Nominating Committe

Having a nominating committee is in our docs but we have used it once in 11yrs. Is having a nominating committee necessary if the majority of the board does not want it. we have 5 positions and 5 nominees.

Is it an HOA or a Condo, GregoryE? Florida made nominating committees "illegal" in condominiums a few years back. They're not forbidden in HOAs, and if your documents - bylaws, perhaps - say you have to make use of a nominating committee then you should do so until such time as you can pass an amendment to your documents that eliminates the nominating committee.

It's OK, even in a FL Condo, to have a "candidate search committee" which is what most nominating committees are these days anyway, but in theory a nominating committee in an HOA can, in conjunction with a sitting board, arrange to lock out owners who may want to run for the board. For example, if there's one open seat at the election and 6 people are interested in running for it, a nominating committee can prevent 5 of the 6 from running so that their preferred candidate is the only one on the ballot.

We appoint our MC and his Secretary as our Nominating Committee but it means little as our Docs do allow Nominations From the Floor right up to voting time. The MC does verify those Nominated to be in good standing. Only once did we quietly have to take some aside that was Nominated From the Floor and tell them they could not run as they were not in Good Standing.

All that said, we usually have to beg/draft people to come on the the BOD as overall our members are happy.

Our docs also require one and we do as Tim's board does. If a board member will be seeking re-election we replace that person with another homeowner.

We permit nominations from the floor too, but no ever does as we've had mail-in ballots in CA since '06. The top vote getters generally receive in the 90s via US mail and so no one nominated on the floor could win---I don't think...

We got rid of nominations from the floor many years ago.

- Many of our best candidates don't attend the annual meeting.

- Those who accept the floor nomination typically haven't taken the time to find out what's involved. Many regret being thrown into a responsibility they weren't expecting.

- We invest a lot of energy getting a new member up to speed. Not worth it if someone winds up being a short-timer as many floor nominees do.

- We would rather run short-handed than add more dead weight than we already have.

Something different we tried this year.

- CAI has a day-long Board Leadership Development Workshop. We bought a block of seats and invited every owner to attend. No obligation. No responsibility. Just come and get a basic understanding of what it takes to run an HOA.

- All 5 Board members plus another 8 homeowners attended. Pretty good for a community of 80 homes.

- We think that trained homeowners can sometimes be more valuable than Board members (who might be seen as the enemy).

- Don't know how it's going to settle out, but it sure beats getting stuck with whoever is cajoled into accepting a floor nomination.

Good for you, Anthony, and good luck getting the amendment passed. You've identified several of the reasons why nominating committees are frowned upon. The Florida statutes do say any owner in good standing can run for the board. Nominating committees exist for the purpose of denying owners that right. That's why the legislature outlawed nominating committees in condo associations. But, as usual, homeowners associations get the short end of the stick when it comes to legislation.