questionable board member

Started by RichardT • 6 replies • 1831 views

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RichardT (South Carolina)
Posts: 3

Posted:

our hoa board currently has a husband and wife serving as president and treasurer.i believe this is a violation of our bi-laws. one article states that when two or more people own a unit,you shall designate which person shall get the vote for that unit. and there shall only be one vote per unit.another article states, only homeowners may serve on the board. if only one of the persons owning the unit get the vote for that unit, i would assume the other is not considered a homeowner and should not be able to hold office. am i corrsct?

RogerB (Colorado)
Posts: 5,067

Posted:

Richard, all names listed on the deed are owners and are members of the association. There are differences of opinion on whether two members of the same unit may serve on the Board when the Declaration reads one vote per unit. I believe only one owner should be allowed to vote at both members meetings and at Board meetings. However, others think their Declaration states the one vote per unit only applies to members meetings but not to Board meetings and therefore two owners of the same unit can serve on the Board and both can vote at Board meetings. I disagree and think it is bad policy to have both owners of a unit serve on the Board.

HaroldS (Arizona)
Posts: 906

Posted:

I agree with Roger, it is bad policy for a husband and wife to both serve on the board at the same time. However, unless your documents expressly forbids it, I know of no legal reason you can prohibit it. As board members they would each have a vote on items that come before the board. If you restrict a board couple to one vote, you are in effect eliminating a board position and might not meet your requirements for number of board members or perhaps not have a board quoram to vote. However, As homeowners, they would still have just one vote for items that come before the members for a vote. Harold

JohnM9 (Florida)
Posts: 1

Posted:

Just because the president is a board member it does not mean the treasurer is. More often than not the treasurer is a Board member but do they have to be? Our Board Members have selected a treasurer and sec that are not board members. I am now going to look into it to see if they are suppose to be.

DanR3 (Tennessee)
Posts: 1

Posted:

i live at springhillvillas in knoxville, tennessee and the state law states only a homeowner can be on the board, and the manager of the hoa has his little live in boyfriend on as treasurer/secretary and i told him that's against the law and he said how do you know he isn't on the deed with me it isn't any of your business ..i told him prove to me he is, and he changed the subject and said he used to think i was a nice person..i still am! lol

JonD1
Posts: 2,350

Posted:

Dan:

It would be very easy to check the town or county clerk's records to find out whyo is in fact on the deed. If not and this is required (ownership) then I would guess he would have to go.

As to the question of two Board members from the same unit. While either side is open to policy questions in legal terms if the documents don't prohibit this then how would you prtevent it?

I would also ask what kind of job are these folks doing in their positions? And for some does that even matter to you?

Personally, I wouldn't care what their relationship was if they were acting in the property's best interest. And sometimes we have folks that like to look under each rock to find some issue they can make public and divisive. Maybe we have one husband and wife partnership that works well together. Maybe one husband/wife team is an asset to your property.

As we have no one beating down our door to serve on our Board I would love to have two candidates who actually wanted to work regardless of any relationship they had for the good of the property.

And IF this is made into an issue and you are successful in forcing one to leave I would suggest you have two replacements picked and ready to go because if you didn't want my wife to serve you could shove the other position.

That would result in losing the President and Treasurer?? IMO not the easiest of positions to fill.

BrianB (California)
Posts: 2,820

Posted:

Quote:

Posted By JohnM9 on 10/11/2006 11:45 AM
Just because the president is a board member it does not mean the treasurer is. More often than not the treasurer is a Board member but do they have to be? Our Board Members have selected a treasurer and sec that are not board members. I am now going to look into it to see if they are suppose to be.

Quick answer: Most likely, YES, the secretary and treasurer must be board members, because typically, those are officer positions in the corporation, and filled by HOA regulations by board members.

However, that does NOT mean that the person with the treasurer title has to be the accountant, bookeeper, etc. That can be someone else entirely, and not necessarily a board member. However, legally, the person on the board given the title of treasurer is the legal person responsible in the eyes of the law for 'treasury things".

Same with secretary. someone else can take notes and transcribe, but typically, a board member with the title secretary is the one legally responsible to sign their name, etc..

One way to think of it is that most counties have a County Recorder. However, that person does not have to physically record every item in the county, that person has others that the tasks are delegated to. But, it's his/her signature, and his/her liability on the line for all legal intents and purposes.

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