New HOA Board Member Discussons

I just ran and was elected to the newly formed HOA board of my neighborhood it's a small community so there are only 3 of us. There were two construction phases and the first neighborhood has been in existence for 2-3 years already but has had no HOA board. They were told to wait until the 2nd phase was finished. My house is in Phase 2 which finished last October. We had our first meeting to elect a board a couple weeks ago. The meeting was full of very angry residents venting about a variety of issues and were rebuffed at every turn by the management company's representative.

Almost everyone there had some bad things to say about how the community was being run and her answer to everything was generally patronizing and condescending. She made no apologies and even at one point when someone complained about our dues going up a few months after the last house was completed said that "mommy and daddy" (the builder), had been subsidizing us and since that would no longer be happening they had to raise the dues (without a vote or an elected board).

I was very vocal during the meeting that yelling at her was a waste of time - that we were there to elect a board so the board could deal with these issues. I was nominated on the spot and voted in almost unanimously because of many of the answers I gave during the session about various issues.

Now that I'm on the board her attitude has only gotten worse. I have deferred to her on everything so far but the final straw is that when I asked to add list of items for discussion at our first meeting she blew almost everything off - she refuses to add my items to the agenda and instead wants to argue with me over them individually.

I'm done arguing with this lady. The other two members have said nothing about our several back and forth emails that they were copied on. I don't know how often they even check the HOA email addresses she made us create specifically for board business.

If she won't even put my ideas/concerns on the agenda and she will allow for ZERO communication between us outside of the official, scheduled meeting (which she wants to do quarterly on the days she picks), I am not sure if I should be trying to call her boss or talk to a lawyer at this point.

I know this is a bit rambling I am beyond frustrated and venting. I was elected to do a job and she is dictating to me over and over again instead of advising. She treats us like children that know nothing and should just rubber stamp everything she says.

Thanks,

Mike

I was elected BECAUSE the community has been having problems that the homeowners don't feel are being addressed by the management company over the last 2+ years.

Michael - congratulations on being elected and for being seen by your community as a problem solver. People clearly trust you.

Now what I recommend you do is take a breath, try not to take on ALL the problems in front of you at the same time. Ignore the ticking clock in your brain suggesting that your community is watching for you to be a super human and fix everything now. Keep in mind that a lot of the bad attitudes may be home construction issues which most of the time is not an HOA issue.

Instead, start writing down all the things the board is supposed to be doing then prioritize them. Governance, finances, common area upkeep, covenant enforcement, checking into that recent assessment increase you mentioned (which may have been warranted even if the builder and their mgt co communicated the reason poorly).

Take on a couple things at a time. Suggest a board meeting with your co-BM's. Once you get their buy in on a meeting, you or the President send out a draft notice and agenda to your mgt co rep to send out to all the members and have your first meeting to start the new journey (in accordance with your By Laws).

If your two other board members arent up for the task of righting the ship, remember that you can't do much by yourself so gaining buy in from them and influencing them in a positive, lasting manner will be key. Taking on too much at once may scare them off.

Remember Rome wasn't built in a day and positive change in an HOA can be more daunting than building a city.

Good luck!

Your first order of business as a fully empaneled boars should be to FIRE the management company. They were hired by the developer, and in some eyes, will still run things the developers way.

I agree 100% with what George said.

You probably do want to replace the property manager, but you want to do so from a position of strength - that is, when you know what you're doing.

If you simply fire the person, tempting as it is, then none of the things that person did will be taken care of, and you can assume that your neighbors will howl about that as well. You don't need more chaos. It takes time to find a good property manager, they don't just fall into your lap. This is a good research project for somebody.

If you're a first-time association board member, you should spend your first year feeling overwhelmed and wondering if you should just quit. If you're not overwhelmed at least part of the time, then you're not learning everything you need to know. So start digging. There are web sites that provide good training materials for board members. So start digging. Serving on an association board can be rewarding, but it's a tough job. The more you know, the better.