Landscaper who is also a member....

No, the board was elected to manage the money. They can decide contracts, etc. without a mass meeting.
It is better to hire a professional than a hobbyist. That being said, my former HOA used the services of a member. He was cheaper, AND, he did a better job than the professionals, by far! If your member is cheaper and does a better job, he should be considered. If he is just cheaper, but the job isn't professional, responsive, etc., then he really isn't cheaper to deal with... just less money, but not less time and hassle. go with the pro then.

My first comment: How is it ethical to change a bid after the fact? It's easy to low-ball when you already know what other bidders are coming it at.

That being said, we had a resident/member who was "awarded" our landscaping "contract" years ago.

We were told by the chair of the Arch Committee that this person had "the lowest bid" and that since he was a member of the community, he would have a vested interest in doing a good job. Oh, and since he had to buy the equipment, he wanted us to "lock" him into an 8-year contract so he could be sure to be able to pay off the equipment.

We balked and asked to see all the bids. The Arch Committee chair provided a hand-written page that listed a few names and their quotes. The member/resident's quote WAS the lowest, but we would not agree to an 8-year contract. The most we would do is 2 years at a time.

After the first 2 years were up, the Arch Committee Chair said he again put bids out and the resident/member's bid was the lowest by "thousands of dollars" and tried to again pressure us into a long-term contract. Again, we would only agree to 2, max.

Woe is us for not properly following up on all this.

At a treasurer change=over the new treasurer noticed we did not have a Tax ID number for the resident/member and called to get it. We also noticed we did not have copies of 1099s filed.

Turns out it was all a big lie. The chair of the Arch Committee "rigged" the bids. We were actually being charged MORE than the current professional lawncare service we have now. Ironically, by THOUSANDS of dollars! Plus, they had worked it so that the resident would not have to report our payments to him as income.

So, long story short, it doesn't HAVE to be a conflict of interest for a resident/member to be awarded a contract from an HOA, it just happens that more times than not, it turns out that way.

If the bidding process was "blind" i.e. submitted bids don't indicate names, only a code number for ID purposes, and the figures are gone over without knowing the name of the vendor - then you would not have this problem.

This person should not be sitting on the board for the purpose of trying to get contracts. It will be interesting to see if he stays on the board.

On the other hand, if he is doing a good job, why not extend the contract at the same rate year by year?

(It's possible that the reason he wants an 8 yr. contract is that contracts become business "equity" if he goes for a bank loan or wants to sell the business.)

Mindy,

As you can see from the responses, sometimes it works and sometimes it doesn't. It all depends upon the people involved --

Your board needs to develop a policy and stick to it. This policy should cover whether or not contracts with members will be considered, the bid process and how contracts are awarded. The members do not need to be consulted. As one other poster mentioned, the board is charged with operating the assn. not the members. Although I'm a huge proponent of board transparency, I'm not in favor of a board asking for member input on every hard decision they're faced with. IMO, oftentimes it's just a cop-out for being afraid to do their job. Making tough decisions comes with the territory. If you go about it in an objective manner, whicle considering all the options, you can't go wrong. There will always be some members who won't agree with your decisions. However, that would be the case even if you asked for their approval!

Glen,

Glad to know you agree with me. :-) In my former assn we had a board pres who was like this. He was V.P. under my husband then became Pres. when Terry's term was up. On practically every issue b/4 the board he would ask the members present how they would vote. I asked him once if he thought this was a fair thing to do as all the members in the assn who weren't present weren't being given the opportunity to vote or express their feelings on the matter. Of course he didn't like my question. But his problem was that he didn't want to "offend" anyone by doing something they didn't agree with. IMO, people like that shouldn't even be on the board. But, of course, we all know how hard it is to get anyone to run!