HR-style data retention? (self-managed HOA)

For those of you who are part of self-managed HOAs how do you handle records retention for things that would be handled by HR if this were a larger corporation?

I'm on the BOD for a young 22 unit community that already has a few owners that require that for anyone in a position of authority who communicates with them needs to make sure the communication is in writing and saved. Some of it definitely needs to be shared with the rest of the BOD and seems like it needs to be saved for future board members.

I know this subject is full of pitfalls and can be dependent on state, local and HOA rules and wanted to get input here before we start throwing money at lawyers.

I think you should start with considering what type records you're starting to accumulate and what will be saved forever (e.g records of approved exterior change requests or tax returns) vs. Those you might keep for a few years (e.g. canceled checks from the association's checking account.) Then talk to your association master insurance carrier to see what they recommend, as your coverage may depend on keeping those records readily available.

It's not a good idea to keep records in someone's house, obviously. There may be businesses in your area that offer record retention and destruction services you can use and some may already have HOA clients similar to your community. since everything is electronic, you'll definitely need to consider the pros and cons of storing things in the cloud. Once again, this isn't the type of thing You leave to one person on his/her personal computer.

You will need to speak to an attorney sooner or later, so you may as well get this out of the way now. He or she can help you draft a document retention/destruction policy that can address all sorts of issues, such as establishing a destruction schedule and how that's done, retaining emails, taxes and other electronic communications, handling homeowner requests for association records, etc. This policy will play a large role in setting up your system.

Between the insurance, the attorney and a document retention company, you should be able to develop one that works for yoy. Your community isn't that big, so it may not take very long to set up your system - you may be able to do some of it using software like Access or Excel. just remember to take your time in developing something that serves your community

The CAI website has all sorts of educational materials on HOA issues, and some are aimed at self manager communities. I'm sure they have resources on document retention systems and policies you can adapt

It's important to understand what is meant by records. It may be different depending on specific state laws but generally anything in writing (on paper or electronic) and video/audio recordings, are records.

I believe that if it is an important communication, put it in writing. If I have a conversation with someone that I want to make a record of, I will usually put it in an email to the primary POA email address "for the record."

There are so many different number of years for required retention (depending on the document) that we decided to make it simple and keep all records for the maximum required years for any document, 11 (required for certain tax records).

For archival storage (anything past 3 years), we scan and burn it to a data CD/DVD (by years) as well as saving to a flash drive.

We keep paper copies for 3 years.

I just spotted this after talking about record retention in your other thread, and good for you for thinking about it.

First rule of data retention: any format can be destroyed, so backups are needed.

I suggest looking into cloud storage in addition to physical media such as thumb drives/DVDs, and the like.

Second rule of data retention: technology changes.

I suggest sticking to the tried-and-true formats for your digital records: MS Office or free alternatives such as Google's offerings. In addition, plan to revisit your storage options every five years or so, and move your records to newer platforms as needed.

(Something to think about for folks who live in older communities with paper records:

Consider scanning your old stuff that needs to be preserved indefinitely. Yes, it's a big project and it will cost you money to have a company do this for you. You need to weigh tise cost against the possible cost of legal liability if you are unable to produce these records when needed.)

Thank you for all the replies.

I think I wasn't clear enough though.

I'm not referring to straight-up data retention and protection, though I do appreciate the input.

I was trying to obliquely (should have been more direct) ask how should we handle, for want of a better term, "problem children"

Put another way, in any company you've always got people that get written up for not doing their jobs, being disruptive for things as bad as sexual harassment.

That kind of member. The one that every board member needs to be aware of and one where if you aren't "keeping the receipts" in any interaction with them, you always come to regret it.

Our attorney often refers to the problem children as "vocational dissidents" - they thrive on conflict and controversy, and every community has them. There may be others with mental health issues - these two groups tend to overlap - and these can be trickier because mental health conditions are often considered disabilities for Fair Housing purposes. So...

* Talk to your attorney for guidelines before you have to deal with any of these folks, but particularly when you get a whiff of potential Fair Housing issues. These laws are pretty unforgiving, and violating them can be costly if a homeowner sues the HOA. There are also resources on the web since this sort of problem is common in any community.

(When we had a potential Fair Housing issue in my community, we notified our attorney and let him handle verification from the person's healthcare provider. He would then tell us whether or not this was a bona fide disability that needed an accommodation or if the homeowner was playing games, and forwarded the paperwork to us. This gave us a written audit trail and proof that the HOA was dealing appropriately with the issue.)

* My main suggestion is that you should deal with these folks in writing only (aside from "hey, how are you, gotta go".) Putting things in writing allows you to consider what you're saying first, and it creates documentation that the HOA is complying with whatever laws. Written records are your proof of what was said in case you need reliable witnesses. And it stops the folks who want to pick a fight, because written stuff is bland and boring and won't respond to name-calling.

* This goes for interactions with any homeowner but it's more important when dealing with the problem folks: avoid discussing association business one-on-one with owners outside of official communication channels (eg, the parking lot chat). There are two reasons for this. First, a single director does not speak for the board as a whole, but I guarantee that any remarks will be taken as "the board says" especially if you're the president. Second, casual remarks can and will be taken out of context or misinterpreted, leading to bad information circulating in the community. So beef up the official channels: website, newsletter, email blasts, written letters in response to questions/complaints/etc. And if someone grabs you for a chat: 1. direct them to the website, etc. for answers to most of their questions; 2. encourage them to put their concerns in writing so that the board can address them in a meeting; 3. other routine questions can be handled by the PM.

* This touches on enforcement actions for violations as well since our problem children tend to violate the CC&Rs too. Always do everything in writing and include other proof such as photos or video. People are more likely to sue over this stuff, so you want documentation that the board took the proper steps in the proper order and didn't overstep in dealing with whatever the problem was.

* Of course these written communications are confidential - other homeowners aren't entitled to see what was sent to Joe down the street. (There may be exceptions in some states. I think I've seen comments from some other regular posters that homeowners were entitled to see communications related to violations of the CC&Rs, but not other routine stuff directed to individual homeowners.)

* As for identifying the problem folks for future boards, in my experience they develop reputations among the neighbors pretty quickly. Having excellent communication channels with the entire community will allow the troublemakers to discredit themselves when they try to bad-mouth the board. Their nonsense may get traction with some like-minded individuals, but others will realize that the troublemaker's comments just aren't true.

(As an aside to the previous comments, avoid social media like the plague, and think very carefully before allowing online posting by homeowners on HOA websites. The board is legally responsible for anything that is published on official sites, and free-for-all posting tends to result in misinformation, false accusations and other defamatory comments, flame wars, copyright violations, photos of minors posted without parental consent, and other stuff that can disrupt the community and/or get the HOA sued. Your vocational dissidents LOVE this stuff because it gives them a platform for spewing. They can spew on their own dime - any official HOA websites should be informational only unless you have very good reasons to do something different.)

Sorry for the delay in replying, dealing with problem children and other "real life" emergencies.

Not so much a "slam book" as "When person X starts lying about event Y, here's the proof." Also, a way to let people know without it being hearsay that when person X says someone else did or said something, take it with a giant grain of salt and get verification before acting on that hearsay. Anyone who's spent any amount of time in an HR department dealing with problem employees will know what I mean.

But yeah, eventually people in the neighborhood will come to know them for who they are. It's just going to be painful in the interim because in a few cases these were people I thought were friends. Before they started plunging daggers into my back.

At least now I've had a strong lesson that anything remotely HOA related must come to the board/committees in writing and go back out in writing. Unless the issue has a predefined answer, nothing happens verbally.

"Vocational Dissidents" We've totally adopted that term.

Let me tell you a little story... I moved into my HOA/first house after a major break up in my life. 1st week moving in met the President of the HOA. Must say he was a sight for sore eyes. Really thought "Wow it is true you do find the "one" after breaking up". We hit it off great and kind of "dated" for about a month. Kept it on the downlow as I was new person. You don't want to meet your neighbors/members and say "Hey I am dating the President". Especially since never met the guy before the week I moved in. Jus

Well I started meeting more and more people. Attended even a board meeting. This guy/President had been running the "show" for many years. He was ready to hang up his Presidency to someone else. Just wanted to be become a board member. Just to be near by to assist the new person. Many people seemed to have had respect for the guy. Trusted him. He also did ha...ndyman work for many of them.

It was not long till he was "grooming" me to become the next President. Which I was happy about. Election time was coming up and I started throwing my name into the hat to run. All seemed happy. Was falling in love. Met a guy who cared about his community. Plus had some really great community members. What could go wrong?

Glad you ask... The "Master Manipulator" as he would love to be called in his own head soon revealed himself to be the snake in the grass everyone warns you about. The more I got to know the neighbors the more found out about how he manipulated people. How much he was a true liar. He got revealed to be practicing without a business license by a member to the city. He then mounted a slam campaign against that man. Convinced everyone the guy was "crazy" and was bad person. The guy was a sweet heart and a wonderful person. This was "El Presidente's" process. You cross him he would slam you.

Luckily I figured this out quickly. So one one hand had to convince him he was still "grooming" me to become President. On the other hand, I was on the resident's side who saw through everything. They were the ones that got me elected. As soon as I got elected, I fired his pot selling lawncare person. Cut off his HOA money supply. Plus kept a strict eye on him. He was still my Vice-President and had access to bank account.

For 3 years I had to constantly battle with this person. I had to "protect" the honest people from him and his group. It took a huge toll on me. It was really stressful. No one would believe me when told them of what he did. They would look at me with blank eyes and call me "crazy/jealous". Words that came out of his mouth of course.

It became routine to have people come up to me apologizing for years after dealing with that Jerk. The lies he told were just amazing and sometimes illegal. No matter how much I may have thrown a flag up to warn people. They never listened.

So my best advice is NOT to wave flags. Those flags are usually already waving over this person's head. You don't have to point them out. Just step back and do what is right. Keeping to the right keeps the wrong at bay.

Scroll back to my response from the 4th.