Serving on a sub and master board at the same time allowed?

Question: there’s a master and sub association. My home is in the sub and I occupy a spot on the sub board. There is an opening on the master’s board. The master is telling me that a homeowner that sits on the sub association is not allowed to sit on the master board at the same time. I’ve looked through both sets of documents, there’s no mention of only allowing serving on one board at a time – only verbiage is serving 1 year terms. To me, if I pay two sets of dues, I should be able to volunteer for both boards as long as my schedule does not conflict. If I have a voting right in the sub, then a voting right in the master, I should be able to place myself on the ballot. Anyone ever have this type of conflict?

TaraR - I live in a community with an HOA and COA Board. All single-family households and townhouses pay to the HOA, all townhouses pay to the COA. Those COA households can join the HOA and or the COA Boards. However, while nothing may specifically prohibits you from being a member of both Boards at the same time, you must admit there is a concentration of power in doing so. Gobbling up two Board seats by one person is exactly that. What Boards need are different people to join the front of the table. You may be excluding the opportunity for someone to do that. Fine if no one will step up and the vacancy needs someone. Morally I think you shouldn't do it. IMHO, join one or the other.

Joe,
The way that Master and sub associations are set up here in Florida ,is that the concentration of power as you suggest, is nill. The Master Board has a totally different set of responsibility from the sub associations. Our "sub" has it's own set of CC&Rs, rules and regs and different common property as we are a gated communities. Each section has self enforcement but we cannot weaken or contradict the Master by our own set of documents.

What our Master Board does is to monitor all 3 sub associations, to ensure that we are all following the Master CC&Rs. All 3 subs have different rules and regs because each community has different amenities and areas to control. Therefore, to have a representative from all 3 areas insures that all 3 know what is happening in the Master plan and to keep some similarity to the entire developement. There is also a large Master common area which leads in and out of the developement, which is where our Master dues go. That is why all 3 areas are required to be part of the Master plan. There is absolutely no one person who has more control or any situatuion over the others so having 2 Board positions is never an issue.

Joe,
Sometimes some of the posters think that a H.O.A. is like having the power to start wars, to change the world and to make a difference to the entire mankind. It's isn't. Board members are just that--Board members

I said that the concentration of power is nill, having dual positions on a Master and a sub association. These people in position of leadership are not judges and kings and absolute rulers. They are just homeowners like you and me, who try to read and interpret documents which we all agreed to follow. Sometimes a few get sidetracked and develope big egos with having a position of leadership and some are just simply useless but in the end it is our Documents that show us the way. Power has nothing to do with it. Yes, if some one board member gets too much for a membership to handle, then it is up to them, the members, to rid themselves of the headache or monster.

Yes, two minds are better than one but it is so difficult to get people to get involved if there is just a bit of extra work involved. My post states that all 3 of our subs are required to be members of the Master. They are the representatives, the liaisons from each community who keep things in equal proportion so that 1 sub association does not feel less important than the other 2. All pay dues to the Master, therefore, all deserve representation. And who else has better knowledge of their sub assoc. that it's President.