Contractors - attending every BOD meeting

Hello All,

I have a newbie board question. Our contractor(Property Management and Bookkeeping) have been attending our bod meetings for some years now. It seems strange to me as one of the new board members that they sit in on the entire meeting. Is this typical? Do any of you have contractors leave after their reports in order to conduct BOD meetings without your contractor's present? If you do, when do you do so. I do not want these folks to feel put out but some adgenda items are not their business and they do not have a vote but, like to interject with hard opinions on how things were done in the past.

Thank you in advance for your thoughts.

Our PM attends all of our board meetings---start to finish. Unless he has reports for us he sits quietly unless we ask for his input. At most of his other properties he even takes and prepares the unapproved minutes.

I guess this is going to expose my lack of knowledge about PMCs, but I can't imagine why you would not want the PM for the entire meeting (unless it's costing you money above the contract).

The more informed a PM is about the association, it would seem to me, the better able to help he/she would be.

In my "former life" as a communication consultant, I frequently sat in on executive staff meetings and board of director meetings. Most of the time I had nothing to contribute, but simply being able to hear and see the items discussed, the various positions the members had and the dynamics involved was invaluable for helping me do my job for them.

There is a lot you miss from simply reading corporate minutes.

I can see that a landscaper, for example, might not benefit, but a PM being able to attend, it would seem to me, would benefit the board as well as the PM.

What am I missing?

We have a good relationship with out Property Manager. We didn't always. In years past, the PM ran the monthly meetings pretty much and the BoD just voted as items came up, etc. Now, however, the current BoD has taken the lead and we run the meetings, the PM sits by and adds to the topic if called upon.

The PM works for the HOA. Your BoD can direct him/her to help as much or as little as you like.

Ultimately, though, the BoD is responsible for the running of the HOA and should be mindful of that.

We have a Management Company, not a Property Manager, but they sit in on the entire meeting. We have an Accountant/Bookkeeper but they never attend a meeting and the Management Company is the only one who interfaces with them.

In our case, the Management Company is primarily responsible for keeping the HOA as a corporation intact (so they provide advice, do phone calls, write letters and write up the minutes) but they don't do property management (like replacing light bulbs or physically supervising electricians). In essence, we do our own property management (which sucks).

Yup, yup, yup, Donna....that's what I was saying. The more our P.M. knows, the better he works for US.

Ditto, Michelle!