Ready to give up

I am the VP in our HOA.Yesterday I received a phonecall from our secretary that cought me off guard.In the midst of her "shock and awe" and "put me in my place" screaming,she dared me to ever send her another email that would tick her off.I had copied some letters for her for delinquint dues and told her they were ready. She said,"if they're ready,go ahead and mail them".I told her she was secretary,she could do it.Don't ever tell anybody what office they hold.Since our HOA began 6 months ago,I have only tried to get the other 3 officers to organize.Right now we need to collect our dues as most people have not paid and they are late.We can't even afford our attorney.Because the secretary is too busy to perform most of her duties,I have been taking care of the letter writing and mailings,but this time I couldn't.She says the other officers agree with her although I've not heard anything.I'm not sure what my role is anymore,what I can or can't say,but I'm out of their loop unless they want me to know something.I was elected by a majority of the homeowners,but the 3 other board members are ready to throw me off a bridge.For all the good it'll do,I have every email ever sent between the board members.How do you work with people that don't want you to open your mouth?I could really use some advice because I may need to send another email and I'm not sure now which word might set her off.If the other board members think what she did was acceptable,this association is going down.PattyB1

Patty, your post suggests to me that your Board needs to get organized and may need to hire a management company to handle accounting including collection of assessments. For self managed HOAs it is the responsibility of the Treasurer to collect assessments so I don't understand why the President or the Secretary are involved.

Perhaps if you are having problems with the other Board members the first place to look might be in the mirror. What can you do to improve things? How can you more effectively relate with the other Board members? Do they not know what their duties as officers are?

This is a fairly new subdivision with only 56 homeowners. With a majority showing up for elections,we elected 4 officers.The other 3 had nobody running against them,I won VP against 1 person.The secretary has 2 kids and a husband, she doesn't need to vent on me. We have an attorney,but not enough money to use her to collect from the 27 homes that still owe.One person can't organize a group that doesn't think it's important.Because of their jobs,they asked me to find an attorney,so I did.They couldn't find time to open a bank account,so I got it started.We needed a POBOX,I had to get it.The secretary told me she doesn't have time for anything but the minutes and the newsletter,and whatever else I think needs to be done,I should do it.The treasurer threatend to quit if I continue to inquire about our finances and collections.This was done through the President in an email.Organization was my top priority,now I'm just wondering if they can through me off.It may be my own fault,but right now, they run things and I'm the gopher.I don't really know these people,and the phonecall yesterday was hatefull,mean,and threatening.I wanted to see this association do well,but I don't see at this point I could make a difference.PattyB1

Patty, You missed the point of a collection attorney. There are attorneys that specialize in collecting money. Say someone owes your association $1,000.00 the attorney collects $1,500.00 they keep $500.00 for their fee and you get $1,000.00 they don't collect they don't get paid.

If no one wants to or is too busy to do the work, a management company may indeed be your best option. Not only to do the work but guide your association as it gets on its feet.

As far as the budget goes your declarations or even state law may mandate when they are done or what they contain. For instance Ohio law mandates at least 10% of the budget be placed in reserves and special assessments are banned unless the majority of the association votes to allow them.