HOA Committees - Purpose and Issues

If you are a HOA owner or are considering a purchase you will see a list of "board members" in your newsletter or a list of "directors" or "committees".   What is that about?

I'll use our association as an example. We are a not-for-profit corporation. That means we have the following corporate officers:

• A President
• A Secretary
• A Treasurer

However, for practical reasons we also need someone to chair the meetings and perform the president's duties in the event of the absence of the president, and so we also have:

• A Vice-President

The above roles provide no guidance and minimal insights into the duties performed or required by the board of a HOA, so the board divvies up the duties. In our HOA as many as 7 people are elected or appointed to the board. In recent years we usually had 6 on the board.

Board Position Assignments and Committees
Once a year our HOA holds elections for board positions. I assume that is so for other HOAs. Owners decide to run for the board and from the list of candidates a sufficient number are (hopefully) elected to fill the empty or expiring board positions.

Once elected, board members may be provided with a list from which to choose their duties. Why? Because there are many tasks to be done and these are accomplished by part-time volunteers. That means  1) there are time constraints, 2) the volunteer may have a specific interest or skill, 3) there may be a personal agenda, and 4) there may be an interest in having a position that requires minimum involvement or work.

The board members can pick and choose their duties and hopefully everyone will be served, all positions will be filled, and more or less equitably.  In practice that doesn't occur. Not every elected board member is willing to choose the difficult positions, so it may be required that a single board member will fulfill the duties of multiple positions.  In fact, unless boards are willing to enforce a "everyone works" policy it may have board members with no assigned duties. Those individuals are required to only read official materials before meetings, attend the meetings and vote.

While personal agendas may be present, they are not inherently a problem unless the board member runs that agenda whenever possible to the avoidance of all else, or to the detriment of the HOA and the owners.

Here is a list of our current board position assignments, in no particular order:

• Architecture & Projects
• Finance
• Landscaping
• Maintenance
• Rules & Regulations
• Welcoming

We've also had additional positions in the recent past, such as:

• Communications

Each of the above positions leads a committee. Each committee may be comprised of one or more board members, and of interested owners.

At BLMH, we currently have no owner participation on committees. Or to be more accurate, no formal participation. We do have a social club and several board members attend the club meetings. I think it is fair to say that some social club members use those meetings as a means to avoid attending the formal HOA meetings while achieving access to board members. Some may also attempt to influence the board members and so the club members could be considered unofficial members of committees.

Our board is fully staffed and there are committees. It should all be smooth operations, right? Not quite!

Are the requirements and duties equally distributed?
In a perfect HOA they would be; but this is reality we are dealing with. It is useful to remember that these positions are entirely voluntary.   Some members of the committees pick and choose their tasks within the committee. Of course, all board members vote. That's one reason to be on a board and it is the only task that is equally distributed on boards.

When I first came to have a board position we had the following official duties per person:

• Architecture, Projects & Maintenance
• Finance
• Landscaping
• Rules & Regulations
• Welcoming
• Communications

For a time, these were the actual duties assigned per person for 5 board members:

1. Architecture, Projects, Maintenance & Newsletter.
2. Finance.
3. Landscaping.
4. Rules & Regulations.
5. Welcoming.

I suggested to the board that maintenance be seperated, but the board at the time resisted that. Having one person responsible for all capital projects and maintenance seemed to be a bit excessive. Furthermore, it struck me as one of the reasons some issues were overlooked.  In the recent past the task was largely maintenance, with less than $180,000 collected for capital projects each year. The age and condition of the HOA changed that and the reserve collections more than doubled, and expenditures reached up to $450,000 in a single year (roofs, streets, water mains, streams, common decks, driveways, etc.). One board member was attempting to orchestrate this, read specifications, bid documents, monitor the actual construction, etc. And that same individual was doing the same for a variety of maintenance projects and spearheading the newsletter.

Finally the board did agree to separate the two positions when another board member agreed to be the Maintenance Committee. However, the projects and maintenance committees do continue to work closely together.

Why were board members reluctant to separate the positions? Some are resistant to change. Perhaps some insular board members think they that the new members should carry a larger burden, or perhaps the board can succeed at driving off new members by burying them in tasks. That's a good strategy.  At BLMH for a variety of reasons some board members don't regularly walk the property and some are limited in their physical activities. Some don't consider such activities to be their responsibility and of course, we are all "busy".  Some board members rely upon others to do the "heavy lifting".  Some rely upon others to provide photos, surveys, videos, printed reports and spreadsheets.

Why the unequal distribution? Basically time, technology access and ability,with personal inclination. Board members and committees are comprised of some members with a lack of available personal technology, minimal technology skills, physical impediments and time constraints. As a consequence duties are not equally distributed and a few may do the work required of the many.

Getting committee tasks done
Whatever the board committee size and structure, these committee tasks do have to get done, don't they? The straightforward answer is "Perhaps not."  For example, when I first assumed a board position in 2010 I was surprised to discover that there had not been any surveys of garage floors, concrete patios, etc. in many years.  No one on the board could tell me their specific condition and there was no documentation. Management had not recently been instructed to conduct such surveys with a board member.   Boards apparently operated based upon owner complaints. Why? One reason was insufficient funds. It is difficult to look for problems when you know you may not have the funds available to solve any you discover. However, operating with a lack of information makes good decision making impossible.

There was one exception. About 10 years ago the Rules Committee had multiple members. The goal at the time was to streamline the rules and get rid of those which were unpopular among a group of owners. For a short time the HOA was run like a social club. Those rule changes never came about because the board members involved resigned upon realizing that the entire board would not take their approach and there would probably be insufficient board votes for the proposed rules changes.

Sometimes boards avoid committees
Committees can always use members outside the elected board. However, some boards are insular and operate as if owners are pests or that owners may have an agenda or ulterior motives. For board members it is true that having an owner or owners on the committee does require direction of those owners.

Some boards don't like to be observed by owners. Having an owner on a committee provides that owner with insights into issues, problems and access to board operation. In the worst examples board members are distrustful of owners.

Some board members will go to great lengths to prevent owners from participating on committees.

What are the warning signs?
At BLMH some board members say that "owners are disinterested and uninvolved". I agree that in a community of 336 owners there is ample evidence that owners are uninvolved. The average number attending recent monthly HOA meetings is fewer than 6, and sometimes two of those are former board members. However, I don't include the annual meeting or winter meetings, as weather can make attendance inconvenient. In fact, recently the board decided to cancel a meeting due to weather concerns. As for the annual meetings, we were unable to get a quorum of voters for the elections, so it was necessary to re-run it. Yes, there is a lack of interest.

So what gives?  The HOA appears to be running well. Some owners take that to mean that their involvement isn't necessary.  Ditto for the boards; owner involvement may be considered of little benefit to the HOA. I assert that from time to time when owners approach the board and request to serve on committees that they are rebuffed. My evidence? Even though owners have made that request, we haven't had a non-board member owner on a committee in 8 years.  There is a reason for that.

Is that a problem? Yes it is.

How to get more owners on committees and fill board positions
There are things that can be done.

1. Make continuous requests of owners who attend HOA meetings.
2. Make continuous requests in the newsletters.
3. Make it a point to board members that owners participation in committees is normal while the opposite is abnormal.
4. Use owners who ask to join committees, rather than rebuffing (ignoring) them. 
5. Communicate with owners about the issues. 

Why won't this work?

If most of the board doesn't want owners involved, then they will find a way to discourage them and burn committee members. Resistant and insular boards do burn other board members, too.

If owners prefer complacency, that is the way it will be.

The challenge is to get realistic and helpful owner involvement. If the HOA doesn't, the day will come when new board members with no prior experience will attempt to run the HOA. That did not work well in the past and there is no evidence that it will work well in the future.