Source
r/HOA•
MrsFunner

New Board member seeking advice

I was just elected to our BOD. We're approximately 1100 single family homes in the suburbs. We operate a pool with manager and life guard staff, several green areas, several playgrounds, 1 FT and one PT maintenance / landscaper. We have a couple well-attended annual activities and some newer activities that are gaining steam. We don't really have any rules regarding property maintenance and no ability to collect fines other than late fees / liens for unpaid assessments.

Over the past six months there was a significant shift in power and we are trying to fix some inherited problems (small reserve and never had a reserve study done, old facilities in need of replacement / repair, insufficient income, ineffective communications, lack of community engagement, bylaws only allow in person voting and require 2/3 to change bylaws or raise special assessment, limited means to increase annual fees). Shit, when I write it all out it seems overwhelming. We've got a great BOD now (we kinda held a coup d'etat) and we're making progress. We just had our first reserve study, are working on bylaws amendments to make voting easier for residents, have increased transparency in BOD activities / budgeting, and are seeing increased attendance in sponsored activities.

I'll be taking over the publicity / communications and restructuring our website, social media presence, and monthly printed newsletter. The newsletter currently looks exactly the same as it did 25 years ago and needs a complete reboot. I've found some online examples, but I'm wondering if anyone here has anything they would share? Or any suggestions?

I'll also be assisting with making new welcome packets, because ours are at least a decade old. I've got some plans already, but any suggestions for what to include or leave out?

Any other advice for someone just starting out?

Posted Mar 9, 2017, 2:04 AM UTC

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FormerFastCat•

That's a huge community! Are you guys working with a management company to help manage the day to day stuff along with your vendors and dues collections? Might talk to them as far as looking at what options or designs there are to communicate.

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MrsFunnerOP•

No MC, just us. We employ a PT treasurer / recording secretary, our greens crew and our pool staff. No money to consider a MC or anything, really.

Our damn fee is only $227, which is the main problem. Our bylaws state it can only be raised by the CPI increase every year, and the idiots of the old BOD didn't raise it at all for at least a decade. If they had followed the maximum allowed increase every year since our neighborhood founding in the 60s, we'd be at about $365. Our playgrounds are 40+ years old and our pool needs some serious repairs. There's never been a line item budget to fund the reserve or a plan for long term facilities updates. I'm pretty sure our reserve study that's coming back in a few weeks is going to solidify just how fucked we are. At our last meeting, only 42 households voted. We've inherited a serious mess. Our website is a joke, our Facebook presence is 2 old biddies sharing local news station crime posts and lost pet posts from another group (pets from different neighborhoods!), and the newsletter editor has been using the exact same clip art every month since I was a teenager growing up here. Everyone with access or control over our communications is an ousted Board member, and I'm about to have to somewhat forcefully take control, I think.

1
FormerFastCat•

Ouch. You've got a heck of a hill to climb, but it sounds like you're off to a good start.

I'd honestly look at hiring a management company, the cost can be negligible, and you've got the bargaining power of a large HOA. They can also be invaluable for providing advice and best practices. If you don't have a lawyer on retainer, you'll want to do that as well. Any changes, positive or not, are controversial in an HOA... almost personal to some people. You absolutely want to make sure you're acting both with the betterment of the community AND within your legal authority.

Do you guys admin your HOA facebook groups? Facebook is a great tool for communication, however a couple of bad apples for cause all sorts of strife. If you don't own the current ones, I'd start with creating one owned by the BOD and setup guidelines for such, then start communicating that the official account is X. Do you utilize an email distribution for communications?

You might look at moving away from printed communications (except where it's required in your bylaws/ccrs) to cut down costs.

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MrsFunnerOP•

The Facebook is currently being managed by two previous BOD members who did not seek reelection - 1 will hand off peacefully and the other will put up a fight. The newsletter is run by a lady who was on the BOD previously and is friends with the ousted BOD. She may put up a fight. The website will be handed over peacefully.

I'd love to move away from printed newsletters, but many of our residents who are active are in their 70s. We will definitely be looking at having homes opt in or opt out of receiving printed copies.

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Karmadoneit•

You say you need 2/3 to change, but you also say in the thread that you had only 42 at the last meeting. 42 can't possibly be quorum. What do your rules say about that? Can 2/3 of 42 change the rules?

As for the comms, I recommend you look around at some HOA websites. Find the ones you like and copy what you can, get permission for what you can't.

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MrsFunnerOP•

Oh, we'll never get a quorum. We need 10% for elections and don't get that. We need about 760 homes voting to change the bylaws or assess a special assessment. They last had a 2/3 quorum in 1992 - I need to dig up the meeting minutes, but I suspect they threatened a special assessment.

1
Karmadoneit•

How did you get elected to the board without a quorum?

The way our meetings work, if we don't have quorum, we can't vote on anything.

Here's something that might help you. Texas recently passed some laws to protect owners from HOAs. But, the HOA got something pretty cool. The state now allows for online voting by default. We didn't have to amend our bylaws to start doing online voting as our bylaws are subject and superseded by the state laws. We've always struggled to get quorum at our meetings (24 of 231 homes) but once we got online voting, we've never had a problem.

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MrsFunnerOP•

Technically, we're not elected. The coup was in the fall and we hold meetings every 6 months. Last fall, the previous BOD sought legal advice who advised to let the election results stand and hold another election in 6 months. So we did that again this time and now we've ousted all the dinosaurs.

Unfortunately, Ohio law states that our bylaws trump state laws. In fact, our bylaws don't comply with the current HOA regulations but are grandfathered. The main purpose of our amendment attempt is to allow flexibility in voting, as we are currently required to vote in person only.

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Karmadoneit•

Ask a lawyer. Your bylaws can't trump state laws. Your ability to create a bylaw is derived from a state law. You can't create a rule in your neighborhood that says the speed limit won't be enforced, or that it's 5MPH below what the state posts.

1
henchman17•

You've got a lot on your plate. Break it up and assign people to task forces to handle each item. Treasurer should work with the reserve study. One Board member and up to 2 additional volunteers should work with the attorney on the document restatement. Publicity should be a permanent committee.

Since you have a reserve study, assign someone to work with the manager to obtain replacement bids for each item noted on the study. Some of these bids may be needed soon for your repairs/replacements. The volunteer should also try and get the vendor's professional recommendation on how long the components will last. Once you have all of them, hand the bids along with any recommended changes to the life expediencies back to your reserve study company so that can revise the study with more accurate numbers.

Meet with an attorney regarding your documents. Since you have that in-person voting rule, you may need to go through the courts to change your documents, or go door-to-door during your meeting to collect enough signatures to amend the documents.

For publicity, I'm sure you'll come across a format you like. Some of the word templates work well. The most important part of publicity/communications is frequency and consistency.

Many associations your size are able to sell add space in the publications in order to pay for printing and distribution. If you decide to do this, make sure that you to your attorney to develop a an advertisement contract and go over ethics and liability concerns.

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