Board Members Asking to Not be Disturbed

Hi there.
I am asking what is your HOA policy or rule if one is in place regarding notifying board members of urgent issues. Our board in our HOA has made it clear they are not to be disturbed by anyone at anytime for anything.

We had an issue with vandalism in a common area. It was affecting the pool pump. I knocked on my neighbors door who is a board member and was essentially told it was going to be addressed. Not to bother him at home!! There are no rules or ccrs indicating this….

Today I got an email from the manager of our HOA who was instructed to email me and to request not to talk to our board members about anything HOA related at all.

I responded back that there is no rules or CCRS indicating this and her email was mute.

Just curious if HOA’s have any rule stipulations for board members and them not being notified for any emergencies. BTW this incident was on a Sunday our PM was closed.

Ignore the request to not be disturbed, and start a campaign to vote them out and/or have them removed based on your CCR's.

This is *very* common if you have a property manager - it's that person's job to deal with maintenance issues, especially emergency ones. The board members will not have the necessary tools at their disposal unless your HOA is self-managed.

In addition, if you're in an open meeting state, the board has to actually meet in order to deal with anything and the meeting must be properly noticed to the community. You may feel that whatever you want to talk about is urgent, but unless it's a screaming emergency it won't be dealt with until the next board meeting. And no single board member has the authority to act on his or her own. Telling the board president won't speed up the process.

A typical practice is to have an HOA email address that automatically copies the entire board and the property manager (if you have one). Many HOAs also require all complaints or notifications to be in writing.

That's just how HOAs work.

Things like vandalism may well be a police issue. Board members are not the police and they can't do what the police will do - they don't have the authority.

It's not that the board is uninterested. It's that many homeowners feel free to call or knock on the board members' front doors at all hours of the day. (I personally got called about an issue that I had no information on three hours after my dad had died. Was my mind on HOA stuff? No. No, it was not.) Whatever the issue is, it's much more likely to get thoughtful consideration if it's handled through the proper channels.

Management likely told the Board what was occurring, the Board doesn’t need to hear from another 20 homeowners about it.

I think this is all a matter of perspective. Board directors are generally approachable and understand that residents will reach out. There are residents - a tiny few - who will not respect communication, time of day etc. and constantly bring every non-emergency observation to you...all the time. In that case, a director should direct the report to the property manager. There's a balance here but it seems this may be the case.

You have a property manager - that is the person to contact. The Board meets regularly and makes decisions. That is their job; not to respond to emergencies or field direct complaints for every resident.

How will these board members respond when one of the neighbors stops by asking what is the board going to do about X and they don't have a clue as to what happened because they didn't want to be bothered?

That said, this doesn't require a formal CCR, just a board resolution stating how emergencies will be handled. Along with some common sense, which it seems your board seems to be lacking. To start, how about defining what constitutes an emergency, what issues can the property manager handle immediately, and then sending an email to all the board members explaining what happened? The property managerial even out a recap in the management report for the next board meeting - any questions or concerns on how it was addressed could be handled at that time?

In this case, it doesn't sound like you're on the board, so what you should have done is call the property manager first- that's why you have one. If you had any information regarding the vandalism, you could have called the police yourself or ask the property manager if he or she wanted to do it. But the manager filed the report, you can tell them what you know along with your contract information, so the police could contact you for follow up.

As for the board, do they have an email address? I'd so, you could have sent one and someone could contact you for follow up. Otherwise, I can see why this board member was ticked. Board members do have a life outside the association, and although a damaged pool pump is bad, it's not necessarily something that demands immediate response from the board. someone drowning at the pool or water from the pool flooding several houses would be another story.

PS - if the property manager's office was closed, you may want to ask if there's an on call manager who could be contacted outside of office hours for emergencies. if not, that may be something they should consider getting. Once again, homeowners should be v or what constitutes an emergency so the on call manager doesn't get inundated with stuff that can easily wait until the next business day.

Fortunately, nobody knocks on my door and interrupts my evening (yet) as Board President.

However, I frequently get texts on my phone (through my social media account) about something going on in the neighborhood. Usually relating to some vandalism in progress which is really a crime in progress. I am not sure what homeowners think I am supposed to do? Go interrupt the crime in progress? Why didn't they do that?

What I wish people would do is call the police if they observe a crime in progress. Then men with guns can come interrupt the crime rather than some poor Board member.

Of course, I don't actually interrupt crime in progress. Just shake my head and resume eating dinner.

Well said.

If a board told me that, I would be headed for the exit.

Here is what my entire community received in a recent email:

"We'd also like to take this time to remind you that any and all questions, concerns, requests, etc. must be sent to Management who will review them and help whenever possible or send them to the Board for insight and a decision. You can either call us at 999-999-6666 or email us at [email protected]. Your Board Members are volunteers with busy lives like your own and it is our job to handle all homeowner calls, emails, and questions - both to make it easier on the Board Members to perform their duties, and for liability reasons."

Not sure what the liability could be - board member speaking out of turn or getting things wrong, maybe?

At any rate, this is not unusual.

If the "don't talk to the board" response is directed at a single owner, there is almost certainly a story behind it.

Michelle

You were wrong to knock on his door. I assume your association has a procedure to report things. Follow it.

What happens when the property manager is unable to answer my question? At a bare minimum there should be a generic email address that forwards to one or more Board members.

We ask our members to contact our MC. Our MC will then contact the BOD if any questions. We also have a Gmail address that when mail is sent to it, the mail gets distributed to each BOD Member then the BOD decides who is to handle.

I genuinely can’t imagine anything I wouldn’t be able to answer other than what the board members personal opinions are. For that, I’d say come to a board meeting and ask.

That said, I agree that there should always be a way to contact the board without going through the manager. What if you want to complain about the manager!

Just know that for most day to day management and admin functions the manager is most likely the best and fastest way to get a response.

This is an ongoing issue that will never go away. This week I have taken calls about a street light that went out, bees in a homeowners yard, a mobile home park adjacent to the community and how to get the police to block off a street for a private party. None of these issues are my responsibility, and all of the correct contact numbers are on the community website but people tend to take the easiest path when they want something. So they call me and I politely redirect them, which is what board members should do too.

Having had to answer association issues for members while on vacation, I understand the boards sentiment.

They have created a point of contact, the MC.
The members should use them.

In the example provided, the vandalism was already done.
I'm not sure what the OP expected the board member to do.
If he OP saw the vandalism occur, they should have contacted the police.
If the OP did not see the vandalism occur, a simple email to the board member would have done the same thing - notified the board of the issue.

As we are standalone homes with no amenities, we do not have emergency issues nor complex ones. That said, if we did I would want "emergency" number(s) to contact. Such as plumber, electrician, etc.