Pres. FL HOA resigned- Questions

I am the VP of a 51 unit HOA in Fl. Our pres just resigned. The sec. resigned a few weeks ago, and the tres. wants to resign the end of the month. They have served for 3-5 yrs. and are exhausted and frustrated. My questions are: 1) It seems we should re-elect the officers? 2) The Fl. statutes seem to say we need an Architectual committee and a violations/fines committee? 3) Can we have only 3 officers if we have committees? I know we need an odd number of board members. 4) Does a full audit need to be done when we change treasurers or just a partial- (I think the CPA I called said it was a specialized procedure?) Does it need to be a CPA or can it just be an accountant? I don't expect any surprized or losses to be found. Thanks for any input. I am really overwhelmed at this point.

Linda Wright
VP Tower Grove HOA

Linda- I’m very interested in the responses you have and the response you will continue to receive. That is an excellent post. I would expect you will receive a lot of useful information.

Good luck
Chuck W.

You took the words right out of my mouth. I too have learned more from the topics on this discussion board about HOA’s than I have in the three year I have lived in my own HOA community. As sad as it sounds it’s true.

Chuck W.

Linda, your situation isn’t unique. We had the same thing happen to our HOA this year. Having experience from my previous HOA I advised the remaining Director of the procedure he needed to follow. He checked with the HOA’s attorney and he agreed.

If you have only one Director left, that Director (yourself) needs to find volunteers to become Directors for the remainder of the terms of the positions to be filled. You then call a BOD meeting with all the proper notices. Before the meeting is called to order you announce the appointment of one of the directors. You can now call the meeting to order as you now have a quorum of two Directors. At the start of the meeting you officially announce the appointment of the new Director. Then call a motion to appoint the third Director, the other Director seconds it and a vote of yea by the two directors makes it official. You now have a full BOD and need to appoint officers. Linda, you should become President because of your experience in that HOA.

You are in a better situation as you still have two Directors until the end of the month. Get to work and find a volunteer to fill the vacancy. Remember to allow time to post notice of the BOD meeting to appoint a new Director and have the meeting before the other Director’s resignation goes into effect. You may ask that Director to extend his resignation until another Director is appointed.

I have to disagree with Roger on one point. In Florida the Treasure can not hold a dual roll. he/she can not be Treasurer and another office. I my first HOA that was the situation when the Association was turned over from the Developer. We had a Secretary/ Treasurer. We were advised by our attorney that this not allowed. We divided the offices as 1) President, 2) Vice-President/Secretary and 3) Treasurer. In my current HOA we have three Directors and four officers. One officer is not a voting member.

As far as an audit, we always used an account during the change of the Treasurer with the plan that if something came out wrong we would have a complete audit.

Last but not least. In my first HOA the BOD also served as the Architectural Review Committee (ARC). This worked out well. We did have temporary committees i.e. social, election and landscaping, when something needed to be done or we wanted a block party, etc. These committees were for that event only and a new committee was formed the each time.

I my second HOA the BOD and Architectural Control Committee (ACC) were separate. Many times the BOD disagreed with the ACC and didn’t approve their decision. This lead to some arguments and some community members arguing with each other. I recommend one of two things. 1) The BOD and the ACC/ARC be one or 2) The BOD handle all the associations business and hire a management company to be the ACC/ARC and handle enforcement. This avoids any Director from having to send and “letter of noncompliance” or fine a friend. The BOD has a hard job protecting property values, inforcing the rules and living a normal life in the same community.

Good Luck Linda

Linda

Hello again.
Yes, The Board can appoint as many committees as it feels is necessary i.e. ARC, landscaping, social, security. This is based on your pool of volunteers. I prefer that the BOD handle all the work. Things run a lot smoother.
Your association can be $ conscious but I think that they were pound foolish by not having and long term plan (assessment) for major repairs. We have ten-year plans for our clubhouse and road maintenance. In a condo that my wife and I owned there was no such plan in place and when the roof needed replacement we had a $4,000 assessment that had to be paid immediately. Wouldn’t it have been better to raise you dues from $85 to $100 monthly for the past ten years with the additional $15 going into a special account for the roof in stead of a potential $4000 assessment now. This account can be making interest and periodically you can buy a CD. The interest will reduce the amount each member ends up paying. Also If you as a member need to take out a loan you will be paying interest over that $4000 assessment.

As far as members no being in compliance. Who ever becomes a volunteer for the Architectural Control/Review Committee, they have a hard road ahead of them. Reconsider a management company for compliance issues only. I prefer to do it myself.

The Architectural Control/Review Committee reviews deficiencies, sends out letters to the owners to correct the deficiency, and levies fines. If your Association is like my first Association where the Directors are also the Officers and the ARC, they will need to appoint a committee formed from at least three members of the Association that are not Directors, Officers or employees of the Association. If the ARC is a separate committee then they can hold the hearing. The ARC will present its case and the property owner presents his/her case. The committee decides what actions to take up to levying a fine. If it takes an attorney to collect this fine, those charges can be imposed on the violator. Remember that fines can not be used to impose liens on a property.

Good Luck again
RickM