What authority do I have as CEO of the association?

Started by TonyN2 • 15 replies • 372 views

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TonyN2 (Illinois)
Posts: 62

Posted:

OK. This is a bit personal and has to do more with leadership.

I feel a bit powerless at times as the president of our condo association.
Most of my board members support me but I have to tread very lightly around some others.

For this reason, I feel like I need to over-discuss everything with the board.

However, our building has leaking apartment windows, plumbing issues, etc.... the regular things every older building has.

Am I allowed to just call plumbers, get handymen to come in and fix stuff whenever I want?
The board definitely discussed these matters and are aware of what we need to fix, but do they need to know WHO I'm hiring for every little project?
Do they need to approve every transaction? What if I see it's best to repair a sewer drain in our garage? Can I just make my best decision for who to hire?

I would prefer to just locate + execute sometimes but feel like I would be overstepping if I did. I would address issues far quicker should I not have to think about what other board members think about every little thing.
Am I overcommunicating? Can I just exercise better execution powers as a CEO/President to maintain the property?

AugustinD
Posts: 1,027

Posted:

Quote:

Posted By TonyN2 on 08/26/2022 6:06 AM

Am I overcommunicating? Can I just exercise better execution powers as a CEO/President to maintain the property?

On issues where you feel one person needs to call the shots, or things will not get done, ask the board to vote to delegate authority to you on these issues. Subsequently and of course: Do not overstep.

Doing this any other way is likely going to be a violation of the bylaws and/or state statutes about how the Board (not the CEO, and not the President) makes decisions.

JohnT38 (South Carolina)
Posts: 1,631

Posted:

You need Board approval to spend association funds. I did have the Board authorize me to spend up to $2,000 without having to vote every time. If you do this make sure the vote to authorize this is recorded in the minutes.

SheliaH (Indiana)
Posts: 6,964

Posted:

It's not over-communicating - you are only ONE vote, and although you're the Board president, you're not God. Unless you have authorization via a vote from your colleagues, acting as a lone ranger just because you don't want to consult the board on "every little thing" isn't appropriate. That's how rouge board members are created.

It's true some repairs may not be as major as others, but this is ASSOCIATION money. Do what you like in your unit with your own money, but the Board has a responsibility to spend association money appropriately. As for deciding who to hire, I would hope you get at least three opinions on what could be causing the problem and reviewing quotes for the work. You should also be checking the contractors' backgrounds to ensure they are properly licensed when appropriate, as well as getting references and checking them, especially if they've done work with other HOAs. You don't cheap out the work by hiring your friend because he's "really good" with fixing windows or whatever, even though he doesn't have a license, but will give you a discount.

If you're willing to do the due diligence in hiring the best people for the job and document it, I would agree that the board could grant you a certain amount like $2K to spend on common area issues. If not, you'll need to run this past the rest of the board.

By the way, I hope you checked your documents to make sure the leaking windows, plumbing issues, etc., are the association's responsibility. If you haven't already done so, pull out your documents and read them, then note where the problem areas are located. For example, if it's a plumbing issue in someone's condo, the matter may or may not be the owner's responsibility.

If it is not right do not do it; if it is not true do not say it. Marcus Aurelius

SheliaH (Indiana)
Posts: 6,964

Posted:

Forgot to add for some work, you might consider hiring a handyman service who could come out maybe once or twice a week, or as needed to work on several areas to save money. Yes, you'll still have to do your due diligence in finding a good one, but if you get lucky, you might be able to set it up so you can simply call or email the handyman with a list of things to do with the total cost not exceeding $2K at any one time. That can save money in trip fees, which I'm sure have increased because of the cost of gas these days.

If it is not right do not do it; if it is not true do not say it. Marcus Aurelius

TonyN2 (Illinois)
Posts: 62

Posted:

Quote:

Posted By SheliaH on 08/26/2022 8:48 AM
It's not over-communicating - you are only ONE vote, and although you're the Board president, you're not God. Unless you have authorization via a vote from your colleagues, acting as a lone ranger just because you don't want to consult the board on "every little thing" isn't appropriate. That's how rouge board members are created.

It's true some repairs may not be as major as others, but this is ASSOCIATION money. Do what you like in your unit with your own money, but the Board has a responsibility to spend association money appropriately. As for deciding who to hire, I would hope you get at least three opinions on what could be causing the problem and reviewing quotes for the work. You should also be checking the contractors' backgrounds to ensure they are properly licensed when appropriate, as well as getting references and checking them, especially if they've done work with other HOAs. You don't cheap out the work by hiring your friend because he's "really good" with fixing windows or whatever, even though he doesn't have a license, but will give you a discount.

If you're willing to do the due diligence in hiring the best people for the job and document it, I would agree that the board could grant you a certain amount like $2K to spend on common area issues. If not, you'll need to run this past the rest of the board.

By the way, I hope you checked your documents to make sure the leaking windows, plumbing issues, etc., are the association's responsibility. If you haven't already done so, pull out your documents and read them, then note where the problem areas are located. For example, if it's a plumbing issue in someone's condo, the matter may or may not be the owner's responsibility.

Thank you Sheila, this is how we currently do it and it is slow. I do appreciate the explanation though, but I'm looking for more of a solution.

Quote:

Posted By JohnT38 on 08/26/2022 6:52 AM
You need Board approval to spend association funds. I did have the Board authorize me to spend up to $2,000 without having to vote every time. If you do this make sure the vote to authorize this is recorded in the minutes.

I'm going to look into doing this same thing. Our board members are extremely inactive anyway from day-to-day operations. I wouldn't see why it be a problem to do this too.
It's all money that's going towards maintaining the building anyway. That's exactly what the funds are there for.

DouglasK1 (Florida)
Posts: 2,046

Posted:

Quote:

This was pretty much what we did when I was on the board. In my case I was treasurer, but a lot of the day to day stuff fell to me. The board agreed that I could spend up to $250 on designated budget maintenance items without specific board approval. That way I could do things like getting broken sprinkler heads fixed without bothering everybody. I did always inform the rest of the board as part of the treasurer's report at the next meeting.

Escaped former treasurer and director of a self managed association.

JohnC46 (South Carolina)
Posts: 14,265

Posted:

We have a BOD of 5, homeowner elected members. Basically the Pres. and myself (VP) make the day to day decisions and the others go along. Often it is just a phone call between us. My advice to Tony is get one other BOD Member that will work closely with you and you two do, within reason, what is needed without waiting for the rest of the BOD to agree.

MichaelT21 (Arkansas)
Posts: 462

Posted:

Tony,

As a young CEO in our HOA, I asked the Board to review and approve every contract before signing. I'd send them out by e-mail prior to the Board meeting, ask Board members to review, and we would introduce motions and vote on whether to proceed with the specific contract. That is good for transparency and trust building.

Now that I'm more senior, for our larger projects, I've migrated to approving the budget but not approving every single vendor. Thus, I would add up the total project cost for all of the vendors, add maybe 10% for unexpected overruns, and then have the Board approve that. Then I'd go sign the contracts in support of the project, but we didn't review every proposal from every vendor and approve each one individually.

I might encourage a similar approach.

The other strategy that I have is that we made decisions at Board meetings and execute decisions between meetings. Spending money is a decision, whether to go with Vendor A or Vendor B may be a decision or may be minutiae that can be decided by the President between meetings. If in doubt, I hold the action to the meeting where we discuss and approve as a Board.

The fact that I do a lot between meetings makes some Board members nervous because they think that I am doing stuff without Board approval. The reality is there is a ton of work and a ton of things that need to happen between meetings to keep the association running, and we can't possible decide every little thing at meetings. But I work hard to ensure that decisions are never made by me alone, only by the Board as a whole at a meeting of the Board.

KerryL1 (California)
Posts: 14,550

Posted:

What size is your HOA? How many directors? Do you have a property manager?

TonyN2 (Illinois)
Posts: 62

Posted:

Quote:

Posted By MichaelT21 on 08/26/2022 10:34 AM

The other strategy that I have is that we made decisions at Board meetings and execute decisions between meetings. Spending money is a decision, whether to go with Vendor A or Vendor B may be a decision or may be minutiae that can be decided by the President between meetings. If in doubt, I hold the action to the meeting where we discuss and approve as a Board.

This is really, really good stuff right here. Thank you.

Also, there are 44 units in our building.

LaskaS (Texas)
Posts: 1,025

Posted:

i agree with sheilia,

additionally, the president of the board is does not have the same powers that the position of "ceo" has in a for profit company.

the president has authority within board meetings. The president has no authority over association decisions.

MelissaP1 (Alabama)
Posts: 13,836

Posted:

Here is what I did as President for repairs. We had a 3 bid policy for everything over $50. The "call" went out to bring us 3 bids to discuss at the meeting/interview for the repair we decided to tackle. Once we had or got to 3 bids, we then voted on the work to be done. Once done we had the accountant cut a check for it. The work was already approved by the board and costs planned. It was just "insert contractor here".

We did have a guy who was a "Handyman" in the hood. However, he was quite the con-man and ex-President... That is why I put the limit down to $50 as many of the board just wanted to hire him straight out. It is VERY important on who you hire has to be licensed and insured. Do NOT hire them otherwise. I forced him to get licenses and insured before I would let him be part of the bids.

It's okay for you to go find these contractors. If you got to get the 3 bids yourself, go for it. Just understand, you need to present those bids first to ALL the board before you go ahead and hire.

Former HOA President

TonyN2 (Illinois)
Posts: 62

Posted:

Okay I understand where everyone is coming from.
Confusion seeps in when everybody treats the president like the only supposed to do any work.
There is a lack of involvement up until there is anything to vote on.

MaxB4
Posts: 3,513

Posted:

Quote:

Posted By MelissaP1 on 08/28/2022 7:50 AM
Here is what I did as President for repairs. We had a 3 bid policy for everything over $50. The "call" went out to bring us 3 bids to discuss at the meeting/interview for the repair we decided to tackle. Once we had or got to 3 bids, we then voted on the work to be done. Once done we had the accountant cut a check for it. The work was already approved by the board and costs planned. It was just "insert contractor here".

We did have a guy who was a "Handyman" in the hood. However, he was quite the con-man and ex-President... That is why I put the limit down to $50 as many of the board just wanted to hire him straight out. It is VERY important on who you hire has to be licensed and insured. Do NOT hire them otherwise. I forced him to get licenses and insured before I would let him be part of the bids.

It's okay for you to go find these contractors. If you got to get the 3 bids yourself, go for it. Just understand, you need to present those bids first to ALL the board before you go ahead and hire.

3 bid policy for anything over $50.00, you're joking right?

MaxB4
Posts: 3,513

Posted:

My suggestion is find all the projects you need done, and unless they need a specialist, contract with a reliable handyman until the work gets done.

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