Talking About Resignations

You could do what I usually did - whenever someone griped about something, I said "thank you for volunteering" and handed them the job. (Didn't always get things done, but it sure cut down on the griping.)

To be serious, I do think transparency is important even if the community is apathetic.

What format are your meeting minutes and other records in: Word, Excel, something similar? How big is your community? The answers will dictate the amount of effort needed to make this stuff available.

NPS

We only make Minutes on anything voted on, which is rare. Anyone going after out Meeting Minutes will get next to nothing. That said, we have no ankle biters in my association. If you have concern, have the BOD audio record the meetings and make them available to anyone that wants them thus no one could ever say the BOD was hiding anything. Of course the recordings should not be free. There should be a "reasonable" charge.

Throwing out some ideas:

* Is there someone who would be willing to take on some of the work as an officer but not a board member? If they don't vote, the gripers should leave them alone. And it's easier to take minutes if you're not actively participating in the discussion.

* Have a generic Meeting Minutes form, with areas for date, start time, participants, approval of previous minutes, old business, new business, whatever else came up, adjournment time. If the person taking notes writes neatly, you maybe could get away with these as your minutes. (I used something like this when I took the minutes, although I typed them up afterwards.)

* You may be able to find a site such as Dropbox that would allow you to upload documents where others can find them. This has the advantage of making backup copies of paper records in the event the paper records are damaged or destroyed.

I sympathize with overworked board members, I personally did about 95% of the work and was pretty burned out after five years.

Excellent ideas Cathy.


That's how we've been running things for around 2 years. My official title is Logistics Officer, which is whatever I want to make of it and takes as much time as I want to give it. We've also had a Communications Officer (who stepped up to become a Board member after the resignations). Also, traditional roles of Treasurer and Secretary have been non-Board positions.

Yes, we have been able to attract some folks who are willing to provide service and carry some of the burden, but don't want to become targets. What we've learned is that they still become targets anyway.

Even so, the approach has been a success. People become part of the team - without any voting authority - which makes them feel safer. Then after a while, they are better able to overcome the fears they had in the first place. They also learn that the existing Board members aren't so brilliant in every decision they make. Learning on the job is critical to our future success.

This is the way we will roll in the future.


We prepared a form similar to what you are recommending. 2 Secretaries in a row declined to use it.

For the life of me, I cannot figure out why we can't fill this position. IMO, it's the best way to learn the nuts and bolts of our HOA.

I should also add that - Every word in everything we publish will be scrutinized with a fine tooth comb. The backlash for any perceived misstatement or vagueness will be brutal. I remind you that this is only 5% of the community - Yet they are 95% of the chatter. Board members are tired of being told how stupid and incompetent they are by a clueless mini-minority.


Unfortunately, we have 2 board members who are technologically challenged. One still doesn't comprehend the distinction between Reply and Forward on our email system, which got us in trouble with homeowners a number of times. He has been reminded many times, but just doesn't get it. Something new for him to learn? Don't think so.


Burnout should not be that prevalent. And I guess that's one of my biggest gripes.

Out in the real world, one of the most important roles of any management team in a going concern is succession planning - How best to bring new blood into the system. Yet, there is no awareness among the nasties that their venom is working against their own best interests and the best interest of the HOA.

Just wondering. What would you say to these dissatisfied few?

I agree about the 5% causing 95% of the griping. Our attorney referred to them as "vocational dissidents" or "professional complainers". Here's what I learned about dealing with them:

* They are not trying to make the community better, although they will swear up and down that they are. Instead, they thrive on conflict and controversy, and they are trying to generate an emotional reaction. Don't give it to them.

* It helps if you can view the griping as not personal. Remember that they'll fight with anyone in a position of authority, not just the folks currently occupying those positions.

* Your communications with them should be brief and factual, with no opportunity for back and forth or arguing. If you argue, they have achieved their goal. You want to have the most boring discussions in the history of discussions. With some of them (the liars), you may also need to put everything in writing so that you have proof of what was said.

* We came up with a set of bland, scripted responses and used them as needed. This can take a bit of getting used to, and you need to have all of the board members on the same page to make it effective. It can also feel a bit "dishonest" since you aren't being totally candid and you are treating them differently than you would treat others. But keep in mind that whatever they say, it's the subtext (ie, the emotional reaction) that is the real content of the interaction.

* Do not discuss association business one on one with homeowners! I think communications should always go through official channels, but especially with the complainers. No matter how often you say that it's just your opinion and you don't speak for the board, homeowners will hear it as "the board says....". And it can look like favoritism. It's one reason why social media can be such a mine field for HOAs. (Not everyone agrees with this, though.)

* You have to stick with it. It took us at least a year of boring them silly to convince our complainers that their tactics didn't work on us, after which they calmed down. But they don't change. The minute the long term board members stepped down and inexperienced newbies took their places, the same old gripes flared up again.

* Samples of our scripted responses:
- "Thank you for your comments."
- "I will forward this to the entire board for discussion."
- "The board needs to do further research first."
- "A complaint must be in writing. Please look on our website for the Action Form, fill it out and send it to our property manager." (This stopped a lot of nonsense since the Action Form asks complainers to include photo or video evidence, if possible, and asks if the complainer would be willing to testify in court. Our board does not act on hearsay.)
- "We have received your request." (We had one owner who kept complaining about excessive noise from overhead even though nobody else could hear anything. Our attorney said to simply acknowledge receipt of repetitive complaints with no further comment.)

I thought your comments were great Cathy, at least the ones I read before I fell asleep out of boredom.

Particularly liked comments about "the real context of the interaction" and what happens with the changing of the guard.

Scripted responses helpful.

Thanks.

NpS

You said:
In the annual meeting notice, we identified the 3 open seats (the 2 filled by the board plus 1 more whose term finished), and solicited candidates. As expected, no one new submitted a candidate form - So the current board is a shoe-in. Not a surprise to anyone.

You all properly did your job. No second guessing allowed.