Is it something I wrote?

Before I finally gave up writing our HOA newsletter (the last printed version, as we now have a website), I would ghost write the president’s column and send it to him so he could add, reword, subtract and so on. The last one I did was also his last as president and so part of the column was intended to encourage people to consider volunteering (our annual meeting is next month).

When the mock-up went to the board for a final review, one board member made a number of comments about various parts of the newsletter, most of which were very useful, but he got honked off at the following paragraph:

“When you consider the amount of power Board members have, it’s vital that the people on it are skilled, creative and willing to behave in an ethical manner to oversee the community’s overall direction. Otherwise, everyone suffers if (community) winds up with a Board of inexperienced, unethical and/or incompetent homeowners. Give it a try – you may be the person the community has needed to take it to a higher level and you may surprise yourself as to how capable you really are!”

This board member (and former president) thought this was an insult to the current board. I fail to see why, especially since I was on the board for 10 years and served with most of them – and they’re anything but. I’ve also felt and still think it’s important people know what they’re getting into and have to take it seriously, because board meetings aren’t poker night (although sometimes they feel that way). If you were on the board, would you consider this an insult?

This is the second or third president’s column that discussed board vacancies (it’s a 7 member board and with the president’s departure, it’s down to five). Those columns said things like “we need your energy, talent and fresh ideas,” “you can make a positive difference,” “the experience can buff up your resume,” and so on.

I admit I can be VERY plain speaking and am trying to work on being more tactful, and I suppose it could have been written in a more positive way, but our Board has been asking for members for nearly a year and after reading some of the horror stories on this board and other places, I’ve seen what happens when board members make bad decisions.

Hi Sheila,

Although your intentions are honorable, it comes across to me as a de-motivator to join the board, this is what I read into it...

"When you consider the amount of power Board members have..."
That's one scary thought when it's a common feeling of owners in HOA's that they think boards have too much power to begin with.

"it’s vital that the people on it are skilled, creative and willing to behave in an ethical manner to oversee the community’s overall direction..."
So if you are not any of these, you do not qualify for such a position.

"Otherwise, everyone suffers if (community) winds up with a Board of inexperienced, unethical and/or incompetent homeowners..."
completely disqualifies anyone who is interested enough to try it without experience.

"Give it a try..."
after dispelling any positive reasons for even contemplating it this sounds like a joke.

"...you may be the person the community has needed to take it to a higher level..." because thus far the previous board was subpar.

"and you may surprise yourself as to how capable you really are!” fat chance of my looking into this.

Your thoughts are valid but maybe there is a different way to write it?

Shelia,

I think Crystal has identified the problems with some valid points.

On the other hand, your board sounds like a bunch of wusses if they take offense at what you wrote. I learned to man-up back in college studying architecture; it was a routine experience to spend many sleepless nights completing what I thought was the greatest project of all time only to have my work verbally destroyed by the professor in front of all of my classmates. The result, however, is that I became virtually immune to the criticisms of others. I steer my course by my inner compass. If I had been on your board I would have taken no offense at what you wrote.

Thanks everyone! After looking at everything, I agree it could have been said in a more positive manner. I’m sure I was channeling some of the frustrations I’d felt in my last years on the Board, as we had gotten thisclose to losing a quorum. At the time, I wrote another strongly worded column about receivership, and we did get some members from that. I guess I was thinking something similar might work again.

Thinking about everything I did for my board (write the newsletter, attend CAI meetings and serve as treasurer for starters), burnout and frustration is why I finally left after 10 years, and I think that’s what motivated this column. I would like to see the current board share more of the work among each other and step back once in a while and think about things from a broader perspective instead of jumping from problem to crisis and back to problems. And I certainly don’t want them or any new members to flame out like I did. Coming into something eyes wide open, educating yourself on how you can save time and money (NpS, I agree 1000% with what you said on education) makes for better board members, in my view. That’s why I still come to this forum – to learn and bounce off ideas. Some of them I pass on to the current board and it’s up to them to use them or not.

So, I doubt the board will use this newsletter, which is fine with me – they have the website and I hope they keep it updated so it’ll be useful. As for the vacancies, we have a lot of off-site owners, so I don’t know what it will take to get some of them involved. I’m not perfect, but at least I tried.

29 years on the board Jon? And I thought my last 9 years as President has been a long stretch! I show up at every annual election meeting just HOPING that someone qualified will show up and want to replace me. But nobody ever shows up at our meetings - except for our Officers - which are now down to 3 from the former 5. Although I must say that at our January 2014 meeting (or maybe it was 2013?) one additional husband and wife couple did show up; and they were interested in potential involvement - but then his employment forced them to move out of state. Nobody told me when I started that this was a life sentence! But I do enjoy it, and based on the results of our very detailed surveys that the owners complete, at least apparently I'm good at it.

As I'm the current President of our all-volunteer HOA BOD, we generally send out detailed surveys covering a variety of development topics once each year. Here's the portion of the most recent survey where the owners were able to rate us across a wide variety of eight Board performance criteria. Ultimately, 100% of all owners responded, as we resent each survey to all remaining non-responders until everyone responded. Each respondent had to rate each of 8 criteria with a selection from the list of: "Poor, Fair, Good, Excellent, or N/A". in total, we received 248 responses.

THE SURVEY:

BOARD PERFORMANCE: How would you rate the performance of the volunteer Board, acting in the best interests of the development community and preserving the quality of the community, based on each of the following criteria, as each is defined below?

ACCESSIBILITY: When I have wanted to contact the Board, have I been able to do so at any time?

RESPONSIVENESS: When I have contacted the Board, have I received a reply, regardless of that reply's content?

VOTING OPPORTUNITY: When I have been surveyed, have I been able to vote on every issue applicable to me?

INPUT OPPORTUNITY: When I have wanted to provide input on any issue to the Board, have I been provided with one or more methods to present my input, regardless of my preference for any particular method of input, or the outcome of that input?

TRANSPARENCY: When I have desired information, data, or reports about issues, have I been provided with those to my satisfaction, or if whatever was provided to me was insufficient, have I been provided with the opportunity to request more information at any time?

FISCAL RESPONSIBILITY: When I have desired financial oversight of the Board, have I been provided with either appropriate accountability, oversight and/or inspection capability regarding the finances, or the ability to request more information?

BUDGETING: When I have desired the annual year-end financial report and the projected expense report, have I been provided with one, either personally or via the internet, email, or via our website?

THRIFTINESS: When I have desired that the Board be good stewards of the budget, have I received an appropriate or adequate explanation of all costs, or the ability to request further information if I felt that the explanation I received was inadequate?

==> If you rate the Board's performance "Poor" in any of the above categories, would you please explain and/or describe the reason for your poor rating in the comment box just below entitled "Poor Rating Explanation."

We used SurveyMonkey for this survey, as we do for all of ours. It worked and works very well. After we initially sent out this survey (and this was just one part of a much longer one), we requested that each owner respond. Then at about 5 day intervals we resent the survey request to those who had not yet responded. As I recall we only had to send it a total of three times to get a 100% response, which we did ultimately receive. We only have 32 owners, but I believe that the same re-sending would ultimately achieve a nearly 100% response rate, regardless of how many owners might be in any one HOA. But then again our owners are used to (conditioned to?) receiving topic-specific surveys from us, which we do at least annually.

We have considered that Geno, however our owners tell us that they enjoy these surveys, as it gives them an incredibly simple and convenient way to participate in their HOA without having to leave their own home, or attend any meeting. And when I say that we re-send requests, that is usually to just get the attention of those very few holdouts who simply don't check their own email very often. Everyone else usually responds within a day or two of the very first request. But again, it might be a function of the owners' conditioning. These surveys give our owners an opportunity to participate in their HOA without having to leave their own home, and at their convenience. Apparently they view this as a win-win. As an HOA we certainly do, as we use the results in the management of the development. Usually by mid-summer, when everyone comes out of their homes after our long Pennsylvania winters - if we haven't sent out a survey by then, owners usually start asking us how soon we will do so again! I'd say we have a bunch of really nice owners. And we work really hard to keep the lines of communication open between the owners and the HOA. These surveys help accomplish that objective.