Actually, you’ll need a formal email policy and all board members should have a designated email to use only for Association business.

The same approach could be used for homeowner communication – if the issue concerns a certain board member’s area, it could be referred to him/her for initial review. If it’s relatively simple to handle, the board member could do it, but has to document what was done and when, copy other board members and all this should be placed in the Association’s records. If it’s a phone call, you don’t need to record the conversation, but the board member should be able to summarize a conversation in writing, such as “On Dec. 15, Mr. X of 125 main streets, called me about….”

You might not have a state requirement for open meetings, but you might want to consider opening yours up anyway. You can have a resident forum at the beginning of the meeting so people can make suggestions or comments, but put a time limit on it, and afterwards tell everyone the rest of the meeting is for agenda items and while they can stay and listen, no comments or questions will be taken from the floor so the board can get through everything. It’s always better if people have a chance to listen to the debate behind the issues so they’ll understand why something is or isn’t being done – even if they don’t agree, most will appreciate the opportunity to listen in.

NP,

We are self managed, 130 homes.

Our meeting dates are published in our newsletter and on our website. We typically set dates 3 months in advance. Meeting packets are available at the meeting. Agendas are not required to be per-announced.

Very few others attend these meetings who are not required to attend. Typically, those that do attend have an issue that directly affects them.

As for communications, we do use e-mail. We may discuss minor issues but keep decisions on all issues and major discussions for the meetings. Even when minor issues are discussed, they are mentioned in the next meeting minutes.

We have not had a complaint on this process.

As for other duties, we delegate and empower our Officers.

For example, our Treasurer may waive up to three months of charges at their discretion. Our Maintenance Officer (the one who oversees the contracts) may contact the snow removal contractors for spot clean-up at their desecration (loader and removal services require Board approval). For tree removal we discuss the general parameters and priority (based off an arborists report) and approve the Maintenance Officer to contract based on those parameters up to a $x amount.

Emergencies are handled as an action without meeting, which requires written unanimous consent and the written consent (e-mails) to be attached to the next meetings minutes.

Shouldn't start typing before I fully engage my brain but, in general terms, I'd say that all policy decisions, expenditures from reserves and budget decisions should only be discussed, deliberated and voted on in open, noticed meetings of the Board (in CA).

Kerry

While I am all for openness, I am afraid the average homeowner does not know the difference nor can read what the numbers mean between 2012 Proposed Budget, 2102 Budget To Date, 2012 Actual, 2013 Proposed Budget, etc. A least one on our BOD still does not understand the differences.

Most owners show up as they have a personal issue/agenda and that is all they are concerned about.

I am here to suggest we employ a dog poo DNA company to find out whose dog poo is on my front lawn.

Who do you suggest pays for the dog poo DNA?

I believe it is an association issue and they should pay.

Did you not hear us on our association's financial crisis?

Yes I did, but I am still concerned about dog poo problems.

DUH...........

Sometimes we have to "protect our children" and man oh man, I am going to be called to task for that usage of that expression......LOL

John: ... Dog poo??? Tell your homeowners to take a picture on their cell phone of the offender and send to the local authorities. Most local governments have ordinances that individuals are responsible for cleaning up after their animals. My city has many walking paths and also has many stations where owners can obtain dog poop bags to clean up after their pet. Everybody needs to start putting responsibility where it belongs.

Thanks Sheila


Absolutely agree.


Once the HOA members ratify the budget, we're pretty much off to the races. All major relationships are by contract that is approved by entire board, so designated contact does not have that much latitude. Payments over a certain dollar figure must be approved by 2 board members, but that's a financial control - it does not affect the approval of the expenditure which remains with the individual.

95% of the time we approve exterior change requests within 48 hours. In a 30-year old townhouse community, new issues are rare. All done via email. Rule enforcement is also by email. Haven't fined anyone in years. Rarely collected when we did. Now have electronic visibility into every HOs account. At most, 5 HOs on our watch list - 3 are always the same. The only issue we decide as a group is when HOA attorney should send Stage 1 and Stage 2 collection letters. Also done via email.


We get a monthly financial packet from our MC (they do financials and records retention) via email. If, anything jumps out, one of us will email everyone and ask if we should get together to discuss. We no longer hold regular meetings because most everything is dealt with in real-time.


Any email to HOA is forwarded to all board members even if addressed to only one of us. All voice mails to dedicated phone line are also emailed to all board members in real-time. Any board member can respond. We are about to purchase chromebooks for each board member for dedicated use on HOA business. Since we got away from full service MC, more and more stuff is accumulating on personal systems - we intend to keep all chromebooks synched - fingers crossed on that one.

For now, I'm in charge of the emails to HOs. To a large extent I already know how the dedicated board member will respond - if unsure, I will reach out to find out. My priority is 48-hour turnaround. If we don't keep them waiting, our HOs have an easier time accepting good and bad news.


In addition to annual meeting, we usually hold about 2 information meetings a year. Make presentations. Bring in speakers. Hold private board meeting before and/or after - Intention is not to exclude, but to keep discussion on track. Biggest issue for us is coordination, scheduling, and time. At most recent community meeting, board met for 45 minutes before, HO meeting took just under 1 1/2 hours, and we met afterward for about 45 minutes. Long night after a day's work for some of us.

Also, any time we are planning to change a significant policy, we announce and hold an open meeting. We present objectives, lay out the board's proposal, and offer for a group to form to come up with an alternate plan. We will designate a board member to work with the group. If we like their plan, we will adopt it even if we think our plan is better. The last time we did this, 25% of the community was involved in the working discussions. Being able to tell a dissenting HO that the plan we adopted from these meetings has paid off big-time. Starting to see faces we have rarely seen before at these meetings.

I would be concerned if a one-size-fits-all statute could sweep away some of the good things we think we have created.

Thanks Tim


We are trying to get away from poorly attended meetings and having issues raised for the first time at meetings. We typically get between 15 and 35 households out of 80 represented at meetings. 3-5 are board members - so approx. 10 to 30 others. Would find it a huge waste of time if less than 10 others show up.


Because of our commitment to turn most things around in 48 hours, it would be difficult to abide by your delayed decision making arrangement. Glad that it works for you.


I like the way that you always differentiate between Board member functions and Officer functions. So very few people do so, and it leads to confusion.


If there is anything we are weak on, it's minutes taking. We take minutes at all gatherings - but we rely on our email archive for all else. We maintain an email folder for every HO and every vendor - so fairly easy to work with the info we have.

We do not publish meeting minutes - we will when we have a new website up and running. Right now, we provide only upon request. No requests in over a year.

With you all the way Tim.

Re soliciting RFPs and vetting vendors, my understanding is that in open meeting states, those activities are generally done privately by the board anyway. So no distinction between open states and closed states.

Yup yup yup yup. Don't know how else you could implement any changes of significant scale.

Food for thought. Thanks.