New Board Member interviews

We are holding interviews for new board members that are to be appointed by the board. What are some of the best questions that you have asked for a prospective board opening? Thanks

There have been several discussion on this site about this issue, so you may want to do a search, but here are some of mine:

How long have you lived in the community? What do you like the most about it?

What do you think is the biggest problem RIGHT NOW in our community and how do you think it should be addressed?

Why are you interested in joining the board?

Tell us a little about your background and how your skills/knowledge/experience can contribute to the community

Are you willing to spend some time in continuing education on HOA best practices (webinars, reading articles, attending seminars, etc.?)

Apathy among homeowners can be (or is?) a big problem in this community - what sorts of things do you think the Board can try to get them more active?

Its a very involved community with lots of volunteers. Yes, we are lucky but we also want to ensure we have the right people on the board who will do the right thing by the community and residents.

That is a perfect list

Good questions coming in to you, LV. I guess I'd add: What are the purposes of reserves?

The open meeting question is a nice one because I believe SC board meetings are not required to be open for owners to attend as in some other states, e.g., CA, AZ, VA, etc. But I think--not sure--that SC's board meeting could be open to owners to attend. I think I'd want candidates' opinions on that topic.

There's a free (I think!) publication at CAI (Community Association Institute) called something like "A board Member's Toolkit," which I found very useful when I first wanted to be on our Board.

It's true that board members are elected by the homeowners, but personally, I like to know something about the people who say they want to serve. As you know, there are far too many homeowners who either don't know what the hell they're doing and refuse to learn, while others have their own agenda and as long as board membership achieves that, they don't care about anything else.

In my 10 years on the board, I learned there were some people who meant well, but really didn't have the time to devote to the board. It's not that you have to spend all your free time on HOA business, but you should at least read the management and financial reports, participate in the discussions (asking lots of questions may take some time, but it's a good thing to understand what and why you're voting). Instead we had people who would miss nearly every other meeting and when they did show up, they usually sat there and voted yes on EVERYTHING, whether it made sense or not.

The association needs people who are willing to take the job seriously - otherwise, get a blow up doll and stick it in a chair with its hand raised so you have a "yes" vote to everything.

If you’re happy with voting for anyone or the board appointing whoever’s standing upright and can say yea or nay to a motion, do your thing and good luck to you. Personally, that doesn’t work for me – it’s true no list of questions will guarantee a good board member and I agree with you on nominating committees (unnecessary), but you have to start somewhere.

Not taking the time to get to know people is a big reason why most people end up voting for board members (or state representatives, US Senators or…Presidents) because they have the same last name, make dozens of promises they know they can’t keep, scream the loudest or tell us what we want to hear as opposed to what we NEED to hear. It’s our own fault – too many people refuse to apply careful thought, evaluate where our information is coming from, or call people out on their BS because we don’t want to get yelled at or aren’t deep thinkers to begin with.

I don’t expect perfection (Lord knows I made my share of mistakes when I served) but since Board decisions ultimately impact my quality of life and they handle budgets in the tens of thousands of dollars (some of that money comes out of my pocketbook), I need to have SOME idea of who I’m dealing with and that starts with having a discussion as to why they want in and what they can bring to the table. I don’t want people who only concentrate on one thing and don’t give a rip about anything else. I want people who will apply careful thought to association issues, be consistent but fair in rules enforcement, and are capable of doing basic math so they can understand what’s in the budget or an income/expense report. If you don’t know anything about HOAs or how they’re supposed to be run, but are willing to learn, that’s fine, too.

When you think you know everything or take advantage of others, that’s where the problems start. Why else do you see discussions all over this board about the problems in getting rid of board members who were appointed or elected in good faith, but turned into power hungry maniacs or are as dumb as a bag of hammers? Combine that with widespread homeowner apathy and you have a steaming pile of caca on your hands.