EFFECTIVE BOARD OF DIRECTORS

January 1, 2000

An effective Board of Directors works together as a unit in 
carrying out the duties and responsibilities of the 
Association. Each Officer should have a place on the Agenda 
for Reports of the Officers and they will detail the 
activities of their position at each Board Meeting. The 
following is a description of the duties of each officer. 
The By-Laws of the Association set forth each officers 
duties in more detail, please check your documents for 
further clarification.  
 
President/Chairman - The presiding officer helps the Board 
to make effective decisions by fulfilling the following 
duties; open the meetings, determine whether there is a 
quorum, establishes the schedule of the meeting, subject to 
the agenda, keeps discussions on track and generally keeps 
the meetings from becoming too long. This can be 
accomplished by having most of the business that is brought 
to the floor in the form of a motion, as this will then 
focus the discussion. If there is no second to the 
motion, then there will be no discussion and the Board can 
then go on to the next agenda item. If the motion is 
seconded and the ensuing discussions become confused or too 
long, the President will refocus the discussion or have the 
motion tabled, if there is no chance of a decision on this 
matter. Think of the President as an expediter of meeting, 
the agenda and the discussions at hand. 
 
Vice President - The Vice President will perform the duties 
of the President, in the Presidents absence and may perform 
other duties that may be requested by the Board of 
Directors from time to time. 
 
Secretary - The Secretary shall be in charge of setting of 
all notices of meetings, taking all minutes of meetings and 
be entrusted with maintaining the records of the 
Association. Many of these duties would normally be 
handled by a management company but the Secretary would 
still have to oversee that they were being handled properly 
and in accordance with the governing documents. 
 
Treasurer - The Treasurer is in charge of all association 
funds. This includes overseeing the billing to the unit 
owners, collections and the disbursement of funds.  
Presentation to the Board of a proposed operating budget 
and the monitoring of the budget throughout the year.  
Duties may also include putting various contracted items 
out to bid and monitoring of those contracts. Many of these 
duties would normally be handled by a management company 
but the Treasurer would still have to oversee that they 
were being handled properly and in accordance with the 
governing documents and good business practices. 
 
In addition to the Officers duties, most associations have 
Committees to help the Board of Directors to operate the 
association. These committees are also made up of 
individuals from the Board of Directors and resident 
volunteers. Some proposed committees are: 
 
Maintenance Committee - assists the Board in preserving and 
maintaining the physical condition of the common elements 
of the association. They would not only identify future 
problem areas but monitor the ongoing maintenance as well 
and report to the Board. 
 
Communications Committee - assists the Board in keeping the 
residents informed about the purpose and function of the 
association, its programs and activities. This would be in 
the form of newsletters, new resident packages, directory 
etc. 
 
Architectural Control Committee - assists the Board in 
insuring that the aesthetics of the community are followed. 
 
Finance Committee - assists the Board of Directors and 
Treasurer in creating and maintaining financial controls 
and reporting of same. 
 
Other Committees may be Documents, Nominating, Safety & 
Welfare, Social, Violations and Welcoming.  
 
Each Officer and each committee will be provided a time on 
the agenda for the meeting and be able to report to the 
Board on their activities and if any action is required on 
the Board's behalf 
 
As you can see, a Board of Directors is made up of many 
individuals who have specific duties and responsibilities, 
as required by the Documents of the Association. Each 
Officer and each committee has a specific role to play in 
the functioning of the Board. The Board as a whole will 
hear each report and contained in that report may be or may 
not be specific action that will have to be taken by the 
Board.  
 
The Board is being informed of the activities of the 
association and if the agenda is properly compiled and the 
officers and committees communicate consistently, then the 
Board should be able to take action on the items that are 
Important to the management of the Association.

 

Copyright 2007© Associated Property Management of the Palm Beaches, Inc.