Treasurer's duties and responsibilities

We are a 55+ homeowners association of 700 homes. We have 7 members on the Board of Directors. The Treasurer is appointed and is not a Board member. He has very little duties and less responsibilities.
My question is "What should be the Treasurer's duties and responsibilities and should it be a Board Memeber?
Thanks for any help. Ralph

People sometimes confuse officers and board members (directors). The "board" is generally a reference to a "board of directors." Only directors are truly members of "the board." Officers are generally identified separately in an association's bylaws. In what is perhaps the most typical situation, officers are appointed by the board from among board members (directors), which is the source of the confusion. As our association attorney once pointed out, only directors have a vote on the board; officers have no vote. A director who also happens to be an officer wears two hats: one as a director and one as an officer. When that person votes, he or she votes as a director; not as an officer.

Some bylaws require all officers to be appointed from the board members (directors). Other bylaws my permit people who are not board members to be appointed to certain offices, generally, secretary and treasurer. Some bylaws may also allow those two offices to be held by non-members of the association. Our bylaws permit such a situation.

Sometimes you will also hear terms like "president of the board" and "treasurer of the board." If you read your bylaws carefully, there really are no such positions. A person usually is a president of the association or a treasurer of the association.

The duties of each officer will usually be found in the association's bylaws.

I would second Bruce's and Tim's replies.

The term "Treasurer" seems a bit out of place in the modern world. It sounds like a one-eyed guy with a parrot on his shoulder guarding a pirate's chest full of gold dubloons with a cutlass and a pair of flintlock pistols. Arg! In larger organizations the title "Chief Financial Officer" might be fitting, but for an HOA the duties would be much more akin to being a bookkeeper and accountant. I would resist using the title "Accountant" because it may imply to some that the person is a CPA and because an accountant, in theory, analyzes, reports, and advises on financial matters.

Perhaps the term "Financial Officer" might be more appropriate. His/her duties should be to maintain the financial records, keep and organize invoices, write the checks, maintain the check register, and provide monthly and/or quarterly reports of the financial activities. I would also expect him/her to advise the board if invoices for certain items, such as taxes or insurance, have not been received when expected. I would also expect him/her to assist and advise in preparing the annual budget and to prepare standard accounting reports such as statements of net worth and cash flow. Assuming that this is a paid full-time position, I would expect that the Financial Officer would also be responsible for invoicing and collecting assessments.

There are several advantages to having an officer who is not on the BOD. Since the officer serves at the pleasure of the board, the BOD can fire him/her at any time. The officer does not have to wait for the next BOD meeting to do his job and his day-to-dat activities are not subject to the open meeting laws. The officer may communicate with one or more board members between meetings without creating a quorum. In many states, an officer of the corporation may be permitted to represent the association in at least some courts.

Given the size of your association, it would be reasonable to hire a paid full-time person to perform the duties listed above. This should not be a volunteer position as volunteers get real tired of putting lots of time and effort out over long periods of time only to get yelled at by the members who think they are doing a lousy job. Use volunteers to organize the annual picnic; do not rely on volunteers for work that never ends. My POA tried that (OK we haven't learned better yet) and have had numerous volunteers tell off the BOD in public.