Dealing with energetic yet difficult board member

I've experienced this identical situation and your ability to clearly communicate, in writing, as well as verbally will pay dividends.

First, if the Board of Directors notes that a director's interactions has caused a vendor to walk off the job, that's an "offense" to the HOA, not you personally. If you - as president - believe the vendor's frustration is justified, it's within your privileges to call that vendor as your community president and establish clear communication ground rules that the vendor can follow and the vendor can reliably know that those rules have your backing and the backing of the management company.

I had a new board member who was "energetic." Their interference in a project caused a contractor to halt work for a week. I - the president - called the vendor and established official communication channels which basically say "If you don't hear it from me or know that I confirm it (as the board deems), then it's unofficial or NOT AUTHORIZED. The vendor was told to notify me or the property manager if a board director's actions led to interference of the performance of the contracted service as no board director has that authority.

Second, HOA board directors are not necessarily "friends" and board functions, when things go awry, must be coordinated based on director expertise and NOT a director's want of a leadership task.

Summary - there is nothing puzzling. You have colleague who cannot properly manage projects or vendor relations. The aggrieved vendor needs to be contacted directly and given assurance of smoother communication, even if a deal or a project contract ultimately doesn't work out due to cost or job expectations. You can do that as the trusted president.

In fact, it's your duty to ensure the smooth operations even if it requires creating new contact points for projects. Your board director has violated the trust of the entire HOA. The director needs to be informed of the effects of their actions with vendors and the concern that raises (which you articulate accurately above). Remember, you were not there and have no role in a vendor's rejecting your relationship......you are only reacting the factual incident that, if unchecked, will hurt your community relationship with service providers. Trust me.

What Kelly said. I suspect you don't want to discourage this board member because she does have enthusiasm for the position, but that doesn't mean she has permission to do whatever and arguing with vendors isn't acceptable. Sometimes being board president means You may need to remind board members of this, so brace yourself to do what's necessary.

first, you need to meet with this board member privately and get her side of the story. Bring another board member to serve as a witness nor both of you and perhaps prevent this from going haywire. Sometimes people calm down when there are other people around.

Remind the board member of the protocol - I might also suggest she apologize to the vendor for her behavior. If she can't I'd refuses to, you should apologize to the vendor on behalf of the association. I'd also see what projects she might be interesting and later suggest to the rest of the board that she spearhead that project - that should keep her busy

During the next board meeting remind everyone of the protocol - you don't have to name names, but simply state this ensures there are no communication breakdowns. assuming you've been charged with being the liaison between the board and vendors. if not, this sort of thing is why it's usually a better idea to have your property manager serve as liaison (that's why you pay them).

This should be the protocol going forward - in another post you said you've been doing a lot of the liaison contacts with the vendors, so this would be an excellent way to transition out of this. Homeowners should also be told if they have questions or concerns about a vendor, notify the property manager, who can then refer the matter to the board for review.

My take is that the OP doesn't want anyone else handling vendor issues and they are a micro-manager and don't like to delegate. I see it all the time unfortunately.

Actually, you ae wrong. I lived in a HOA for 7 years, was the Board president in fact. I own a HOA property management company with 50 clients. I worked for three management companies managing over 120 clients in 6 years.

I would suggest making rules when dealing with Vendors. Rules the HOA has to follow and the vendor. Make it clear.

1. Vendors MUST be licensed/insured. If a permit needs to be issued make sure it is understood whom must file it. Sometimes the HOA may need to do it in certain situations.
2. 3 bid rule on ALL vendors. Even if you going to keep your PM/MC, it is always good to make them re-bid every year. This allows both sides to re-negotiate the terms and make changes.
3. Only 1 POC to contact with the vendor. Now that does not mean that POC does not "run the show". It means that POC is the one that the vendor can contact so that POC can come back to the board. It will be the board decision to agree to changes or add/substract work.
4. Make sure it is understood how the HOA works with vendors. That Vendors need to understand they are working with a GROUP of people NOT the POC. That means the Vendor just can't randomly decide what they want the job to be. Like "well I was doing this I found this...etc.." It has to be understood there may be a time lag before that "extra" is agreed upon at all.
5. Verify the contract terms. Like make sure if it's a set price or not. Now a days with the prices in home improvement items some vendors are putting in "escalation" terms. This may be perfectly acceptable and understandable. However, must KNOW that is in the contract. Sometimes "set price" contracts are hard. Just keep an eye on your vendor if you start noticing they are adding "paint brushes" to the job. This is THEIR business expense why pay for a painting companies supplies if it's not something like paint?

I think establishing the rules you all want to deal with when coming to vendors. Give it structure. That way anyone can do the job.

"We" do not have all the facts. I am taking the OP at his word. Furthermore, the OP has already been cautioned about acting as if his decisions are the board's decisions and so on.