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BOARD MEMBER TRANSITIONS
April 1, 2003
At this time of year, new Board of Directors are being
elected and formed for the coming year. Some Boards remain
static from year to year, while others experience total
turnover. In all cases, there should be a transition
procedure to help the new Board Members to adapt more
quickly to the operations and management of the
association.
Since being on a Board of Directors is solely a volunteer
position, it is very difficult for Board of Directors to
have a smooth transition from year to year, as residents
get tired from fulfilling their duties or their terms
expire. Thus, it is imperative to replace the outgoing
Directors with new Directors, year after year. To help
bring new Directors up to speed as quickly as possible and
to have them be as effective as possible, it is suggested
that there be transition packages for each new board
member. Transition packages would contain key information
about the operations of the association and any important
elements to help and guide any new Director in that
position. The main purpose in having transition packages
is to provide continuity of operations from year to year.
In this manner, there are no serious disruptions in
management and in the operations for the coming year.
A few elements of the transition package would be; all
current contracts, any amendments to the association
documents, recorded set of association documents, current
governing statutes for the Association, calendar of events
for the next twelve months, current year's budget,
manager's reports for last two years, committee reports for
the last two years, minutes of last two years board
meetings, prior year's budgets, summary of past
accomplishments and future problems and finally telephone
numbers of board and committee persons. In addition to the
above, I suggest having all bank account numbers listed,
with locations of the accounts and who the current signers
are. Also, at the transition meeting or organizational
meeting of the new Board, there should be new bank
signature cards and corporate authorizations available to
assist the new Board.
In an ideal situation, a past Board will meet with the new
Board and review their current management, any current
conflicts and operation problems. Past officers would
provide an overview to the new officers. Committee
chairpersons would give their reports and summary of
activities to the new Directors and new committee
chairpersons as well. Past Officers would be available to
provide guidance to new members.
In many transitions, there will be some Directors that will
be carried over from one year to the next. These Directors
usually become leaders or will be able to fill in the
history of a situation or a problem to the new Board
members. In that way, the new Board will be able to make
more informed and better decisions that will please the
membership. Many association documents have staggered
terms, which provides for Directors to be carried over from
year to year, rather than one year terms. If an
association provides for one-year terms, the association
should consider amending their documents to allow for
staggered terms for their Directors. This also helps to
promote continuity from Board to Board and year to year.
An ideal staggered term scenario would be for 1/2 of the
Directors being newly elected with a two-year term and 1/2
of the Directors having a one-year term remaining. In this
manner, the association has a group of people who will be
able to carry on from year to year with some continuity.
The Board members who have the longer experience will be
able to provide some history to certain projects for the
Directors who are new to the Board. In this way, the
entire Board can make more informed decisions.
Try developing a transition procedure for your Board of
Directors, in order to minimize any disruptions in
operations from year to year. This will benefit your
Directors and your residents.
Copyright 2007© Associated Property Management of the Palm Beaches, Inc.
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