Thinking about stepping down

After almost 3 years on the Board, I'm thinking about stepping down.

I don't mind the workload - it's been more than a little fun for me. But the homeowner demands are increasing - they always seem to want more than we provide (for no pay). Lately, we have had people asking us to publish agendas 2 weeks in advance of meetings and make them available to homeowners in advance, which I cannot do.

(I get contents for the meeting up to hours prior to the meeting and can't write a detailed agenda 2 weeks prior to the meeting that reflects actual meeting content.)

But I've also noticed that, as homeowner demands have increased, the willingness of others to step up and volunteer time has decreased. The other board members are as useful as potted plants. They might contribute ideas during meetings but are useless to execute our decisions between meetings. And there is simply too much for me to do as a volunteer on my own.

We've accomplished a ton in the last 3 years. Looking at my records, I have signed about 60 contracts to do various improvements around the neighorhood. Our parks are looking sharp. Our maintenance backlog has greatly shrunk. Our reserve study is updated and our reserves are in good shape.

Now, just maybe, it might be time to let someone else in the neighborhood take the reins and volunteer their time to make our community great.

And perhaps, when we fall back into decay, I just might make a comeback tour.

New blood is always good but I doubt they will be as good at the job as you. Best of luck. Just remember to totally step away! Don’t look back. Enjoy your extra time

I know you don't like to bother looking up statutes in your own state, Michael. But are notices & agendas of open board meeting legally required to be posted x number of days ahead of such meetings? Does you community even have a place to post them? How do you post notices that WA and maybe your Bylaws require?

Many states, CA for instance require that notice & a agendas for open meetings must be publicly posted 4 days ahead of the open meeting. Only emergencies may be discussed needing the Board's votes after the 4 days unless a sudden event. What do you docs or WA say about that?

Two weeks notice is ridiculous and you know it. How many are demanding that, Michael? Two? And even that's surprising since you've reported here only one owner typically attends your open meetings.

In addition, from what you've written, your Board has not ever sought to form committees or to encourage owners to form them. So far as you've told us, there is one committee and the member is your wife.

After all the fine improvements your Board has made--and we know you've done most of the work--I hope you realize it all can go to hell in a really short period of time without you. If I remember right, both Tim and JohnT have experienced that or something similar, That is one of the main problems of "CEOs" who do not successfully delegate (not that they were such) --the problem of succession.

As advised previously, your Assn. needs a PM that puts way more hours a week than the 3-4? 6? you currently contract for given your size of over 200 homes and your many parks & their contracts.

You really have trouble setting boundaries, don't you?

First, you complain you have to do this, that, and the third, never ask the other board members to help out, or turn over certain tasks to your property manager (because you don't think she's capable of doing them, although she's the...property manager. And now you're complaining about the homeowners demanding this and that (they're only mirroring the behavior of their board president/CEO).

(Yes, I know there was that incident with the former secretary - both of you were wrong in that one.)

In a weird way, I think you enjoy being a glutton for punishment (maybe because it'll justify you calling yourself CEO?) Whatever, but in everything you teach people how to treat you and you've come to the point that I and several others tried to warn you about. You have to tell people (sometimes more than once) that you have a life outside the association, and if they want certain things done, they either step up and do it themselves, or it doesn't get done.

Regarding the agenda, there are a few things that will be addressed automatically, so you could start there and set a deadline for when things will be added. If you're getting items "hours before the meeting," is there a reason some of that can't wait until the next meeting (thereby giving you a head start?) In any case, what's wrong with telling the homeowners the agenda will be available at the meeting because there may be time-sensitive issues that must be addressed? Maybe that'll prompt them to show up and pay attention to the conversations (and perhaps offer to help?) There's also the option of sending the board a letter expressing concern about something - it may be addressed in a future meeting or be added to something that's already being addressed.

I think it would be a good idea to step away for a bit, clear your head and then decide what you want to do. In our community, a board member is considered to have resigned if he/she doesn't show up for three consecutive meetings, so why not announce to the board you will be taking the next two meetings off to consider your future as a board member? That would be a good time to say (in a nice, but professional manner) that you've done a lot of work over the past year or three, and are seriously considering stepping down because it's difficult to do all of this with little or no help. If they want examples, you should have plenty. Also note, this isn't about the debacle with the former secretary, but you've felt this way for some time and because it's important that the community continue to progress, it may be time for others to pick up where you left off.

Tell the board you have confidence that they will keep things running while you're gone, perhaps give them a few resources on how to do things like run a board meeting, set an agenda, etc. Ideally, some of this is already written down in some sort of policy and procedure manual (or dozens of emails) and they can refer to that. Or Google - that usually works.

Then go off and have fun - if the community's running as well as you say, it shouldn't all go to shit in 30 days or less. Good luck in whatever you decide to do.

This entire post is absolutely spot on.

After a discussion with my spouse, who urged me to stay on (ok...told me I'm not allowed to quit), I've decided against quitting at the current time. We still have work to do and it's doubtful anyone else would step up to the plate.

So I'll be around for at least another year.

It's highly possible that nobody is stepping up to volunteer because they see that it's being done and they are not needed.

I agree. Problem is the work wasn't getting done prior to me joining the Board AND no one was stepping up to volunteer. I came out of the woodwork about 3 years ago.

It's possible that more will step up, but not guaranteed.

Wow, and you call yourself a CEO?

Not in real life. I put it here because it annoys people.

In real life, I'm just President, and the president is simply a regular Board member who presides over meetings.

Lol so the wife is the one really running the show. Call her the ceo. Lol!

Michael556's approach is what I always hoped our board would do when I was on it. Instead, it basically came down to three out of five board members doing stuff, including moi (I was newsletter editor, treasurer and would attend local CAI meetings as the association's representative.) The other two meant well, but their attendance was erratic.

I've always believed every board member should be taking the lead on something - by doing so, they develop leadership skills that might ultimately lead them to being appointed as an officer. It also helps lighten the load for everyone and if people take their role seriously, everyone saves time.
Likewise, if more people would consider serving on some sort of committee, they'd learn a little about how the board operates and be in a better position to run for the board itself and be more effective.

But people are people and so that old saying about 80% of the work being done by only 20% of the people turns out to be true most of the time. No wonder people burn out and then homeowners (who often aren't paying attention to much of anything) weep and gnash their teeth about how horrible the HOA is and there need to be term limits (which wouldn't be so bad if you had a steady supply of people willing to step up), and so on and so on.

(Cathy, if you're reading this, please remind the class of your arguments as to why volunteers in HOAs isn't always sustainable...)