Imagine that you’ve just started a new job. The receptionist escorts you to your desk. You sit down and…nothing. You’re just left there. There’s no orientation, no one to tell you what you are responsible for doing or how to do it. You’re expected to know how do to your job or find out how to do it. You might feel lost and confused.

Unfortunately, condo and HOA board members—who are volunteers who live in the building or association and want to help make sure their investment is protected—sometimes enter into their new position feeling just that way, lost and confused. They don’t have the full scope of what their responsibilities are, or who they're answerable to.

Learning is the Law

The good news is that unlike other states, Florida statutes requires a mandatory board training course for all new board members. “If you’re elected to the board, you have 90 days to take a course that gives you all the basics,” says Donald Kates, a property manager with Consolidated Community Management Inc. in Tamarac. “Or they can file an affidavit that they swore they studied the association documents.”

Chapter 718 of the Real and Personal Property Florida Statute, which covers condos, states that newly-elected or appointed directors must complete an educational course certified by the Florida Department of Business and Professional Regulation (DBPR) or sign a statement that they have read Florida Statute 718 and all of their community’s governing documents. “But nothing actually forces them to read the documents even if they sign the form saying that they have,” says Marita Butzbach, vice president of Lang Management Company in Boca Raton.

Even still, having to attend a course or read documents may weed out the members who aren’t serving for the right reasons. “There are board members who want to serve because they want to accomplish something for themselves or because it will benefit them, but that’s serving for the wrong reasons,” says Butzbach. “Entire boards stay for years because they know there are other people who run with their own agendas.”

If you’re interested in running for the board, hold off on making your best “Jim Smith for President” signs for the moment. To become a board member, you need to be elected, but once you have been elected your role is determined by the board, not by you, the members or the elections. Of course it is still possible you may end up as president, but typically that role is for board members who have had previous experience.

“Most boards have traditional roles such as president, vice president, treasurer and secretary, but sometimes they also create positions such as director, assistant to the secretary or assistant treasurer,” says Kates.

Hello Mr. President

The president of the association is vested with all of the powers generally given to the CEO of a corporation. “Keep in mind that specific bylaws may differ, but in general, the president will preside at all meetings,” says Rafael P. Aquino, CAM, the operations manager of Affinity Management Services in Miami. “The president executes contracts and documents in the name of the association. The president also has authority to appoint committees to advise the board. The president takes charge of the day-to-day administration of the association with the authority to take specific actions in furtherance of the board’s policies.”

The treasurer is the custodian of the funds, securities, and financial records of the association. “In most associations with professional management, the treasurer oversees the appropriate employees or management company to insure that the financial records and reports are properly kept and maintained,” says Aquino. “Unless the bylaws state otherwise, the treasurer takes charge of developing the annual budget and giving the annual report.”

The secretary customarily takes minutes of all meetings and maintains a record of all meetings for the association. “As custodian of the association records, the secretary is responsible for insuring that owners have access to the records,” says Aquino. “The secretary is charged with the responsibility to provide adequate notice of all meetings of the association. Also, the secretary is usually the custodian of the corporate seal and verifies the president’s authority by attesting to his/her signature and affixing the corporate seal on appropriate documents.”

If you are not elected into one of these positions, you might become a board member on a committee or in another position. “One of the most important officers each board is required to name is a Registered Agent,” says Aquino. “Many of the formal and important communications will be received by this officer on behalf of the association. Other positions include assistant secretary, additional vice presidents, or other positions which serve as agents to carry out specific responsibilities.”

Another popular officer is the sergeant-at-arms. “This officer is charged with keeping order at association meetings,” says Aquino, who has also seen associations create a parliamentarian position. “This officer specializes in the rules of parliamentary procedure, such as Robert’s Rules of Order, and can assist in keeping meetings running smooth,” he says. “I knew an association who had a historian that kept scrapbooks of all of the association’s events for years. She even won prizes for her collections!”

To become a board member, experience is not necessary, but may be required for higher positions, such as the president. “It’s helpful to have experience,” says Butzbach. “Usually the boards will not put someone in as president who hasn’t had previous experience or served on the board for several years. The treasurer normally has a financial background.”

Committee Members

Boards also need members to serve on various committees, so if you aren’t voted into an officer position, you can take a committee position. “Boards implement grievance committees, architectural review, landscape and finance committees and social committees, although they aren’t really board positions,” says Butzbach.

Board members have access to the building’s documents, including governing documents, budgets and financial statements. “We are the Sunshine State and almost everything is public domain,” says Kates. “Every association’s documents are available upon written request. If someone demands an association’s record, I schedule an appointment with them. The only things that we take out or back are those that are germane to identity theft.”

In Florida, as in many states, the law does restrict an owner’s right to privileged information such as social security numbers, health information, information about employees of the association, passwords, security files, as well as conversations between the board and its attorney.

If you’re a member of the board, you’ll be making decisions that affect the association. Officers and directors must avoid conduct which will result in private or personal gain from their position.

“Sometimes a motion proposed by one board member may be amended when another board member requests a vote to change the original motion,” says Aquino. “Upon hearing all sides of the issue, a motion is voted up or down by a majority of the board members who are present. In a condominium or homeowners’ association, it is always the board, as a whole, who has the final word.”

Beyond these typical roles, all officers have an obligation to act in a collegial manner with respect for one another, while not necessarily agreeing with each others' opinions. Where compromise is called for, members have an obligation to try to meet each other halfway in the best interests of the association. Many times, the act of not taking an action is more detrimental to the association than taking a less-than-best action.

Be Proactive

It is vital for good of the community that the officers are out and about the property on a regular basis to gauge and monitor the will of the property owners. “Officers who are holed up in the homes or condos all day and have no clue as to what is really happening among the property owners due their associations are real disservice,” says Aquino, who explains that officers should attend social events with their neighbors to listen and understand how they feel on important issues in the community.

Ultimately, the board reports to the homeowners. “If the homeowners aren’t happy with the board, they can remove them,” says Butzbach. “The association’s documents and the statue allow you to recall board members if you are unhappy. The job of the property manager is to facilitate the direction of the board and make sure it’s in compliance with the state statutes.”

What kind of board you are on will depend on personalities of its members.

“Some officers take a laissez-faire attitude and trust that all is well because the association is in the good care of the professionals it is has hired,” says Aquino. “To the other extreme are officers who micromanage every minute task that takes place on a daily basis. One style is not good and the other is not bad, but what is best is what works for the individual community. The management style of the vast majority of associations’ falls somewhere in middle of this bell curve with officers taking a sincere interest in the work that is done, without the necessity of daily reviews of the actual performance.”

It’s important to have board members who are serving for the right reasons. You must devote enough time and effort to the performance of their duties to ensure that they are reasonably and faithfully carried out in the best interests of the association.

Lisa Iannucci is a freelance writer and a frequent contributor to The South Florida Cooperator.