Board members for personal gain

Your documents or bylaws should have a section in them that speaks about conflict of interest.

Even if they don't, any person should abstain from voting on issues where he/she stands to gain (monetarily) or stands to gain an advantage over other Board members. Example, if his company is bidding on a contract with your association, he should not vote on that decision.

Personal gain like monetary? NJ law like other states do not allow a volunteer to be paid for serving on the board.

If you mean personal gain like he has a hidden agenda; if his/her agenda is to improve the community as a whole, then I say he/she is right on target.

If you mean he/she just wants to make their surrounding area better, there are other votes and member on the board that would need to keep that one member in check.

Hi,Thanks for the replies..I mean he is a realtor in the area and has passed out flyers that state he is only on the board to reduce maintance fees. He uses his position to convince new buyers that the mangement fees will not go up regardless of what needs to be done in the community. When things need to be approved he ONLY cares about how much money it will cost. We had major water damage to many units and he still had a fit about fixing them and having to do an assessment.

ElenaO - The "personal gain" isn't that he's getting a kickback, rather that he has an agenda to reduce maintenance fees. Unfortunately it seems he is blinded by the dollar figure and doesn't realize that things the Board is required to fix cost money. I would imagine the Board gets bids, not just one or two. If not, that may be part of the problem. Sounds like the realtor is a bit stuck in his ways and needs some education. A realtor making a promise that the management fees will not go up is unrealistic. Realtors are not supposed to make a promise that maintenance fee increases will not occur as a selling feature for a home in an association. That's preposterous, misleading, a delusion of grandeur, and trying to influence a sale. If I was his client I'd ask the broker of record to get me a new agent pronto because this guy is off his rocker. Furthermore, it may get him brought up on charges by the NJ Board of Realtors. Tisk, tisk. The governing documents of the association will speak to the powers of Board members, and in those powers there may be some influence to keep Board members on the straight and narrow. Unfortunately there are bad eggs that laws, no matter how well written, can not legislate. Look at our country's current President.

Thanks again! I was hoping not to have to go the real estate route as I like his children would hate to have them without any money. And yes, we do have 5 board members so usually he doesn't get what he wants. It just seems insane that we should have these long meetings that accomplish much less than they could because we have one member only concerned about himself.

Some boards spend money like drunk sailors on shore leave. It's good to throw a guy in the mix that's not afraid of a filibuster now and then to keep the others grounded. I probably trust this guy more than those trying to oust him.

I don't know what the guy's flyers read and I won't take one person's opinion as fact, they often have their own agenda. Who doesn't? The guy could have run for the board on a platform of reducing costs- a total legitimate political platform. There's at least three sides to every story...it's one against four and a little premature to start planning for his assassination. ;)

He could have also said, "while I'm on the board I will never vote for an assessment increase." Maybe the money is there and needs to be better managed. Who knows? I know I need allot more facts before I think about calling the guy a crook.

Elena:

IMO to call the Real Estate Comission would be premature. Let the other 4 board members handle it. If he is the one that holds back the meetings making them run longer than what it should and nothing gets accomplished; this is a board issue. Like one of the other posters stated if all he is doing is saying he will not vote to raise the dues; then so be it. He is only 1 vote, however if he is being more disruptive during the meetings, then someone on the board needs to step up and have a talk with him.

ElenaO,
I find the odd thing about this post is passivity (thus blame) of the Board not controlling this guy. Then of course there is the members denying responsibility by not reacting. So, what I think we have is the whole bunch don't know where their responsibility lies.

First, and I believe foremost, is the responsibility of all owners to hold the association in the highest regard, over all else. A concept many find hard to accept and some will not accept because they never give it a thought.

All everyone does that has to do with the association must FIRST meet the test of being good for the association. That is the Board mandate and that is the members responsibility to see it carried out. The Board has specific laws they must follow under penalty of law. If they can not meet the test, as this little manuver by the President clearly demonstrates, he should feel the power of his board and if necessary the action of the members.
That sound you just heard was me stepping down off my soap box.

I have to wonder where the communication is amongst the board? Why can't you say this to the guy's face? If you "like his kids" the apple doesn't fall that far from the tree, the guy can't be so bad. Wonder, wonder, wonder.

Elena,
I'm in New Jersey, and I have run into this situation before. If you would like, feel free to e-mail me: [email protected]

Thanks,
Jon

Damn, I forgot.
We recently had our board put to a vote at an annual meeting the expenditure of a tidy sum of money for enhancements. In the first place the vote was illegal, because it was a vote of the members present.
We have about 75 % rental units, owners that never seem to attend meetings and haven't a clue of what condition the property is in. The Board wanted to do this had planned for it and decreed it was a done deal at the meeting. The enhancements were done and no question they were rather impressive and everyone likes what was done. I and a few other also liked the work done but we also know there is other pressing needs that will have to be planned for and it will cause another special assessment (Big one). My point being (of course) that if the first consideration would have been the property (Association) the choice would have been different.
Lesson learned I suppose, because if you have 75% rentals and the climate we had in the market a few years ago, all some people can see is mopre cash flow, not reserve funds and the like.