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SheliaH
(Indiana)

Posts:350

09/02/2010 6:28 AM
After our September board meeting (in two weeks), our seven member board will be down to 3 people (including yours truly). Obviously, it's not healthy for any organization to be run by less than a handful of people, so the talk of receivership is getting louder. Our president (who's stepping down in two weeks) sent homeowners a letter last month, which ended with her warning of receivership if no one stepped up to fill the four vacancies. I drafted an article on receivership to put in the newsletter, thinking if people understood what was at stake, that would prompt them to move. Of course, as I wrote the article, the madder I got! Having gotting the anger out of my system (for now), it's dawned on me that a newsletter article might not be the best route and perhaps we should send yet another letter (if the wrong type of investor got ahold of the article, he or she might try to manipulate things to buy the houses at an even lower rate than what they're selling now). Then again, maybe I'm just being paraniod (things are already bad so how much worse can they get before a receivership kicks in). What say all of you?

DonnaS
(Tennessee)

Posts:5671

09/02/2010 9:07 AM
Sheilah, Use the newsletter, personal letter, website, flying banner, radio and whatever it takes to motivate the members in order to seek candidates.

DanielH1
(California)

Posts:481

09/02/2010 10:13 AM
For me, door-to-door is the only thing that might work. People will have to be recruited directly and be made to understand. If the Board is still functional, increase fees as much as allowed. That gives apathetic owners a chance to jump in, if they object to the fee increase. If the receiver does the first fee increase, nothing they will say or do will matter; it will be too late and somebody else will be in charge. If a newsletter article or a letter worked, more power to you but I'd be very surprised. That's too weak a medium for your message.

TimB4
(Virginia)

Posts:3246

09/02/2010 10:40 AM
Do both and make sure you bring it up at the morning meeting. By the way, have you knocked on doors and asked vs. waiting for volunteers? Sometimes, it's the personal touch that brings people forward.

SheliaH
(Indiana)

Posts:350

09/02/2010 11:52 AM
Thanks for the input, everyone! Going door to door is a good idea, but unfortunately, people aren’t home most of the time (at least that’s been my experience). I tried this when delivering the newsletter and encouraged my fellow board members to do the same, but it doesn’t help that we also have a bunch of offsite owners (and some of you know how difficult it is to get them motivated on anything). For the few of us left, we are prepared to take Daniel’s suggestion and pay people to do as much as possible, leaving us to do the essential things to keep the Association legal and running. Of course, that will probably run up our delinquencies, which is already past the danger zone. I also think we’ll take Donna’s suggestion and throw in another letter when we send out the annual budget at the end of the year. That ought to make February’s annual meeting a little more than interesting.

SusanW1
(Michigan)

Posts:5035

09/02/2010 12:21 PM
Why are you folks talking receivership because there are vacancies. I could see it if you had NO board, but you do have members. Each member should bring the name of an interested person to the next meeting. You are functioning, just limping along hopefully temporarily, but you are not dead. It's premature to talk about receivership.

DonnaS
(Tennessee)

Posts:5671

09/02/2010 12:38 PM
Susan, I think that Sheilah is trying to use a scare tactic or a wake up call to the members. Yes, the Board should have the ability to appoint members to fill any vacancies. That would depend on her State laws and individual bylaws on how to do this.

JeanneK3
(Maryland)

Posts:348

09/02/2010 12:39 PM
According to Maryland Law, failure to have a quorum can trigger asking for the appointment of a receiver. Here's the law: 11B–111.5. (A) IF A HOMEOWNERS ASSOCIATION FAILS TO FILL VACANCIES ON THE GOVERNING BODY SUFFICIENT TO CONSTITUTE A QUORUM IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE BYLAWS, THREE OR MORE OWNERS OF LOTS MAY PETITION THE CIRCUIT COURT FOR THE COUNTY WHERE THE CONDOMINIUM IS LOCATED TO APPOINT A RECEIVER TO MANAGE THE AFFAIRS OF THE HOMEOWNERS ASSOCIATION. Jeanne

MaryA1

Posts:0

09/02/2010 2:16 PM
Sheila, Many, many HOAs are managed quite effectively by a 3-member board. Now if you were unable to get any members to serve on the board then I would seriously start thinking about receivership. Unless you are talking about receivership as a way to try to scare enough members into running for a board position, I would just put that on the back burner. Quite frankly, I think a 7-member board is quite large. Exactly what do your bylaws say about the size of the board? Some assn bylaws and/or state laws say that a member must serve until his successor is elected. Oftentimes that is why the same people serve on many boards year after year.

SheliaH
(Indiana)

Posts:350

09/03/2010 6:59 AM
Mary, we used to have 9 members on the board, but when we ratified the bylaws (at least the homeowners were willing to do THAT), we reduced the number to 7 because we were having trouble maintaining the board at 9 (I think it had shrunk for 5 or 6 at one point). Board members serve until they resign or get voted out – as far as I know no one’s ever been voted out. People usually resign, someone volunteers to serve, the Board appoints them to serve out the term and then that person’s voted back in (unless they end up resigning) I’d love to go ahead and appoint four people, but given the massive apathy in this community (which has brought us to this point), these folks are more likely to ignore us altogether or tell us to go somewhere and what to do when we get there. Many of them are already ineligible because of the delinquencies and the rest live out of state and only care about the rent checks clearing the bank. As some of you have guessed, my primary purpose in writing the article is to serve people a huge dose of reality and push them into action. Human nature being what it is, maybe people will volunteer to avoid a massive hit in the pocketbook You’re correct that 3 people could probably get the job done, but there are several reasons why the current three could be reduced to 2 or 1. Our soon to be president has had a bout with cancer and although it’s currently under control (thank goodness), one never knows when it or something else may flare up. I myself have had two jobs (one seasonal) and if the part time starts up again next year, there will be two months or so when I won’t be able to attend (can’t afford to turn down the work). The third board member also has demands on his time because of his children – this is just one reason why we need more people to carry the load.

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