does a kansas law exist on board term limits?

Started by RobL4 • 7 replies • 1324 views

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RobL4 (Kansas)
Posts: 2

Posted:

We have a 9 member maximum officer limit for our HOA in Kansas. The number of officers is dictated in our By-laws. Nothing in our By-laws limits the time one member may serve in any given office. I have been told that in Kansas the president, secretary, & treasurer have a mandatory maximum term limit of 2 years before they must step down. Most information I have read including the Kansas Bill of Rights 58-4601 does not appear to support anything related to a maximum term limit. As in prior posts, the ability to replace a treasurer every 2 years with another competent trustworthy resident seems unreasonable. Does anyone have knowledge confirming one way or the other whether Kansas has a law related to this topic? I would like to be able to site exactly where if this is the case.

SheliaH (Indiana)
Posts: 6,964

Posted:

It's best to go to an attorney for answers to legal questions. You should also try looking at your state government website - http://www.kansas.gov/government/ Use the search and you'll find Kansas statutes (it took me less than a minute. When you get there, you should be able to type in "homeowner association" to see if anything comes up. If you do find any laws, note the dates they take effect - depending on how old your HOA is, it may be grandfathered in.

As a practical matter, I doubt if such a law exists and I personally don't think it's necessary. First of all, many HOAs have trouble even getting people to volunteer to serve on the board itself. Depending on their background and interest in learning, it may take one term to get one's feet wet before tackling an officer spot. And what if no one wants to volunteer for an officer spot, regardless of what it is - you can't MAKE people serve as president.

It's relatively easy to replace board members who don't seem effective anymore or have shown they're incompetent/unethical at the start. The homeowners vote in the board members and HOA board officers are usually selected from among the board members, so if the homeowners are unhappy about a particular board member or all of them, they should simply vote them out or check their documents to see how to go about a recall. It's just a matter of the homeowners having the will to do it.

If it is not right do not do it; if it is not true do not say it. Marcus Aurelius

RobL4 (Kansas)
Posts: 2

Posted:

thank you for the reply. Exactly what I was thinking too. I did put a call into the Kansas legislator for my district who has forwarded my question on to be researched for the official answer. I will try to post once I receive that information. Thank you.

DouglasK1 (Florida)
Posts: 2,046

Posted:

Is anyone here aware of any states that mandate either director or officer term limits? I'm not aware of any offhand.

Do any you have bylaws or CCRs with term limits?

Escaped former treasurer and director of a self managed association.

JohnC46 (South Carolina)
Posts: 14,265

Posted:

I have seen Bylaws that do restrict how many consecutive, elected terms a BOD Member can hold.

JanetB2 (Colorado)
Posts: 4,219

Posted:

Same as John I have seen bylaws limit, but no state laws that remember off the top of my head. You may have heard about it because it seems it has been discussed a few months back per this news article:
http://www.kansascity.com/news/special-reports/hoa/article92512152.html#collapseFour

TimB4 (Tennessee)
Posts: 21,059

Posted:

Rob,

Keep in mind that Directors and Officers are two different positions (although they are often filled by the same individual).

Some governing documents have term limits on Directors.
However, unless your governing docs require the Officer to also be a Director (which is typical for the positions of President and VP) then the individual serving in the Office serves at the pleasure of the Board.

Like you, the statutes I read all defer to the governing documents for any term limits.

MarkM31 (Washington)
Posts: 494

Posted:

It is unlikely that any state would create such a blanket law for any HOA or Corporation.

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