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CarmenF
(New Jersey)

Posts:11

02/03/2007 1:56 PM
We residents just took over the bOard from the developer. The new board created a Finance committee. Four of us volunteered for this committee. We immediately began asking for open competitive bids for our landscaping. We are seeing savings of up to $25,000 in the bids we are receiving. Before we had a chance to submit our bids to the Board and the residents, the board disbanded our committee, said there is no need for one because most of the residents are satisfied with the present landscaper.They said they took a verbal survey. It seems that the present landscaper was given the account without a bid, but through connections of a resident who managed to get him the account. It alsoo appears that the board is controlled by a single serving group who is not interested in open bids in spite of the substantial savings. Can we force the Board to obtaim open bids. About 90% of our budget is spent on landscaping and Mamagement. we also found a 50% savings on management fees also. How can we force the Board to do the right thing here? Any suggestions. Our Bylaws are silent on open bids. This board was not elected because there were not enough candidates to hold an election. They are in by default. Thank you

RonaldW
(South Carolina)

Posts:900

02/03/2007 3:44 PM
If you have membership meetings and members actually attend these meetings, you can bring it up at the meeting. You can talk to other members and try to encourage them to attend meetings. You should also try to get BOD candidates for the next election and encourage members to attend and vote. The BOD has a duty to spend the association funds wisely. Giving contracts to a favored contractor without bidding is questionable at best. On the other hand, it's difficult to quantify "landscaping" without being very specific on what, when, how often, and with what materials. There's usually someone around who can give a lower bid by cutting corners.

Ron SC

RogerB
(Colorado)

Posts:3724

02/03/2007 6:28 PM
Carmen, if the four members of the finance committee are upset enough ask the Board to provide a good explanation for their actions. If they can't or won't you can educate the owners and act to try to remove those Board members responsible.

Roger Borcherding Official HOATalk.com Sponsor DARCO Property Management (Colorado) (303) 925-0150 *See legal notice below (end of page) or go to www.hoatalk.com/legal

LanceT
(Alabama)

Posts:121

02/03/2007 9:03 PM
I actually was in your exact situation a few years ago. The first year I was President. The former president was a pretty good "con-man". He had a habit of hiring "friends". One of those "friends" was a resident/member who he hired to do the landscaping. When I got elected, I decided on doing an "open bid" process. Made ALL the contractors (except bookkeeper) submit bids and their original contracts. It was during my discussion with the current landscaper that I had found out what the previous President had been up to. The landscaper had come up to me and gave me a "list" of general improvements such as planting of trees, plants, and flowers etc... he wanted to do. Sounds right doesn't it? However, when I asked about how we were to "Finance" these additions, he told me that "Jim" (Ex-President) simply had written him a check in the past! A little "fishy" if you ask me. The President of the Association can NOT just "write checks". The board members or majority vote of members MUST approve any expenditures. Checks have to have 2 signatures. (Eitherone from the bookkeeper or one of the 2 officers). This sent up a BUNCH of "Red flags". After that discussion, I brought up to the board that ALL major projects MUST have 3 bids submitted and we would VOTE on the best one. The contractors MUST also be Licensed and Insured. (For insurance purposes). Landscape companies had to have ATLEAST a million dollar insurance policy. I did NOT say that no one couldn't recommend a friend, relative, or their own company. I also did not rule out who could research and gather the 3 bids as long as board members and myself were given the oportunity to review them as well. However, 99% of the time it was ONLY me that did the gathering of bids. Ironically, if there ever was an emergency situation. The members demanded that we went by the 3 bid rule regardless if I had picked out the best or even the ONLY contractor who could do the job. Turns out, the members REALLY loved the idea of 3 bids. It really did save us LOT's of money and sometimes gave us a different solution. It just makes the best sense to get multiple bids. You most likely do that in your own home. You don't always except the first repair person's bill if you can "shop around". Should be NO difference with a HOA. If your soo gung-ho on this 3 bid system. Don't be disapointed if your the one who has to do it. There are no "They or them" in a HOA. It's the person willing to do the job!

Recovering Ex-President of a HOA

BradP
(Kansas)

Posts:1742

02/04/2007 10:27 AM
Carmen: The residents are probably happy with the currently company because they know no better. If someone came to me and said you could save $25,000 on another bid you bet I would demand from the board why they are wasting my money. The board probably failed to mention the savings in their survey. Take your information to your residents, have references for the other companies so they can see the quality of their work.

CarmenF
(New Jersey)

Posts:11

02/05/2007 4:48 PM
The BODs excuse is that they took a verbal survey and found that the residents are satisfired with the current landscaper. The can not back this up, just hearsay. Can the BOD be sued for spending our funds foolishly and not getting competitive bids, especially where they can save the residents at least $ 25,000.? This can be documented.

BradP
(Kansas)

Posts:1742

02/05/2007 6:40 PM
yes you can sue, but you are just wasting more of your money because you will pay for the HOA defense one way or the other.

DavidS3
(Maryland)

Posts:36

02/05/2007 8:57 PM
It sounds as though you have a bad situation with your board that will only be corrected when you get enough residents interested to run against them. As you probably know by now running a competition can be a lot of work and you have to be able to specify exactly what is required in order to get valid comparisons. Even if they have no ulterior motives it isn't too surprising that a non-elected Board would take the easy way out. Lowest price isn't always the best selection criteria. When I was elected as first resident director on our builder/developer board a landscaping contractor was in place who cost us very little. The builder was still selling houses and keeping our assessments low. Then the contractor went belly up in mid-season and we had to scramble to find a replacement. Fortunately, we had just put a resident operations committee in place and they and the property manager were able to find one - at over twice the price. This contractor has worked out very well over the past three years and even though we periodically test the waters to see if we can do better it doesn't look like we will run a competition anytime soon. Dave

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