Quote:
Posted By ND on 09/11/2015 5:49 AM
Posted By JonD1 on 09/10/2015 3:56 PM
Perhaps this contract for information sharing might be signed in blood.
You have folks willing to volunteer more of their time to benefit those willing to do nothing.
This cost the nominal amount of $155. And then you demand they serve out their term, ( if not what then?) and they must share all the vast knowledge they gained on the HOA's dime.
How about you count your lucky stars someone is willing to give of their time, thank them ( a chance in hell for that!) and call it a day...
JonD, ya gotta relax bro. Not every HOA is how you seem to portray yours . . . with a select few who do it all and the rest of the membership "willing to do nothing". In fact, I didn't see that at all from the OP's posts.
In this case, the cost seems nominal, but we don't know anything about the OP's HOA. Number of Board Members and number of events attended per year could easily become thousands of dollars spent. How significant is that in their overall budget? . . . I dunno.
I made suggestions to try and ensure some sort of ROI on a Board Member's attendance. Some of the suggestions would make Board Members think hard before they commit themselves to the event and member's money to paying for it.
Unfortunately while there are many good, ethical Board Members out there who will attend conferences and then gladly share info; you have an equal amount of bad, unethical Board members who will see things like this as an opportunity to attend for their own personal gain while HOA membership foots the bill.
Similar things happen in the real world too, so I'm not making it up. I've attended training sessions for work whereupon my attendance at the event committed myself to staying with the company for so many days, months, years after the training otherwise I would be required to pay back the cost.
My suggestions are just some additional checks and balances to ensure appropriate spending of HOA funds. On this Board, there's always talk of "check and balances" and "trust but verify".
ND
You are correct I do not have knowledge of the OP's property in regards to finances. But I will go out on a limb and say in the vast majority of properties $155 won't break the budget. Or result in a need to raise common charges.
It is also my experience that the majority of properties do in fact have a small group of people who get things done, like serving on the board, attending meetings, and giving their time. Most properties see little if any attendance at meetings. Most can't find enough people to serve on the board without begging and twisting arms for their service.
And just what "personal gain" might one obtain from attending such an event? Can they then change HOAs and serve on another board and sell that information? Is this preparation for a paid position somewhere? Or can this add to your work resume that you attended an HOA legal forum sponsored by CAI? And just how pray tell would you enforce such a requirement? A written signed contract? Or a verbal commitment? Sounds like a waste of time to me.
And let me point out the difference between your training at work versus a volunteer who serves on an HOA board. You were a paid employee. The employer was making an investment in your time and education. In this case these board members are not compensated. To compare these two situations is comparing apples to pizza. Again, in the real world just how do you plan to enforce and if need be collect on this percieved debt?
My view, if you have someone willing to attend which hopefully serves to benefit your entire community make it as easy and simple as possible.