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Teamwork

Time and time again we hear that one of the biggest challenges in conducting annual Association meetings is simply achieving a quorum (in other words, getting enough butts in the seats). Without a quorum, business cannot be conducted, votes cannot be taken, and the Association’s operations are virtually stymied. The Association is forced to adjourn the meeting, and start the painful process of going door-to-door and begging for proxies all over again.
Continue Reading Conducting a Successful Annual Meeting (Through Creative Use of Proxies, and Other Ideas…)

Welcome To Hell

From years of experience, unit owners and board members can justify anything. Board members who take compensation for serving on the board or who make sure that their building is always first in line for repairs can find relatively legitimate reasons for everything they do – e.g. they are saving the association money by doing the job that a property manager would do but for only ½ of the pay.  Of course, these same board member who complain about all of the work they do on the board also fight like hell when someone runs against them.  If your association has such a board member, and you don’t believe that you can have them removed before the election, then they must be defeated at the annual meeting.  It will be a battle, so prepare: have the short sentences that explain why you are running (the theme of your election), say what you will do, not what the current volunteers are doing wrong, and go get proxies and enlist others to help you get proxies from everyone. …
Continue Reading Elections from Hell

I Need Something To Do

Associations often struggle to get sufficient members to fill their Board. The common perception is that it is too much work.  It’s not, but there is work involved.  However, if you are organized and willing to share some of your time, you will quickly learn that many of the issues repeat themselves.  If your association has a manager, then your real job is to manage the manager.  If you don’t have a property manager, then the owners define your job as EVERYTHING.  We have put together this list of the issues that commonly arise so that you can see that you won’t be bored:  assessments, banks, contractors, dogs, electricity, fires and feelings, gas, heat, ice, jokesters, kites, leaves, mail, nails, pools, quality issues, roofs, streets, trouble, upset people, voting, water, extra stuff left by the garbage, your neighbor, zoo animals allowed by the FHA as emotion support animals – so essentially the entire alphabet. …
Continue Reading Bored – Then Run for the Board

Ballot Box

I have written before on the subject of associations’ continuing struggle to convince enough unit owners to attend owner meetings in order to meet quorum requirements, and otherwise to simply get business done. Recognizing that not every condominium association may be ready to take the step to convert to “E-voting,” another way to ease the burden of low-owner attendance at meetings is the proper use of directed proxies or absentee ballots. While similar in concept, the two are legally distinct and it is important for associations to understand the differences to determine which process they can use.
Continue Reading Directed Proxies vs. Absentee Ballots: What is the Difference and Can Our Association Use Them?

lawsuit

It is well known that Association Board members (directors) have fiduciary duties to their unit owners and associations. It is almost as commonly known that the officers have the same fiduciary duties.  Yet associations, directors and officers are often sued for failing to meet their duties. Unfortunately, directors and officers often contribute to their risk by doing things that enhance the likelihood of suit. For fun I thought I would write this post from that standpoint.
Continue Reading 12 Things My Board and I Do When We Want to Be Sued

Parliamentary Procedure is a fancy couple of words for knowing what is needed to effectively run a legal meeting, including proper notice, meeting quorum requirements, using motions and voting. It effectively provides an opportunity for every member’s opinion on many issues of varying complexity under all kinds of internal climates ranging from total harmony to complete disagreement of opinion.
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Continue Reading Long Meetings and No Results – Try Using Parliamentary Procedure