My first board meeting

Wow, that was fun. Must still be the honeymoon. I am probably least fit to be president as presiding over meetings is new to me, and I definitly had some rough moments last night. I struggled with a few details:

1) I put executive session last, advice from a board member was to move it up, because we have to come out and announce what was accomplished (we were discussing individual past-due accounts).

2) I struggled with the balance of formal meeting/casual. We are a single family home community and are not strictly bound by robert's rules of order. I kept making a motion to discuss stuff. Next time we will just discuss and then make a motion to vote. One example: We were discussing to change a rule for our clubhouse, and decided not to touch it. So we still need to take the vote right, since we were discussing it.

3) Also, input from the members was challenging at times. I feel like they need to be involved, but I tried hard not to let it become open discussion. The clubhouse rule got everyone involved and eventually I had to say something.

4) My agenda was way off, I moved open discussion towards the end instead of the beginning. Also, I had 20 minutes on the agenda, but due to all the discussions during our other topics I just lowered it to 10. It was suggested to follow the agenda, or have the board adjust it. I think the questions were done anyway, but one board member suggested some felt cut off.

5) I was shooting for 90 minutes for the meeting, and it went about an hour and 45 minutes. Is it good to try and define an ending point (although I'm sure its really difficult to hit).

6) I'm really struggling with what we can and can't do with it discussed in the minutes. Here are two examples:
a) We decided not to send anyone to collections just yet and instead we are sending a letter to eveyr home owner. Introducing ourselves and stating how important it is to pay assessments now. It has to be drafted, and then it's going to be emailed to the five us for review. Once we all review it and it sounds fine we are going to send it. That should be fine, the motion to send the letter/pay for postage was alreadya ccepted, we are just checking it for errors.

b) I completely forgot a minor issue, on our stone entrance, it has our name spelled out. The letters are screwed into the stone wall. We have repeatidly had them stolen and no witnesses. They are expensive to replace. One suggestion I know we all like is to just take them down for now. Since it didn't get discussed, can we just take them down, then next board meeting (one month), we can vote to replace and put back up?

Thanks for reading!

Ken

b)

Breathe Kenneth, Breathe! Don't be so hard on yourself. You certainly have a lot on your plate right now and as much as you'd like to "solve" everything at once, it's going to take some time and can't be accomplished overnight.

Start the "Kenneth First 100 Days" goal.

As far as your changing management companies, make sure you read their contract very, VERY carefully! If you think it's a 90-day notice, read the fine print. We did that, too, but missed the parts outlining fine details like a "certified 60-day notice" letter; THEN 90 days after that. As a result, the tacked on a HUGE charge to us.

Long story, short, it took our attorney going after them to remove the charge. Getting the books and records was another nightmare. Our new P.M. had to literally park his butt in their office month after month refusing to leave until they "found" the records we were seeking. One YEAR later we discovered that they still had one of our accounts open with a couple thousand dollars in it!

Good luck Kenneth! Keep us posted. Plus, give yourself a pat on the back for getting through the first meeting. You'll only get better!

6a cont.) In the minutes perhaps say that x number of units are are x months in arrears and the board voted to send letters yada, yada, yada. After 60 days those owners are automatically sent to the attorney for collection. Or whatever. What do your docs say about collections?

6b cont.) Same answer as above. :-)

Congratulations, Ken. Actually it sounds to me like you did a very good job, considering it was your first time. I'll try to answer your questions in the order you have them listed.

1) IMO, executive session is best left for last. I'm not sure you have to announce what was discussed immediately; I would think you can wait until the next board meeting.
2) There should be a discussion on each agenda item. After discussion a vote is called for; however, IMO, there may be instances when a vote is not required. Depending upon what the discussion was about there may be nothing to vote on.
3) There's nothing wrong with allowing the members to speak, perhaps even to each agenda item. All this would depend upon how many members are present at the meeting. Obviously if there is a rather large group of members present, they should not be permitted to speak openly to each agenda item.
4) Whether the open discussion is at the beginning or the end of the meeting, should be determined by the board. If there is a large group of members present I see nothing wrong with you stating how long each person will have to speak - 3 mins or 5 min. If the group is really large and you know they are present because of a "hot topic" on the agenda it would be reasonable for you to ask them to appoint someone to speak for the group and give that person 5 minutes. Our board has open discussion at the beginning of the meeting. Regardign the agenda, it is best to stick to the order shown. In fact the same order should apply for all meetings. Here's a sample of my BOD's agenda:

Call to Order
Notice of meeting (State law requires all meetings to be noticed and be open to members)
Homeowners Comments/Questions
Approval of last month's meeting minutes
Treasurer's report
Committee Reports (list all committees)
Management Report
Old Business (list each item)
New Business (list each item)
Announce next board meeting
Adjourn

5) There is no need to state the time of adjournment on the agenda. Depending upon how much business there is to take care of will determine how long the meeting lasts. Ours last anywhere from 1 1/2 - 2 hrs.
6) (a) seems to have been handled just fine. Once the members approve the wording in the letter it can be mailed to the members
(b) I see nothing wrong with you taking the letters down. At the next board meeting you can announce that you took the letters down because some were missing then state you want to discuss whether or not they should be put back up or replaced.

Ken, I took a peek at your website. Good start!

Keep us posted!

Ken,

I know exactly where you're coming from! Many years ago I was elected to the first h/o BOD at my former HOA. There were 5 of us and only 1 (the Pres) had experience with HOAs. He was also Pres of a condo assn (this was a planned community) so we elected him pres of our HOA thinking he knew alot. As it turned out he didn't know diddly-squat because the board let the mgr run the show. So there we were, 5 board member w/o a clue. I took it upon myself to learn everything I could about HOAs. Until I found out about the state statutes and the open meeting law, we weren't even announcing our board meetings! It was a very interesting experience. So now your board has one person interested in learning as much as possible about HOAs -- YOU; it will be interesting to see how many other follow suit. I hope it's a higher % than my old board had!

Ken,

Welcome to the happy happy world of HOA Board's! the meeting agenda here is probably the best you can use it may even be referenced in your by-laws as well. I am a manager (don't shhot me) so have a little different take on everything printed here. If I may make a couple of suggestions.

On the termination and new hire of management I have not heard of such terrible experiences as written here. It jsut baffles me. If we get fired so be it we get fired, why try to stay where you are wanted and why hold docs or bank accounts or make it hard to terminate. Baffles me completely. but if you have that problem with current management make real sure you control the specifications of the contract for the new company. We all tend to have our own contracts but there is nothing that says you have to sign their contract as written. Make sure you ahve a 30-day terminatin clause wihtout cause and without limits. some will say you can terminate without penalty if it is 30-days prior to the end of the contract term. Other contractors will have the same language. Refuse that out right. It forces the association to stay in a contract they may not want with recourse to terminate. You should not need a "cause" to terminate if you want with appropriate notice. Waste services companies are notorious for those types of clauses as well as liquidated damages. If you have not yet sent the termination letter, I would recommend asking the current company for copies of all bank account statements if you don't get them already. They should be in your associaiton name and not that of the company. If you ahve already hired new management make sure they are willing to step in and deal with the old company directly to ensure easy transfer of files and records.

As to open discussion, I always recommend that at the beginning and limit it to 20 minute period and no interruptions during the rest of the meeting. We also wrote into all the rules that anyone who wants to speak at the meeting must present the request in writing to management one week prior ot the meeting. this provides the opportunity for the manager to gather any informaiton regarding that topic and have it to the board prior to the meeting and stops any side swipes of issues that the board is totally ignorant of. this also lets owners come in at the beginning say their peace and leave and not have to sit through the whole meeting. some boards even invite them to leave if they wish, and most do so making for a more peaceful rest of the meeting. So listen and take notes on what an owner brings up but do not discuss or make any decisions that gives the board the time to gather more information. Unless of course it is an esay resolution like directing management to reapir a gutter. Encourage owners to bring routine topics or suggestions to the board through your website or management to save time on decision making and leave time at meetings for the tricky subjects requiring discussion.

Delinquencies should not be given lieniency unless there is some concern that there accounts may not be correct. When we take over an associaiton we typically give everyone a 3 month period to get used to new payment methods but those that are delinquent coming in we send notice that we as new management will recommend to the board that agressive collection begin as soon as possible; basically a "pay or lien" or "demand" letter. this covers the board and management under the Fair Debt Collection Act regardless of what has gone before. It also takes the weight off a new board places it squarely on the new manager. We work on a basis that management is the filter for the board and while we do nothing without board direction and approval, management should act as the heavy along with legal counsel when it comes to collections. I mena you do have to go get your mail right? and pass people on the road? Managment does not and in the end we are paid for such services or should be.

well for now I think that is enough of my thoughts. If I can give you "War and Peace" again from the perspective of management let me know. I have tried to help 16 years of new board members and love it when i can help.

I am happy to help as i can. how may I assist?