New HOA Boar Member - Turnover in progress, many questions

First of all, this site is fantastic! So much knowledge and experience in one place!

I'm one of four soon to be BoD members and we're in the middle of a turnover from developer to HOA. So here are my questions, they're pretty basic...

1) I'm still not 100% sure what items need to voted on by the officers and what items can be decided upon within the BoD. For example, we need to hire an attorney. Does the Board have the authority to go hire one without a vote?

2) The HOA "shall indeminify all BoD, officers, etc..." Does that mean we can go get D&O insurance without consulting the officers/members and get a vote?

If the Articles of incorporation/bylaws said the developer should have used GAAP and accrual based accounting, and hasn't kept good records of any of the revenues collected over the last 9 years, what recourse do we have? We have covenants that haven't been enforced and dues which have not been collected for years, in some cases. No reserve fund and a host of medium priority maintenance issues to resolve. With little cash in the account.

Suggestions welcome. I have an idea what needs to be done, but I'd like to hear from you all and see how you all have dealt with similar situations.

Thanks,

Patrick

Oh, are you on the Board?

Most associations seem to have a chronic complainer or two, seems like you might have found yours. As noted, the board makes most of the decisions on operating the association, such as whether to hire an attorney. See your docs for any decisions that have be be made by the HOA members. These would typically include changing the CCRs, and in some cases approving budgets or special assessments.

Officers are typically board members, check your docs to see what they require. Mine require the president and VP to be board members, the others don't have to be. Keep in mind that you can use volunteers who are not officers to help. For example, the treasurer doesn't have to handle all of the books, a paid or volunteer bookkeeper could be used.

Most associations, especially larger ones, hire a management company to assist with day-to-day operations and tasks such as billing and collections. This helps keep volunteer board members from running themselves ragged. As you are probably finding, there is a lot of work to do right after turnover, luckily it generally gets a bit smoother over time.

The board can and should get insurance, and probably not just D&O.

Since the developer didn't turn over much money, getting the finances in place so that you can start doing required maintenance is critical. Hopefully you at least got records indicating who is paid up and not so you can start aggressively collecting from any who are behind. You've also got a big task at budget time, and you might have to raise dues to start getting work done on your deferred maintenance issues. Check your docs to see if there are any limits on increases, some docs require membership approval over a certain percentage.

Patrick,

I've attached a list of item any Board dealing with turnover should be aware of. Additionally, Here are some resources for a turnover:

Transition from foundation for community Association Research

Developer/Homeowner Transition: A Guide To Success

Transistion Plan developed by an HOA

As you are on the Board, I also offer the following:

The Board Member Tool Kit: A GUIDE FOR COMMUNITY ASSOCIATION VOLUNTEER LEADER From CAI

Alabama Condo & HOA News from Community Association Network. Also has a lot of resources.

Beginner's Guide to HOA Boards of Directors Duties and Responsibilities Article from ECHO

Common Mistakes New HOA Board Members Make

Hope this helps,

Tim

Not that I am aware of.

A CAI chapter would be similar (I believe)

Some HOA attorneys will hold seminars for their clients (I've attended several offered from our attorney).

The individual Counties typically have a lot of good info as well.