The Role of the Board Member

Serving on the Board of Directors of a community association can, for the most part, be a very enjoyable experience. How you perceive your experience will probably depend on the expectations you have when you begin your tenure. If you are contemplating becoming a board member or if you were just elected to that position, the information contained herein may be helpful in making your time on the board not only productive but also rewarding.

Taking yourself from co-owner to board member is typically not that difficult a task, provided you refocus your energies toward the community association. Coming in as a co-owner, you were generally aware that you would be living together with other co-owners in a multi-family community, that you would be sharing the expenses related to the maintenance and upkeep of that community, and that you would be enjoying the common amenities of that community. As a board member, your focus is instead to provide maintenance services to the co-owner members, to protect the investment of all co-owner members, and to provide the co-owner members with an atmosphere which promotes a peaceful and enjoyable community in which to live.

The first order of business for the new board member is to learn as much as possible about the community. Here are some of the things that you will need to do:

• Familiarize yourself with the association's bylaws, rules and regulations, and the established policies that are currently in place.
  
• Review the past year's management reports and board minutes. This will familiarize you with the status of various projects and any particular issues the board is currently facing or has faced in the past.
  
• Review the current management agreement, if a managing agent has been retained.
  
• Review the current contractor agreements that are in place, including their specifications.
  
• Review the current, most recent year-end review, and the last year's monthly financial statements. This will give you an overall financial picture of your community and its needs and requirements and assist you in participating in the preparation of realistic budgets and reserve schedules.
  
• Find out what committees are in place, who the chairperson is, and what projects they are currently involved in.
  
• Learn not to make decisions on your own, but to make them only when a majority of the board is present at duly called meetings. This demonstrates to the membership that the board is united when deliberating issues and making decisions and that decisions are made as a whole and not by individuals. This is the time to instill a spirit of cooperation among the board and co-owners to attain common goals of the association.

Board members too must walk that fine line between being a co-owner and a board member. As a board member you must be open to ideas from all sectors, keeping the goals of the community as a whole foremost in your mind. Personal issues, unless they are issues faced by many in the community, are only counter-productive for the Board. These can sometimes prove difficult to avoid, but doing so is an important ingredient to the board working as a whole for the good of the entire community. Although a community association is a community consisting of housing dwellings and families, it is still a business that requires decisions be made in the best interests of that corporation.

Other things that must also be considered by board members and the board of directors are as follows:

Should the association retain a professional community association management company or should it be self-managed? Self-management can sometimes be the answer as long as all the affairs of the community can be handled by qualified directors. The following are some of the matters that must be handled on a day-to-day basis for any community association, no matter its size:

1. The collection of association fees.
   
2. Other financial matters include but are not limited to tax returns, taxes to be paid (if association has on-site employees), state and federal reports, maintenance of reserves, and monthly payables.
   
3. Enforcement of bylaws must occur in a non-discriminatory manner. This can, at times, prove difficult when it is neighbor dealing directly with neighbor.
   
4. The development of specifications for work that is needed in the community, i.e., snow removal, lawn maintenance, lawn/tree fertilization, concrete and asphalt repairs, painting programs, structural repairs, re-roofing, etc.
5. Insurance coverage and claims.
   
6. The architectural integrity of modifications/alterations.
   
7. Legal matters such as liens or foreclosures.
   
8. Work order assignment and follow-up; all emergency situations, 24 hours a day, seven days a week.

If the board retains a professional community association management company, the board members should expect their managing agent to do the following:

1. Provide guidance and assistance in management skills and financial matters.
   
2. Provide professional skills in preparing budgets and establishing assessment rates; prepare a reserve analysis and make recommendations for adequate reserve funding.
   
3. Collect assessments and pursue delinquencies; maintain and monitor payables, utility schedules and other required schedules.
   
4. Provide monthly financial and management reports; prepare tax returns and obtain bids for the board of directors to select an auditor for a fiscal year-end review.
   
5. Provide investigation of insurance needs and make recommendations for the best possible licensed agents; provide an investigation of investment markets for the association's reserve funds and make recommendations for these investments.
   
6. Solicit bids, hire and supervise all contractors, as well as on-site employees.
   
7. Provide weekly on-site visits and attend Board meetings.
   
8. Provide 24 hour emergency service.
   
9. Act as a liaison in association legal matters.
   
10. Handle all work orders received from co-owners.
    
11. Assist the board of directors in the establishment of association rules and regulations and oversee the enforcement of same.
    
12. Oversee the general responsibilities of contractors for snow removal, building maintenance, lawn maintenance, grounds maintenance, work orders, etc.
    
13. Provide professional guidance to the board of directors to make decisions that facilitate operating the Association in the professional manner that meets the needs of the co-owners.

Hopefully, these points will clarify for you what is expected of an individual board member and what the board faces as a whole. If you are looking for a challenge, this might be just what you are looking for. Most challenges, remember, turn into rewarding experiences. Could this be that something special you have been waiting for?

Association Times' Staff Writer