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SUCCESSFUL BOARD OF DIRECTORS FOR COMMUNITY ASSOC.
January 1, 2008
Successful Board of Directors work 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 officer’s
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 President’s 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 formulating
and posting 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. The
Treasurer also presents to the Board a proposed operating
budget and will monitor the budget throughout the year.
Additional duties may 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 Officer’s 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
ensuring 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. Now the
Board is fully aware of their duties and what they are
responsible for in terms of conducting a well run
informative meeting.
Copyright 2007© Associated Property Management of the Palm Beaches, Inc.
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