Who Decides on Contracts. Is Voting Needed?

1. If the HOA budgets 20K for landscape improvements in the annual budget - does the board need to discuss and vote on any bids and contracts, or can the President simply do whatever and pay any vendor whatever ? Who decides ? What if it is for more than the approved amount ?
Do the Reserve Funds, which have been approved be awarded by the president to any vendor he feels is in the best interest of the community ?

2. in the example below,The President is directing the property manger to pay the vendor more than the budgeted amount after approval by “H and N “. H is the landscape committee chair and N is a board director who is the landscape liaison. The landscape charter states “The chairperson and the member shall NOT have the right to: a) Enter into contracts which bind the association”

R Landscaping Company presented H and N with a bid on March 31,2015. It was signed by the President on April 8. 2015. To my knowledge no other bids were received or solicited.

The next day (April 9) there was a board meeting. There was no mention of any contract or work to be done. It was not on the March or April agenda. Nor anywhere in any minutes, or email discussion among all the directors. In the email and other emails regarding board business, one board member has been “deliberately" left off emails.

It does appear the HOA President (admittedly) has the landscaper doing some work on his property, as did the landscaping chair (H) had significant work on his property, (neither had ARC approval) and N, the director and liaison for landscaping had considerable improvement to the common area bordering her property. (A estimate of around a third of the total contract was awarded to the improvement in the lot directly adjoining and alongside her property) . It was also acknowledged that other common areas could not be improved at this time due to monetary restrains.

I am one of the two board members who were excluded from any discussion and voting on this and to which I am now complaining.

Comments ?

email from HOA President to Property Manager to go ahead and pay vendor ....

Hey Sean, [Property Manager]
H and N had been working tirelessly with R Landscaping to plant trees and shurbs in the common area based off of the $20k line item in the budget for additional landscape improvements.

The work will start on that project today. The total cost of the project is going to be $20,865.
R Landscaping has not required any deposite from us until the work is done and H and N has a chance to approve of it.

Having said that, once the board approves of the work, the check needs to be cut pretty quick. I told R Landscaping about our process of cutting check where you have to put in the request and that request goes to Charlotee office and the owner of WD has to personally sign off on the check.

What R Landscaping told me is that they can send their driver to Charlotte to hand pick the check so no time is lost.
So, can you please make sure that you start the paper work on this so the check is ready by Wednesday? Once the board approves of the work, I want to tell R Landscaping that they can send someone to Charlotte to pick up the check on Thursday (4/23).

Is that doable?
Let me know.
Thanks,
[President HOA]

I see no problem with "getting ready" but specifically in this case the President already signed the contract ... was requesting a check be paid ... as H and N approved the completion. There was no vote or discussion. It was Fait "complete.

Here he stated the money was already approved, just was waiting for approval that the work was completed to be confirmed by H and N.

The president did not stop to wait for any vote. Is that legal ?

Ed

I'm with Larry:
"What bothers me more than anything is that a majority of the board is conducting business by email while excluding you and another member. In states with open meeting laws this would be impermissible. I suspect that even without HOA statutes or open meeting laws that it may be unlawful under your state's non-profit acts to routinely exclude a minority of board members."

So, EdK, what DO your NC laws say??