HOA Communications to Board purposely excluding the management company?

Hi All,

650 single family homes, gated, amenities.

So, was monitoring an exchange on closed community Facebook today, wherein an owner asked how to communicate with "the Board" without the management company reading the email, or letter, or Facebook post. Normal comms to the Board are via a formatted submission to the management company, which includes it on the agenda - assuming it rises to that level.

Several thought this was a good idea, with the last president sounding less certain it would be appropriate.

I pointed out that it was certainly reasonable for someone to communicate an issue via email to the Board members - all in one email, for instance - but, that the Board should then add the topic to the agenda for the next board meeting - if self managed it then goes to the Secretary for agenda - if there is a management company, it would seem the board would turn the topic over to the management company for them to include on the agenda for the next board meeting: this is the same net effect, and the management company would know in either case what the topic or issue is.

I made note there would be a difference between notifying the board privately - and, having an expectation of the board meeting with the owner privately. If this was done (assuming a quorum), it would violate Bylaws and Florida Statute. If a private email exchange occurred between an owner and a board member, or an officer, it should be shared with the Board - if Board business. A board member could also say to the owner, “thanks, we’ll put it on the agenda” - then the process flow is the same.

I further posed the question as to whether the Property Manager would be understanding of this private comms channel, or even it violated the terms of the contract.

I have no idea what sort of issue - whether it relates to poor performance of the management company, or just general topic ...

Thoughts?

JohnC,

Sounds a bit different than ours - all comms to the board go through the MC for logging, fixing if possible, and then referral to the Board via an agenda item.

I think it would make sense to give homeowners an avenue to communicate issues to the board without the PM being copied. If there are performance issues with the PM, or questions about the PM's honesty, the board may want time to research and address the issue without tipping their hand early.

We had a problematic PM some years back (ignoring the terms of their contract, ignoring board instructions, and the like). At that time we also had no way to contact the board unless we knocked on their doors. After I was elected, we had a board email address the next day and a community website and newsletter within a month (and a new PM company shortly thereafter).

The only issue I see with not auto-forwarding board emails to the PM is that homeowners may use that email address for service requests or other things that need prompt attention. If you don't auto-forward, then someone on the board needs to to deal with emails as they come in.

I agree there should be a way homeowners to communicate with the board separately. The board can always forward issues to the property manager that warrant his/her attention -dealing with the day to day is why they exist. Likewise, issues like rules enforcement should be addressed by the board because they're the ones who will make the final decision (at least before the lawsuits start!)

If the homeowner is reluctant to go to the property manager on an issue that he or she is supposed to address, I think that homeowner should explain why. It may be the two had a misunderstanding that's easy to fix or tempers flared and now people need to cool off - property manager aren't slaves and you don't have a right to treat them or any vendor with disrespect. Now, if there's been a problem with timely follow up that may be something the board will have to address - that's when you need another way to contact the board.

On the other hand, managing expectations is vital. Too often the homeowner gets mad at the property manager who is only doing the board's bidding, which we've seen too many times on this website. The property manager may work for the association, but there are protocols and procedures all homeowners have to follow and it doesn't matter if he is a former board member or has lived in the community 20 years.

John,
I must say I LOL when is see your example of a Board email address. I did not check but I bet that gmail address is available because most members do not like the HOAs.

In Ca. we had one email strictly for the board and another for the PM and our board was copied on notes sent to the PM so we knew about issues early. Now in Texas we have 1 email for the board and we ask that HOs copy our PM when needed. Otherwise we see the notes and forward as needed. I get the need to seperate the two groups for some privacy concerns.