Walking the walk?

Started by HarveyR4 • 5 replies • 1607 views

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HarveyR4 (California)
Posts: 4

Posted:

An angry homeowner is convinced an HOA board is showing favoritism toward various homeowners.'Shouldn't everyone be treated equally?' the homeowner asks during the open forum of a monthly board meeting. 'Addressing matters in an objective manner is the board's goal,' the president replies. By focusing on 'objectivity' as a goal in responding to a concerned homeowner, the board, in a sense, is setting a high standard and a positive practice? Because, before HOA leaders can talk such talk, they have to walk the walk, don't they?

So...is this good? Communicating an 'objective' that establishes a goal for current HOA leaders, as well as future leaders?

WalterM3 (Georgia)
Posts: 442

Posted:

What people say at meetings and what they do behind closed doors are two different things.

You can find out a lot of what the Board does in 'secret' by going to the website of your county's court system and searching on the lawyer who represents your HOA. Any significant legal action of the Board will show up there.

This is a handy dandy thing too. This is from our covenants:

"Section 9. Inspection of Books and Accounts. All Members of the Association and all holders, insurers or guarantors of First Mortgages shall, upon written request and pursuant to O.C.G.A. § 14-3-1602, be entitled to inspect current copies of the Articles of Incorporation, the Declaration, these By-Laws, the Rules and Regulations of the Association and all books and records of the Association during normal business hours at the office of the Association or other place designated reasonably by the Board of Directors as the depository of such items. Copies of the Articles of Incorporation, the By-Laws and all amendments thereto, shall be furnished to any Owner upon request and upon payment of a reasonable charge therefor."

Your covenants probably have something similar.

The O.C.G.A. is the Official Code of Georgia Annotated.

The Board must document everything they do, and they -must- under law provide it to you upon request, more than likely.

Walt

TimB4 (Tennessee)
Posts: 21,059

Posted:

Harvey,

You have posted twice. Each post started a new topic. You have never responded to anyone's posting.
Each post tends to be hypothetical rather than personal experience (at least from my perspective).

Do you currently serve on your Associations Board or on a commmittee?

Do you live in a condominium development or within an HOA?

Are you gathering information to write a book or newsarticle (as the type of questions asked could be questions a reporter asks)?

HarveyR4 (California)
Posts: 4

Posted:

Thanks for your inquiry, Tim. I'm a veteran volunteer on my HOA board. I've discovered through my volunteer work that HOAs are fascinating. Participating in HOA operations is a learning experience. HOAs are complex in an interesting way. HOA financial management is interesting (I wasn't a numbers-crunching person before I was elected to the board, but I've now learned a lot about HOA funding). Communication issues are particularly fascinating. I've had a full career in corporate communication and crisis management. That's why I often discuss communication issues. You're correct that I have not yet commented in other discussions, I've just begun participating in HOA Talk. Am I writing articles or books about HOAs? Not at the moment, although I've previously written booklets about communication and PR with content geared to business...and -- yes -- HOAs, as well. I'm not a reporter, rather I was on the other side of the equation during my corporate career (I addressed -- and responded to -- inquiries from reporters and editors in news and business media).

TimB4 (Tennessee)
Posts: 21,059

Posted:

Harvy,

Thanks for the reply. Working within the Broadcasting industry and previous military experiences, I agree that communication can indeed be fascinating.

One thing this forum does is try to address actual issue rather then hypothetical.

You experience can be very valuable to posters on this site, especially when the suggestion is to gather support and do abc.

Tim

HarveyR4 (California)
Posts: 4

Posted:

Thank you, Tim. That's what I'm hoping, that observations about hypothetical situations will be helpful in group discussions. During my career, anticipating potential situations was a key goal along with having answers in mind for responding to possible questions. I'm wondering if focusing more on potential situations, issues and problems can be helpful for HOA leaders and property managers...when they need to respond to homeowners and when HOAs become headline news.

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