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This Month's
Expert
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Spring Conference for
Community Association Leaders
Facts on How to "Maintain, Enhance &
Promote"
the Value of Your Asset!
CATS presents its Spring Conference for the Community
Association Industry. Topics are focused on the operations and
management of a Community Association. Helpful tips and methods for
improving your management and decision making. Experts in the industry
will provide sound practical solutions that will work to help you
meet your goals and much, much more......
CLICK HERE FOR REGISTRATION
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OPEN OR CLOSED?
Q: Do
BOD workshop meetings need to be open? If so, how do you handle
owner participation at those meetings?
A: Any meeting of the Board must be open for members attendance
except for
the Executive Sessions which are allowed by sections 515B-3-103.4g
of MCIOA for specific purposes of
(1) personnel matters;
(2) pending or potential litigation, arbitration or other
potentially adversarial proceedings, between unit owners, between
the board or association and unit owners, or other matters in which
any unit owner may have an adversarial interest, if the board
determines that closing the meeting is necessary to discuss
strategy or to otherwise protect the position of the board or
association or the privacy of a unit owner or occupant of a unit;
or
(3) criminal activity arising within the common interest community
if the board determines that closing the meeting is necessary to
protect the privacy of the victim or that opening the meeting would
jeopardize investigation of the activity.
A common misunderstanding of board members and owners is that
"open meetings" means that owners have a right to speak
at any time during the meeting. This is not true. Only
the board has the right to speak during the board meetings.
However, a wise board offers time at the beginning of the meeting
for owners to speak to the board and ask questions - an "Owner
Input Session". When the Owner Input Session is done,
the floor is closed to the owners, and the board meeting is called
to order.
Workshop sessions are generally defined as a "working
session" where the Board is gathering information about a
topic so they can be prepared to make a decision at a regular
meeting. The guidelines defined above will be in play for workshop
sessions as well.
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SHORTEN YOUR MEETINGS
Q: Our
Board meetings go on for hours. What can we do to shorten them up?
Hold the One Hour Board Meeting training session for your Board.
You can register at www.catsmn.com. The most
important time killer is talking about topics you are not prepared
to discuss. This means the Management and Board need to be
"ready" for the meeting. That takes time in advance to
study, ask questions and prepare for the meeting. The agenda and
Board Packet with backup information are delivered to board members
between three and five days in advance. This gives the Board member
time to read the packet prior to the meeting, ask questions, and
gathering additional information if needed.
The use of parliamentary procedure is another tool to help keep the
Board on track and as noted in the question above, owners are not
part of the conversation. They have elected the Board to take the
time to prepare for and make the tough decisions.
The Board president has the responsibility to run the meeting, but
all Board members have a duty to be positively participating in the
process to make wise decisions. Look for opportunities for training
in running an effective meeting through CATS at www.catsmn.com or CAI MN Chapter.
Agree to eliminate socializing at the Board meeting. These are
serious sessions required to run the business of the corporation.
Keep focused on the business to be completed as outlined on the
agenda.
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LACK OF PARTICIPATION
Q: We
are a young community with many children. We struggle to get Board
members, what can we do to encourage participation?
 A: The first
suggestion would be to reduce the size of the Board. If five now,
drop it to three and anything over five drop to five. This is a
problem that is experienced throughout the county. It is not going
to get any better as your community matures. If folks serve once,
they feel they have done their part and having one or two on
the board for years and years is also not the best situation in the
long run.
To encourage participation, it will take a consistent positive communication
program on how the HOA is important in their lives. This will
"prime the pump" for the search for candidates, which the
existing Board will need to do on a one on one with qualified
members of the community.
Review your management contract and delegate as much of the work
load to management as possible. Set policy and give it to
management to manage. This will make the position more attractive
to those without a lot of time to spare. It will also cost you more
for management services, but the price will be less than a court
appointed trustee.
Get out and get to know the people in your community. Learn
what their interests and talents are. Ask in person.
People will say "no" less often in face to face contact.
If nothing works, send a letter to inform then that you will have
to transfer the leadership to the courts and they will appoint a
trustee that will take over the Board's role. It will cost money
and should bring a few owners out of hiding.
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PREP OF NEW BOARD MEMBERS
Q:
Each year we have two or three new board members. Management does
not seem to be able to provide adequate information for these new
board members to get them ready. What can we expect management to
do for new board members?
A: You have hit on a serious problem in HOA Boards. The turnover
shuts down the Board for up to 6 months while new board members
come up to speed. As far as the Manger's role, they will do only as
much as you have included in your scope of work and what you are
paying them to do. If you do not have this in your management
contract's scope of work, you should add it. We encourage all new
boards to attend the New Board Orientation Workshop, Course 103 ,
see www.catsmn.com to
register.
The responsibility rests with the Board to find and prepare
replacement leadership. If you do not want to pay to have a program
or service provided, the Board needs to put on a thorough
orientation.
 Create a
"Board Member Handbook" and include in it general
information about serving on a board (see CAI's
"Bookstore" at caionline.org for
excellent publications), descriptions of issues unique to your
association, the Governing Documents, the past 12-months
minutes, the current Policy Manual, most recent reserve study, most
recent audit, and any other information you feel is important to
new board members. Note that providing the Handbook is not
adequate for a thorough orientation.
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SHOOTING DOWN IDEAS
Q:
The manager creates the agenda for the Board meetings and when I (a
board member) want to add something, it gets turned down. How can I
get something on the agenda for a Board Meeting?
 A: Lack of a
clear policy on establishing the agenda creates dissension amongst
the Board. The issue has several facets. Here are some ideas and
concepts to consider:
- Every
Board should have an Annual Calendar which lists all the
actions required to be accomplished each month. This is the
base of the agenda. If your item is not on the Annual
Calendar, ask the President to put it on in a selected month
for consideration. The Board votes to approve the Annual
Calendar and anytime there are changes. This means that the
Board agrees to bring your topic to the Board in the selected
month.
- Any
topic to be put on the agenda needs to be defined as an action
item. You would be responsible for defining the outcome/action
of the topic and be prepared to answer the questions from the
Board members prior to the meeting so it can be in the Board
Packet. Communicate to the President that you are willing to
lead any initiative that results from your issue.
- The
President has a duty to provide leadership and direction in
running meetings. You may wish to ask him/her if your request
has been directed to his/her attention for consideration. The
Management Agent provides assistance to the President, but the
Manager does NOT control the agenda or Annual Calendar.
- No
item should be brought to the meeting to be put on the agenda
as no one is aware in advance and no one is prepared to
address the topic/issue. All items for discussion must be on
the agenda. All agenda items must have appropriate backup
information so the Board can come prepared with the
information and be able to make wise decisions based on facts
and not guesses or hearsay.
- The
Management Agent holds the duty to prepare the Board for the
Board meeting agenda items. Consideration needs to be made on
the depth and length of the topics in any one month for the
Manager to deal with them appropriately as well as the Board's
ability to assimilate and deal with several difficult topics
during one meeting.
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The comments and answers above are general in
nature. Specific interpretations should be confirmed with the
existing legal counsel.
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