Incoming email to just one person

We use just one email for inbound email traffic. It's just an gmail account in the name of the association but it comes to me as the president. I have one board member who is insisting on seeing every single email and wants to be copied on every email I send. I told this person that for the sake of expediency, I am handling all small matters directly and that for anything important I would forward to other board members for input before replying to the email. Apparently, that's not good enough for this person. For you presidents out there, how are you handling the association's email traffic? Thanks.

I meant to say NOT spilling the Tea...

What may be small to you may be viewed differently by someone else. Personally, I don't like the idea of only one person seeing all the emails - what if you step down or can't answer the email because of an emergency? What if there's a series of emails that addressed a major issue, something happens to you and then everyone else has to figure out what's been going on before determining what happens next?

I really don't see why you can't just set up a group email account - that's what our board did. Everyone can read the emails and decide if something should be referred to the property manager or at the next meeting.

Our secretary handles the email and forwards it to me or the appropriate person as necessary. I have access to the email and would have no problem with other board members seeing anything they want. I think the board has that right.

I would give the other board members access to the email rather than having to forward and cc everything.

Our association email is auto-forwarded to all board members and the PM and sends an automated response to the sender noting that we're received their email and that someone would contact them shortly. Easy-peasy.

We copy the PM because a good deal of the email we receive consists of requests for service of some sort, which is our PM's responsibility and shouldn't be delayed. Nearly all of the rest will get a formal acknowledgement from the board president along the lines of "thank you for your comments, the board needs to research/discuss this further".

Our HOA Gmail is set up so that any Email sent to it automatically gets sent to each BOD Member. I believe Gmail calls it Designated.

We as a BOD decides who replies to specific issues/people.

Richard,

As others have pointed out, the President is simply a signature on official documents and runs the meetings. Responses to any email should be along the lines of:

I'll forward this issue to the correct person/committee
I'll place this issue on the agenda, our next board meeting is mm/dd/yyyy

I also believe that all emails should be copied to all board members.
To my knowledge, this can be done in gmail accounts.
Make it a rule that only one person responds (and take a board vote to identify who).

Note: the exception to this rule (in my opinion) would be communications to/from the treasurer to members. The board needs to know about specific issues but not who missed a payment. When I was treasurer, I provided the totals of how many were 30/60/90/120/in collections/in a payment plan to the board each month (which included the previous months for the year as well).

I am going to strongly disagree with your assessment of what a president of an association is. Below is an opinion, based on California Corporate Code of what an HOA president roles and responsibilities are. While there should be checks and balance to every officer position, the president is the Chief Executive Officer of the Corporation.

Title. Unless an association's governing documents state otherwise, the president is elected by fellow directors, not by the membership, and serves at the pleasure of the board. (Corp. Code §7213.) More often than not, the president is referred to as the "Board President" or "President of the Board." There is no harm in using the term although technically most governing documents define the office as "President of the Association."

Duties. Unless otherwise provided in the bylaws, a president's duties generally include:

presiding over board and membership meetings,
serving as liaison between management and the board,
serving as liaison between the association's attorney and the board,
serving as general manager and overseeing day-to-day matters, such as meeting with vendors, soliciting bids, etc. (unless a manager has been hired to handle those duties),
co-signing checks with the treasurer or secretary,
serving as an ex officio member of committees.
Small Associations. In small associations, it is not unusual for the president to oversee day-to-day operations. That means handling calls, meeting vendors and authorizing small expenditures. Boards can pre-authorize the president to spend up to $100, $200, $500, etc. on HOA matters at the president's discretion. The amount authorized varies from board to board and depends on the association's budget. Once a limit has been established, expenditures by the president must be reported to fellow directors. Reporting can be done as costs are incurred and then noted in the board's monthly financial report.

Duty to Monitor. Boards have a duty to monitor the president's actions. If the president fails to abide by spending limits set by the board, fails to timely report matters affecting the association or exceeds other limitations set by the board, fellow directors can immediately appoint a new president.

No Veto Power. The president cannot veto board decisions.

Mark,

We are saying the same thing.

Just because someone is a liaison doesn't mean that they are anything other then a messenger between the two parties. Typically, the Bylaws only specifies that the President cosigns checks, contracts and presides at meetings. If this is what the Bylaws state, then any other authority must be authorized by the board or the individual would be exceeding their authority as outlined in the bylaws.

And here are our Bylaws: "Section 5.5. President. The president shall be the chief executive officer of the Association and shall, subject to the control of the Board, have general supervision, direction and control of the affairs and officers of the Association. He shall preside as chairperson at all meetings of the Board, and shall, unless otherwise determined by the Board, have the general power and duties of management usually vested in the office of president of a corporation, together with such other powers and duties as may be prescribed by the Board or the Bylaws. The president shall see that the orders of the Board are carried out."

As you can see there's a big though subtle difference between mine & MarkW's (his are in CA, I think). our also clearly state that the board may delegate the day-to-day supervision, direction, etc.

Not sure I would give much power to a director that didn't need to be an owner.

I agree. Fortunately our BOD Members must be owners and in good standing.