Flowers for homeowners who have volunteered

Sorry, the community cannot, I repeat cannot, spend any money that is not specifically stated in your CCRs.

I just read through our CC&Rs, all 81 pages.
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It doesn't really say what we can and cannot spend money on, except that Assessments are to be used for Common Expenses, which are defined as "the actual and estimated expenses incurred or anticipated to be incurred by the Association for the general benefit of all Owners...."

I would argue that the mishap that was corrected at the request of the association was for the general benefit of all Owners, and that a small gift of flowers to thank the people for their efforts in assisting us correct the mishap is appropriate and covered by our CC&Rs. Providing a nice thank you to these homeowners helped save the association cost and helps keep the door open should another mishap occur in the future.

I'm with max, although it's a nice gesture. If the board wants to do this, it may be best to pass the hat and get the flowers. Or a nice card and all the board members sign it.

Using HOA money for stuff like this has come up before - if you want to get small gifts for tnis, I would suggest a poll of the community to see how they feel. If no one has a problem with it, you will still need a po!icy dictating when the money is spent and a dollar amount is also appropriate. It could be listed for n the budget as a line item for "goodwill or something, but you should wait until next year where people can see it.

It seems like overkill, but as you said, it should be done right. Npersonally, I'd lot for passing the hat.

It was just a joke. Someone here has an issue with something like that.

And yet, you're asking if ASSOCIATION money (provided by you and your neighbors, including the ones who helped) should be used to give flowers to certain homeowners. No, these aren't board members, but it's similar to an association sending flowers to a homeowner who's fighting cancer or passed away. This isn't something that all the homeowners are getting, so why should they be singled out?

You're entitled to use your money as you see fit, but during my 10 years on the board, I remember a few instances where the board chipped among themselves to: give our property managers small gifts when they retired, a sympathy card and flowers to the family of three former HOA presidents when they passed away, one family when their three-year-old was killed in a fire (the house was gutted and they lost everything). My colleagues also chipped in to give ME a lovely card and a bottle of wine when I stepped down - I used to joke it was a medal of sorts for wrestling with delinquencies when I served as treasurer!. Not a quarter of association money was spent.

You don't say how many people are on your board, but I would think all of you chipping in $5 or $10 each won't break you - if you have an issue with it or your colleagues balk, don't give - just say thank you to these folks and move on. If you feel these people deserve some sort of thanks, nothing's stopping YOU from sending your own card. Sometimes we should do things because they're the right thing to do and not quibble over the cost, and there's a lot to be said for expressing gratitude.

Jack, an H.O.A. president like yourself needs allies among the membership. So do not go cheap, and do not make mere token gestures. Buy a gift card to a decent restaurant (maître d', cloth tablecloths and napkins, at a minimum). Or if they're not the high dining type, just give them a gift card to the local high end grocery store. The gift card should explain on it that it is from the H.O.A.

The H.O.A. should publicize the H.O.A.'s thoughtful gift in the H.O.A. newsletter with something like: "Dear Folks, Tom and Betty Smith were invaluable in correcting a certain mishap. The H.O.A. sent them a gift card to buy a few drinks at ______. To Tom and Betty: We love you. You're very special."

I suspect there should be a "sarcasm" emoji in there somewhere... :-)

Actually, I was going to suggest that, rather than buying something like flowers, put a Thank You notice in the community newsletter (assuming the volunteers are OK with that, some folks wouldn't be).

Management experts often recommend putting thanks into writing and say that employees/volunteers often value that more than they do something like another gift card. This approach also gets around any issues with improper spending or accepting gifts.

And we still haven't seen you cite one law or CCRs stating your "whatever" Augie's Law of Contracts.

A board member summits a receipt for a ink cartridge to print 100 sheets for a board meeting. Do we calculate the exact expense for copying just those 100 sheets? I've been doing this for 13 years and have never encountered an issue for something like this from another board member or homeowner.

Badly missing PITA, How is he doing?

My board wanted to "forgive" dues to owners whom have died. They did not want the family to have to worry about paying the dues for the month the person passed away. Now this sounds like a good and considerate thing. However, you have to look at the fact that those dues are considered "income" for the HOA. It also factors into that we placed liens for unpaid dues at 6 months. Which guess what? Probate court takes about 6 months to process. Meaning we are most likely already facing 6 months of unpaid dues by the families anyways while this all processes. Plus how do you lien during probate process without looking like jerks? Which we were not being. We just liened at 6 months as during probate the new owners aren't responsible for previous owner's debts.

So instead I suggested IF this was to happen, then we could "pass the hat" around to donate to pay the dues for that month instead. We still would meet the obligation of the dues being paid. Plus could avoid doing any liens. $50 a month dues wasn't a high amount of which to collect.

So even though it sounds great to "thank someone" it also coming from EVERYONE's dues monies. Which not alot of people may appreciate if they don't like that board member and they are getting "dinner" on their dime.