Board vs Committee

We have started to utilize commttees more and more to assist the board. There is a debate about whether or not board members should attend committee meetings (open or not). What is the opinion? I have a lot of reasons to say no but want to be fair to other opinions and hear what the consesus is.

Todd,

The simple answer to your question is if the person is not a committee member and the meeting is open then they should be allowed to attend (as all members would be allowed). If the Committee goes into executive session, then only committee members should attend.

If your Association is similar to mine, committee members are appointed by the Board. Therefore the Board may appoint anyone, including a member of the Board, to serve on the committee. However, for committees that offer the members to appeal decisions to the Board, like Architectural, we decided not to have board members involved in the committee so the appeal process is untainted. To ensure the liaison between the Board and the committee, the committee chair makes a report at each board meeting.

In fear of possibly taking the discussion into a tangent, you should also check your Association documents, including policy resolutions, about the duties of various committees. I serve on our Architectural Committee which has the responsibility of interpreting the guidelines as well as the enforcement of them. When the Board did not agree with one of our interpretation, we had to point out this fact and explain that it was out of their hands. They could have certainly rewrite the guidelines or dismiss the members of the committee. Instead they looked at the rules and said, yep your right and moved on with other business.

Hope this helped,

Tim

Todd,

All committees are formed by the BOD and they appoint the committee members. Many HOA BODs appoint a board member to sit on each committee; oftentimes as the Chair. Each month the committee chair should present a report to the BOD. Your board may decide a board member does not need to be a member of each committee. However, if your state has an HOA open meeting law, all members of the assn have the right to attend any meeting of the assn, including committee meetings.

I'm curious to know why you don't believe a board member should be able to attend a committee meeting. The committee is performing a service for the BOD so what do the committee members want to keep private from the board?

It is not that we considered denying them the ability to attend nor am I asking if we should deny them. The question is more along the lines of why would it be mandatory for a board member to be present at all meetings IF, we need to present at the quarterly Public Board Meetings and they need to approve most of our requests or at least be notified of them (this is simply the Social Committee).

My thought is that if they are at the meetings other than as a concerned neighbor, they could/would:
1. have predetermined thoughts based on conversations in the committe vs. being above it and making decisions from a removed point of view
2. Aren't the purposes of committess to relieve the work of the board members and give them kind of the CEO overview and not get them involved in all small details
3. The board has a set way of thinking as well and if ideas come up that don;t go along with their thoughts then they will point that out in the committee vs. letting us explore the option and provide out of the box thinking to the board that may make sense (this could go either way).

I guess I dont think a board memeber should be REQUIRED to be at the committees meetings to "give direction, answer questions and becasue we are new" when directions are pretty simple to give, previous board president and other committee memebers are part of the committee and we present to them our findings and ideas anyway.

Not that big of a deal in the grand view of things and I appreciate the feedback.

Side note - for the social committee do you normally give a budget that they can spend as they see fit (within reason) or is every dollar spent OK'ed via the Board?

Just one more thought Todd,

Many States have open meeting requirements and that includes all committees as well. Therefore, like it or not, the Board members have the right as both member and Board official to sit in on any meetings.

Mary's above statement is short, to the point and 100% accurate so I would not even waste your time trying to figure out why any Board member wants to sit in on a committee meeting. It's their right to do so.

Sounds like you are concerned with the possibility of extraordinary power and/or influence from a board member sits on a committee.

When a board member is a member of a committee, they weare THAT hat. They have NO special status on the committee.

The chairperson of the committee needs to be sure that ALL members are on a level playing field.

There will be a liaison from the committee to the board. That may be the board member, but not necessarily.
It's a messenger sent to the meeting to relate the recommendations or activities of the committee.

Once the committee has its budget, it is not necessary to come back to the board for individual purchases. That committee is fully responsible to show wise decisions in spending its budget.