Board Member Elections

Started by HelenK1 • 13 replies • 1743 views

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HelenK1 (Washington)
Posts: 68

Posted:

After reading many of the posts in here I see that there is a wide array of ways that board positions go up for re-election Our Docs say that we have a 3 member board and every year one 3yr term is up for election.I'm sure that is to insure some sort of stability on the board. There was no annual meeting in 2006 and therefore an opportunity for us to stage a badly need takeover in 2007 with the election of 2 board positions but that was just an unforseen opportunity granted to us by the previous board who obviously did not want a change in 2006. Anyway I have read that some associations have 5 positions and they are all up for re-election every year. I would think that could create a lot of chaos. If any of you would like to post how your board positions are re-elected and what effect that has, good and bad, please post. I don't have an issue here I am just curious

SheliaH (Indiana)
Posts: 6,964

Posted:

We've always had one or two board members up for election every year (we have 7) so we don't have a situation where everyone's up for re-election. Staggered elections help ensure (in theoory anyway) that there's a mix of experienced and new members so we don't have to reinvent the wheel on various issues. We also avoid a situation where the entire board resigns and no one's left to take charge

If it is not right do not do it; if it is not true do not say it. Marcus Aurelius

FranD (Georgia)
Posts: 102

Posted:

We only have a one year turnover. I can see why - it is good to get more different perspectives on things and hard to break that chain when you keep the same board for so long. Some make up their own rules and don't follow the covenant and you get into many arguments between neighbors. I think you need 3 members to have a quorum, don't you? We have 7 positions (4 with titles, and two without) We will be using some of them for ACC committee that is needed.

DavidW5 (North Carolina)
Posts: 565

Posted:

We are about to hold our first election of homeowners to what was previously a board controlled by the developer. The developer board published election procedures that said the top 3 (of seven) vote getters would serve three year terms, the next two highest would serve two year terms, and the remaining two would serve one year terms.

Unfortunately, our bylaws don't specify the term of the board members and the Virginia Nonstock Corporation Act provides that: unless the bylaws specify otherwise, terms of directors are to be one year. The board has since amended to election procedures accordingly.

My feeling is that board members who do a good job will be reelected after the one year term and those that don't will be defeated. This will prevent us from being stuck with board members for three years who are not doing a good job.

GlenL (Ohio)
Posts: 5,491

Posted:

We have a five member BOD which serves staggered two year terms.

Studies show that 5 out of 4 people have problems with fractions

CheryleR
Posts: 4

Posted:

Hi Helen,

We have a five member BOD, everyone serves a two year term. The terms are staggered, so last year we had two positions expiring, this year we have three positions expiring. That way we still have continuity yet we have opportunities to have fresh blood on the board. Unfortunately, no one ever volunteers so you have the same folks doing everything year after year after year ..

GeraldM1 (Florida)
Posts: 2

Posted:

We have 9 boad mem. they stagger the terms of each so they don't all come up for relection the same yr.This way they can tell you anything they want you to here,(right or wrong ) almost always keeping us in the dark. Now they are having some competition and they don't like it. Is it ok to have two members from the same household on the board at the same time?

FranD (Georgia)
Posts: 102

Posted:

This is a crazy way to do the terms of each member. This needs to change. Someone needs to read their covenant to learn the rules. Competition between members is tough cause we are going through that and is horrible. Their are rules at meetings too. Do you have a secretary who takes minutes?

NO it is not allowed for two members on the board or any committee at the same time nor can two vote from the same house.

Hope this helps

GlenL (Ohio)
Posts: 5,491

Posted:

Quote:

Posted By FranD on 02/18/2010 12:29 PM

NO it is not allowed for two members on the board or any committee at the same time nor can two vote from the same house.

Hope this helps

Fran it’s only prohibited if there is something in the CC&R’s that prohibits it. While there is only one vote per home, that is for things such as CC&R changes and HOA election voting.

Studies show that 5 out of 4 people have problems with fractions

RobertR1 (South Carolina)
Posts: 5,164

Posted:

Glen,
As you know I don't agree with your conclusions about this. It can be argued that one vote per unit means exactly that. If you are going to allow multiple owners to be Board members you would have to allow all owners that are multiple owners of any numbers of units. This could easily result in one unit holding all the board positions. You can argue it never happens but it does happen time and again that husband and wife serve on a three member board. We are not talking money making corporations, we are talking neighborhoods. And the argument that, "you would be surprized at the times my wife and I agree," just does not seem reasonable. Sure it happens all the time and there are probably cases where the husband wife were the only people to step up, but I sure would not recommend it is a good practice and probably illegal to have control of an HOA of any kind under one unit, be it husband and wife or a ny number of co=owners.
Also, all members of any association share the responsibility of contributing to the operation of the association. If they don't do it, they can be ordered to do it by a judge.

MaryA1 (Arizona)
Posts: 7,043

Posted:

Quote:

Posted By RobertR1 on 02/19/2010 3:19 PM
Glen,
As you know I don't agree with your conclusions about this. It can be argued that one vote per unit means exactly that. If you are going to allow multiple owners to be Board members you would have to allow all owners that are multiple owners of any numbers of units. This could easily result in one unit holding all the board positions. You can argue it never happens but it does happen time and again that husband and wife serve on a three member board. We are not talking money making corporations, we are talking neighborhoods. And the argument that, "you would be surprized at the times my wife and I agree," just does not seem reasonable. Sure it happens all the time and there are probably cases where the husband wife were the only people to step up, but I sure would not recommend it is a good practice and probably illegal to have control of an HOA of any kind under one unit, be it husband and wife or a ny number of co=owners.
Also, all members of any association share the responsibility of contributing to the operation of the association. If they don't do it, they can be ordered to do it by a judge.

Robert,

As you know I do not agree with you regarding whether or not a husband and wife should serve on the BOD at the same time. However, at this time I would only like to comment on the last sentence of your message.

I know of no CCRs that "require" the members to "contribute to the operation of the association". Do yours say the members have that resp? I don't think a judge would order a member to hold a board position or in any other way contribute to the operation of the assn. Because the assn is made up of the members, we all have the notion that everyone should be willing to serve in some way, but, the sad truth of the matter is that the members are NOT obligated to serve.

BarbaraK (Florida)
Posts: 36

Posted:

Gerald: There is nothing in the Florida Statutes tht prohibit 2 members of the same household to be on the same Board at the same time. If your documents don't address it, it's perfectly legal. This has nothing to do with the "one vote per house".

MaryA1 (Arizona)
Posts: 7,043

Posted:

We have a 5-member board who all serve staggered 3-year terms. We also have an Advisory Committee appointed by the board. The Advisory Committee members are just like board members except that they cannot vote. The number of committee members varies.

MicheleD (Kentucky)
Posts: 4,491

Posted:

Two notes, first of all, two members of the same household on a board does NOT constitute a coup.

The board members have only one vote apiece on ADMINISTRATIVE actions of the board, and do NOT have or hold a voting block for association matters that involve homeowners.

I know some people like to keep harping that, but it's just simply not true.

Next, our HOA has one-year terms, no staggered terms. We can have as few as 3 and up to 9 members.

We seldom have more than 7 and most generally have 5.

The same five people for several years running, again, not because we have staggered terms, but because very few homeowners rarely take an interest in being on the board.

Staggered terms for board members is nice in theory, but in practice in most of the HOAs of which I personally know, rarely is there much of a turnover year after year. The "stability" comes from the nature of the beast, residents just don't step up to the plate.

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