Revolution Successful! Now What?

* Now the hard work starts.

* If you've never done this before, prepare for an eye-opening experience.

* The first casualties of being elected to serve on an association board are: 1. any notion that you know what you're doing; and 2) your opinion of your neighbors.

* Take every opportunity to learn about your job. You're now in charge of a multi-million dollar corporation. Learn about the limits of your authority. If you don't spend your first year feeling like you're in over your head and on the verge of quitting, then you're not learning what you need to learn.

* You will make your share of mistakes. If you haven't spent your first year in a panic and on the verge of quitting, you'll make more and bigger blunders. If in a few years you don't look back and cringe, then you almost certainly still don't know what you need to know.

* Some percentage of your supporters will probably turn on you now that you're on the board. Around here we call these folks ankle-biters, chief complaining officers, or vocational dissidents. If you don't deal with them correctly, they'll either stop you in your tracks or they'll make progress very, very difficult. Keep in mind that a lie will run around the world faster than the truth can put its shoes on.

* Speaking of lies, avoid social media like the plague.

* Some helpful advice from one of my favorite authors for revolutionaries everywhere: "People on the side of The People always ended up disappointed, in any case. They found that The People tended not to be grateful or appreciative or forward-thinking or obedient. The People tended to be small-minded and conservative and not very clever and were even distrustful of cleverness. And so the children of the revolution were faced with the age-old problem: it wasn't that you had the wrong kind of government, which was obvious, but that you had the wrong kind of people." -- Terry Pratchett

Here are the first pieces of advice:

1. I see new board members and leaders, due to inexperience, bring dissatisfaction and lingering frustration into their new role, which is disempowering. You and your allies can no longer complain about HOA operational shortcomings as of today.

2. Slow down your new board's decision-making process until you better understand your HOA operations. Really slow it down. By conducting a "revolution" and sparking other directors' resignations, much experience left your board and you don't have the relationships to rely on them for any advice at all.

3. Looking back at the previous board's leadership as a reason operations aren't running smoothly under your allies' leadership should be avoided. Change was necessary at your board level, you achieved it. Now, use previous leadership decisions as the springboard.

4. Be ready to counter the upcoming gossip about your board's leadership decisions with facts, information and dues payer engagement. You are not being slandered when your old board members inevitably talk about you and your leadership. It comes with role. If you're a better leadership group, it will show. Your dues payers are smart people if duly informed.

5. Don't think about "investigating" the old board's activities and business decisions. I'd maintain vendor relations with landscapers, property managers and pool companies as smoothly as possible and not worry about the project decisions made in the past. Your job is offering stability of service. Let the revolution end with the board of directors changes for now.

Summary: Don't look back at the other board's decisions and allow the frustration of "back then" to mingle with your upcoming goals, which appear to be better operational transparency. Allow your service providers to serve your new board and assess them based on their interactions under a new leadership structure. They may be excellent companies and your opinion of them is clouded by community politics.

And...expect it to require multiple years of leadership to cultivate the cultural changes you seek. Hence, take it slow and show your community what you can do.

A few things I learned during my 10 years on the board:

1. knowledge is power. I often refer people, especially new board members to the Community Association Institute, which is an association of HOAs and assorted property management companies and other vendors. The local chapters are controversial in some states, but I mostly like them for their educational materials. Some of them are designed for new board members and cover a variety of subjects. If there's a local chapter in your state, they might sponsor education seminars. You and your colleagues should take a few - in fact, taking one or two courses a year for as long as you're on the board will help you understand your documents better.

2. Be transparent. Nothing the board does should ever be a surprise to the homeowners. They don't have to agree with everything (and they won't), but anyone should be able to go to any board member and get an accurate explanation of what's happening and why, and how much it'll cost (whether it's time or energy).

3. The property manager works at the direction of your board, which is probably why you may have to get rid of the current one if he has an issue with staying in his lane. It's ok for them to suggest, but then they have to shaddup and let the board decide. Don't get lazy and let the property manager run everything. At the same time, get out of the way and let the property manager do his/her job - that's what the association is paying them for.

4. You don't say if you have a problem with delinquent homeowners, but if you do, it's vital that you jump on delinquencies quickly. The longer you let them drag, the harder it will be to collect. You'll soon learn the deadbeats from people who are having trouble because of job loss, major illness, etc. The latter you work with, the deadbeats need to be addressed quickly and firmly.

5. When it comes to rules enforcement, it's ok to set priorities, as some things may become more problematic than others at different times. That said, you don't rules for every little thing and some things are not the board's issue, such as disputes between individual homeowners. Stay out of those and use common sense with the rest. As for the stuff that concerns the common area, be consistent, be fair and document the hell out of everything you do. Some homeowners will try to test you, but when it becomes clear that the rules WILL be enforced, most will back down and some will even appreciate your efforts.

6. Don't be afraid to say "I don't know" - follow that up with "I will find out and get back to you (and do it). Don't be afraid to say "I'm sorry" or "I made a mistake." Fix the mistake, learn from it and move on.

7. Set your limits. It took time and lots of drama to effect change in your community, so it may be beneficial for everyone to step back, take a deep breath and then decide what to do next. Board members do have a life outside the association - don't think you have to do everything all the time. You may have seen a few conversations on this website where certain board members were micromanaging everything and then complain of burnout. You and your colleagues need to share in the work and invite other interested homeowners to help (they can serve on advisory committees and that could be the beginning of developing the next generation of board members).

8. Remember, it's not all about you. YOU may do whatever you like with your home, but when you become a board member, you must make decisions that are in the best interests of the association. That may mean you'll have to make decisions people don't like. Some may yell and threaten you with a recall or some such, but that shouldn't prevent you from doing what's necessary. It's like parents with teenagers - they may squawk at having a curfew, but in time, they will see why it's important. And if they still disagree, they can do what they want when they leave home and set up their own. The squawkers may claim they can do the job better than you and run against you, but that's ok. All you can do is your best and if the homeowners decide someone else should run the show, don't take it personally. In time, everyone will see who's right.

9. Be creative and open to change HOAs are made up of people and the people who established the community years ago may be different than the ones who live there today. You have to meet people where they are and the things they see as important may not be what the original owners thought. That will change again in time.

There's a lot more, but I'll stop now. Keep coming to this website and read the conversations so you'll learn different approaches (good and bad) and continue posting your questions. This isn't an amen corner and some of us may be a little hard on you, but we're still learning too. Congrats and good luck!

All these previous posts are GREAT! Wish I had these 7 years ago.

The only things I would like to add is:

-Avoid "parking lot chatter" - Resident's think because they said something to you while you were walking your dog, its being handled. Every concern needs to be in writing to the MC and/or the Board. Avoid "but they said". Get it in writing. Then reply with an in place plan or a "we are reviewing it".

-Beware of issues that fall under "neighbor to neighbor" issues. Noise and odors usually pop up commonly in our community. What is deemed loud or obnoxious (odors) are subjective. We need several concerns filed by several owners before Board action. We tell them to call our local police to enforce our City's noise issues.

-Review your communities issues and set priorities based on your governing documents. Integrity of buildings, common elements.

-Use your attorney, sparingly, but by all means use them. Have only one point of contact with the Board. Best for the Board to reach out to them directly. Keep the MC out of attorney issues. So much gets lost in the MC/Attorney translation. Collections are different depending on if you use them for collections, then the MC should be the contact since they record the monthly dues.

As previously said, don't dwell on previous Boards actions. Move forward, gain community support through actions. Even if it's only a visual quick fix to show that the new Board cares.

Talk and rumors run like water in a community. It will take time. Don't get discouraged.

Kudos Mackenzie. What good tips and advice have come your way. Almost 2 years ago, our owners did not reelect three directors and we had a new Board of 7. Two who had unfinished terms had been outnumbered previously and now were in the majority with us three newly elected directors. An ally of the 3 defeated directors resigned a month later. The PM who'd been ever-so-helpful to the "old" board then resigned too. I'd taken a year's break due to the old Board's secrecy, interactions twig owners, and arrogance, so brought several years experience to the Board, and a remaining director also was experienced so we had a pretty knowledgeable foundation.

After 15 months Owners are still with us! We've beefed up and added committees and have several major projects in the works. One defeated director sold his unit and another is putting hers on the market. The third doesn't live on the premises and was a rubber-stamping cipher anyway. They literally "disappeared."

I like Kelly's 3 & 5 especially.

1. You need to know your history so as not to repeat it. but we've seen a lot of posters here who spend unneeded time obsessing about the past Board.

2. A couple of you directors CAM (property manager = PM) should meet with the head of the management company (MC) & your PM to discuss YOUR board's goals for the near future. If your Board doen't feel that your PM is serving the best interests of your community, see if your MC can assign you someone different. Or is your PM independent of a MC? Is your PM full-time with your HOA and does he have an office on your premises? Does your contract with the MC include him writing meeting minutes?

3. Related to Augustin's remarks, if you can afford it, ask your HOA attorney to meet with your Board to offer some training especially about your governing documents and MD statutes. Meanwhile, your own Bylaws and MD corporations codes can tell you a lot about your duties as a Board and as officers.

4. Follow Sheila's advice and visit the CAI website--some educational materials are free.

5. Non-profit boards are or should be very democratic. Board members are equals, each member has one vote. Boards govern HOAs not presidents. The president, especially if the daily tasks of overseeing vendors and staff, if any, were delegated to management, presides at meetings and usually is the liaison between management and the Board and HOA counsel and the Board.

6. Your background, Mac, gives you the tools to thoroughly review your HOA's reserves. You may wish to meet with your reserves analyst.

7. Review your major contracts: management, HOA attorney at minimum.

While all well and good,

1) We only have half the story and

2) Being you have never done this before and never held a leadership position, well, be careful for with you wish for.

One thing I've noticed over the years is that new board members who get elected on a wave of "we're going to fix all the problems created by that horrible outgoing board, you betcha!" have a tendency to become exactly what they criticized the previous board members for.

Sometimes it's because "that horrible board" was actually doing what the CC&Rs and state laws required, but the activist homeowners didn't know that and find themselves having to do the same things.

Sometimes it's because the whole business was about power plays between factions.

And sometimes it's just about the fight - and once the new regime discovers that they're now in the hot seat and will be on the receiving end of the kind of stuff they were dishing out before, they lose their enthusiasm big time. Face it, taking pot shots at people is a lot more fun that getting shot at yourself.

Interesting times...

Yes, the CAI's Toolkit is one of the free pubs I and Sheila recommend, too. I think it's the best basic guide for HOAs of all I've looked at.

Speaking of the Davis-Stirling Act, which applies only to CA, Mackenzie, an HOA legal firm in has an excellent website that explains and Avises about all HOA items of interest. Much of the site relates to any HOA, not just those in Ca, but when you read it, make sure whatever you're reading isn't specific to CA. There is, for instance, a fine section on contracts most of which is generalizable to anywhere in the US. Visit Davis-Stirling.com.

I don't know how many "revolutionary" now Board Cathy has experienced, but I've only experienced two. The first was way back in '08. The new "upstart" Board, and I was elected to it, did not at all ever become anything like its predecessor. We newbies had studied our CC&Rs & Bylaws before being elected. We knew ,based on an owner's advice that we needed to start construction defect action immediately, which the old Board refused to do. All went well, our new PM ws excellent and been through defect litigation previously.

But time passed, all previous "good directors, retired, became ill or moved to follow. By 2017, a new element had been gradually elected not as a slate, but they coincidentally shared an interest in secrecy, and "keeping owners in line" at meetings, by publicly being rude to them. at monthly open meetings. By mid' 18 they made some very unpopular decisions. The situation was so bad that I didn't run for reelection & took a year off. They as explained previously were thrown out in the late '19 election. The now new Board is transparent, civil, communicative and creative. We overturned some previous disastrous decisions. We are nothing like the boards of the previous 2-3 years.

So my experience, though very limited is the opposite of what Cathy has seen

Mac

The answer to reports of violations: is we are aware of the allegation and we are collecting information, including legal advice before we proceed. The worst thing we could do is start action without all the information. To do so we could be inviting costly legal action against our association and nobody wants that. Please let us do our job.

Having witnessed the last two presidents of our HOA fall victim to the "I'm in charge" disease, I want to say that the words above are really, really important.

Do everything you can to get your board to work together as a team. Ask for help. Give other board members projects to lead to keep them involved.

Don't be afraid to have a discussion with disagreement among the board members at a meeting. That shows transparency to the community. Our last president always wanted to have email discussions behind the scenes and just vote at meetings so it looked like we all agreed. It looked suspicious (plus probably broke some sunshine laws).

Fight the urge to do favors for friends and neighbors. Everyone has to be treated the same. Don't have special interest projects that don't benefit the entire community. Finally, remember that you are NEVER going to make everyone happy.

If board members are afraid of their neighbors giving them a side-eye or more if they make a decision people don't like, they need to rethink why they became board members in the first place. Personally, I prefer public meetings - that doesn't mean homeowners can jump in and make comments whenever they want. This is a BUSINESS meeting and while I also believe in a brief resident forum, people need to understand when it's over, sit down and listen, so the board members can do what they were elected to do, so everyone can go home at a decent hour.

By listening to the board members, homeowners can see the thought process that goes into decision making. They will find some people prepare and ask thoughtful questions, some don't think beyond "how much does this cost - I don't want it, that's too expensive" (regardless of what it is) and some simply go along with the crowd because it's easier. Hopefully, that will prompt people to think about who should continue to be on the board or may need to be voted out (or perhaps recalled).

Not in Louisiana

Congrats! All great suggestions. One thing I would add is for you to get the latest, (12th) Edition od Roberts Rules of Order. Its very comprehensive and informative!!

I am not saying owners must be allowed to speak. I am saying that stifling them only leads to problems. A BOD is foolish and/or stupid and/or inviting problems if they do not let owners speak.

Let them speak at an appropriate time, such as at the end of the meeting not during the meeting

Set limits of what and how long they can speak. Say 3 minutes on any subject the BOD discussed. One minute on any subject the BOD did not discuss.

The BOD does not have to respond to any questions. Just say the BOD understands the question and will consider it.

Do not stifle owners.

Mike, not might