Hard to recruit good and lasting BOT members... Everyone wants to get on the board, but at election time they chicken out... they are the same people who constantly complain at meetings.

I do not believe that to be true at our condo complex or a few others we know of. Sometimes there are such clicks to keep the same group and NOT let anyone else in that people know they could not possibly win the election. we have seen it here nd other places as well as it has been told.  
many would love the chance to get on the board but the click prevents it from happening here. we have had the same click for 8 years who control from our Christmas Party to Picnic and the BOARD MEMBERS. None of these members leave any room or welcome anyone else to join them. Especially the ones who " are not the complainers" just concerned unit owners with questions sometimes a board can not answer or just refuses to for whatever reason. 
I don't agree with your statement at all. Every complex has it's issues, and if all boards are transparent and communicate well with unit owners with respect and concern and handle issues and complaints in a timely fashion all would be happy. Many board members control goes way beyond ....and several should not serve if they have issues with control. 
Enough said.

The Board members who want to remove themselves, should not run again when their term is up. The residents know that they must have a full board, and hopefully someone new will run.

Best practices and what will work for a particular community can be mutually exclusive. 
 
We only have 78 condos and have not been able to recruit any new Board members for three years now. There are several reasons: 
1. There are owners who have been on Boards in different communities and had bad experiences 
2. Though we are a relatively young HOA, only four years with only owners, we have resolved almost all of the developer's oversights in the first three years 
3. Owners are quite content with current Board and management company hired last year 
4. Board is very open owners; annual meeting plus two town hall meetings a year. Newsletters three to four times a year. 
 
I have heard that to recruit new Board members, the Board needs to involve their community in Board sponsored projects and events. However, our master association has 900 owners with many projects for 2013 but they are unable to fill committees for these projects. At their last annual meeting they had one person volunteer for two open positions on their Board. 
 
I am seeing a trend for owners to be willing to pay more in assessments just to hire a professional company to take the place of a HOA Board. People are just too busy. 
 
Good Luck.

Thank you Bill, BLH and Gail for your comments...I am the one who asked about recruiting Board members. We experienced at one time in our 30 years what you have..fortunately we've been able to get the curmudgeons off the board, improved our communication and started spending funds for long overdue repairs and replacements. But we are all getting older ourselves and we're try to find ways to recruit a younger layer to take over and keep up with the technology available for communication and to bring in new ideas. Hoping to hear from others any success stories in this regard. 
 
Thanks again for your time with any and all comments.

I think the legislature should be addressing this problem by changing the Condo & HOA laws in Florida and other states to set term limits. Perhaps a two (2) consecutive terms limit should be established. This would allow new blood to flow onto the boards and would help to curb the control freaks and clicks.

For starters you need a more active treasurer/secretary that cares about the law and the rules. For 4 or 5 years in our small 12 unit condo a treasurer who was and is contemptuous of the law and rules and did a poor job at following the rules for meeting announcements, keeping a minutes book, an account book and supplying a budget and agenda before the meetings. I have had to nag the present board and other unit owners about trying to make a better effort ... They went one year with one board member short, did not have executive meetings, kept no records , 
presented no agenda or budget and even elected a person not qualified (not a unit owner) to be on the BOD.  
For starters, the secretary should send the need to elect new officers as part of an agenda for the annual meetings, well ahead of time before the annual meeting.

I agree that new Boards are hard to come by for vaious reasons. In our case we have a group of five who are manipulative, and don't completely share with other owners. There is usually one, and we have a president who is a control freak. The others fill seats, make comments, but ultimately we have The Godfather syndrome which is hard to rid. When new people are elected they are run off. Some owners are clueless and others are intimidated. Nothing on this site that involves Boards surprises me. It takes numbers and/ or the right people to get rid of bad Boards

Wow. Think it is hard to find members willing to serve on a board of directors in a 170 unit condo? That should be EASY!! Try it in a 16 unit condo. Here it is nearly impossible to get OFF the board because the place is so small, half are second homes owned by out of staters and the other half either have personality conflicts, are unable due to age or medical reasons or just want no part of such a thankless job. Good luck.

The suggestion made by Ron-NC "to pay more in assessments just to hire a professional company to take the place of a HOA Board" is intriging. 
We have a Managing agent part of a Mgt Co. They do everything including monthly financial reports.  
But the Board is still needed to vote the projects, expenses, decisions... 
Anyone with experience with an association entirely run by a professional Co? (Without Board) 
 
 

The above poster seem to misunderstand and confused a few things. 
First, the board members husband is the person that has no professional license as per the georgia secretary of state. 
Second, Mike is an electrician that used to be a carpenter. Mile never claimed to anyone that he was a contractor. 
Third, anyone who is reasonable would see that the board has just as much of an axe to grind with mike as he does with them. A reasonable person would recognize that the property manager has a very tarnished record. A property manager who loses 4 out of five accounts in 18 months has done something wrong. When the Ga real estate board cites and fines her for falsifying records that is a sign. A bad one. When she is jailed for contempt of court for not turning over records that is also a bad sign. A reasonable person would not buddy up with her and a reasonable person would never hire her with this record. By defending her you make yourself look suspicious. You are not the voice of reason. 
 
Now about your attacks. More than a few have notices that the attitude conveyed in your tone is vicious. None of you ever wish to debate mike or even talk to him. You have been offered documents which you refuse to look at. You offer no thoughtful courteous responses. You seem happy to make your statements to try and make mike look bad and mislead people about him. 
 
Mike and his group are what you call a minority. A minority has the right to be heard and should be given the decency of due process. Instead, the minority is stifled and silenced. 
We were denied the opportunity to discuss our property manager at our annual meeting. We formally asked for new business to be added to the agenda more than once. Instead we had a police officer posted with us if tried to speak. Nobody wanted to be thrown out of the meeting. No chance was given to make a motion.  
 
Our community is a quasi dictatorship. If we could just have a real meeting to discuss our issues openly then perhaps we could overcome some of our differences.

RS-FL - I think maybe your comment above was mis-posted in this topic about recruiting board members? Sounds like you are talking about an incident apart from this discussion. Sorry you are having so much trouble, hope it improves...

Boy is this ever confusing. It is impossible to determine the facts. Apparently 120 30-year old units have not been painted in 14 years. In my mind that guarantees a huge expense and a lot of pre-panting repairs before actually painting. Apparently the folks have been told that if an amendment to the bylaws is approved the repair/painting will not cost them anything but if not they will have to do so themselves for $3,,000. $3,000 for 120 units is $360,000. Mike says the board has an estimate of 2.4 million. Someone else says the place is in "great shape financially". Mike says the board does not need an amendment to re-paint. So what is the real reason for seeking an amendment? But why has a board and/or management company let 14 years pass without painting? That seems wildly irresponsible. On the other hand, Mike is wrong if he believes the place does not require any pre-painting repairs, it must need a lot after 14 years. Underlying all the alleged facts about the condition of the siding, the cost of repairs and the need for a bylaw change is resulting in a whole lot of mistrust on both sides and digging in on opposing positions. Sounds like the U.S. government. This is a perfect example of how associations usually develop. Everyone is happy until there is a need to increase fees and/or spend big money. Then many are strongly opposed to any fee increase or special assessment either because they are too cheap, or expect to move out or die before there is any need for such. The place goes to pot and re-sale values drop and he/she who proposes otherwise in order to make needed repairs becomes the devil incarnate. Lots of hard feelings. We'll never know the real facts so should probable stop beating on this. I think we have already said enough for those involved to try to get on the same page, but it seems pretty obvious they may never get there. Wish I knew that address so I would never, ever, think of moving there (on the other hand I'm pretty sure I would not want to anyway because the place must look like a dump and the board and/or manager and/or some owners are dysfunctional - cannot decide who).

Whoops. Wrong post. I apologize.

I really agree with Ron;  
On the legislature should be addressing this problem by changing the Condo & HOA laws in Florida and other states to set term limits. Perhaps a two (2) consecutive terms limit should be established. This would allow new blood to flow onto the boards and would help to curb the control freaks and clicks.  
posted @ Monday, March 04, 2013 9:57 AM by Ron M  
 
Except three years in stead of two. It would be the only way to prevent the clicks and bullies from being around to long and allow for a better place to live for all. As stated, why run if you can't win. There are many qualifided people out there if your association could have them serve and really wants them. 
FL,S.M.

I really agree with Ron;  
On the legislature should be addressing this problem by changing the Condo & HOA laws in Florida and other states to set term limits. Perhaps a two (2) consecutive terms limit should be established. This would allow new blood to flow onto the boards and would help to curb the control freaks and clicks.  
posted @ Monday, March 04, 2013 9:57 AM by Ron M  
 
Except three years in stead of two. It would be the only way to prevent the clicks and bullies from being around to long and allow for a better place to live for all. As stated, why run if you can't win. There are many qualifided people out there if your association could have them serve and really wants them. 
FL,S.M.

Yes, ultimately limiting hoa/condo terms is the best solution per each state. This would avoid an embedded bod that overstep lawful boundaries. It would also give good bods who have served their time to leave without being forced to stay because no one wants to take their place. I doubt that owners would allow their bod to remain empty.