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An Association is a Business – NOT a
Social Club!
By
Jan Bergemann
Published
July 26, 2013
Many
long-term board members will tell you that being a board member
is serious business – with the money of all neighbors at
stake. There are many owners serving on Florida’s mandatory community association boards that take this
business real serious and are very eager to learn how to
successfully run an association. And many succeed.
Owners
living in these community associations should be very grateful
if their association is being managed by responsible board
members who take their job seriously and are willing to do the
right thing and follow the rules and statutes. But not all do!
Condo
board certification seminars have been a great success. Owners
who wanted to participate had to be turned away on some
occasions because the rooms were filled to capacity. The
interest was immense – and considering the fact that
announcements of future HOA board certification seminars, just
approved by the Florida legislature in our HOA
Reform Bill H 7119, caused many homeowners to
quickly make their reservations for these upcoming
seminars. It clearly shows that homeowners living in
HOAs are as interested in the educational seminars as their
condo counterparts.
To
be very honest, many HOA board members really need some serious
education, looking at the many mistakes caused by board members
that fill the headlines of our media.
In
my opinion there are still too many “volunteers” for open
board seats who consider that serving on the board is more a
social event than anything else – being called “Board
President” the achievement of their life-long dream.
Too many of these board members are not even interested to learn
the basics – and too many of them have no prior business
experience and fail miserably when trying to manage their
neighbors’ money and property.
There
is a lot more to being a board member than organizing the next
potluck dinner or the next bridge tournament in the clubhouse.
Board
members who publicly state that they really have no time to read
all this “legal mumbo-jumbo” contained in the governing
documents shouldn’t be on the board in the first place. These
folks make up the rules as they go along and often cost their
neighbors lots of money. They really should resign quickly
before causing too much damage with their laxy-daisy approach.
Here
is a tip for overeager homeowners: Don’t even volunteer to
become a board member if you lack any business experience or are
unwilling to make up for this lack of knowledge by being willing
to study hard before wasting your neighbors’ money.
As
a board member, don’t rely on the service providers that are
hired to do the actual work or give the right advice: They are
all in it for the money -- your money – and if things go wrong
they will quickly blame the board members for problems and
lawsuits. Learn the basics -- before relying on advice from
service providers.
I
don’t even want to talk about the board members who are
“serving” in order to push their private agenda, making a
little money on the side or even serve with criminal intentions.
Altogether,
serving on the board requires a lot of work and the willingness
to run a business. And it can be very time-consuming if done
correctly. Never forget that a community association is a
corporation – meaning a business.
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