Today’s Blog is part III of an analysis of Boards of Directors that was written by one of South Florida’s most important Condo Attorneys—Donna DiMaggio Berger— a Managing Partner of Katzman, Garfinkel and Berger, a fine firm that was, at one time, our attorneys. She is also Executive Director of the Community Advocacy Network (CAN) and has graciously allowed me to reprint her work.
What are the Traits of a Highly Functioning Board?
The Award Winning Board!
In Part III of our series on the traits of a highly functioning board we
at last come to our ideal board; the vision of what a community
association board can and should be doing.
-This board operates at the
highest level of transparency possible without compromising privileged
information. The membership and board meetings for this kind of
community are held on a timely basis, are properly noticed and tend to
run smoothly. Unfortunately, the meetings run by the highly functioning
board are usually not well attended since most owners feel the board
"knows what they're doing";
-This board has a working knowledge
of its governing documents as well as the pertinent statutes but on
issues that could subject the association to potential liability they
reinforce that knowledge with a legal opinion;
-This board takes a
proactive approach before a potential issue becomes a real problem. For
example, the highly functioning board will have rules in place
outlining owner inspection of books and records and owner participation
at meetings well BEFORE such requests are made. This board will also
have a hurricane shutter rule in place and, if it is a condominium
association, will have an updated Question and Answer Sheet on hand;
-This
board routinely reviews its governing documents to ensure that they
have kept pace with the changes in the Statute and are amended/updated
to both comply with statutory changes as well as to address the changing
needs of the community;
-This board has clearly defined
expectations of its manager/management company and has a system of
checks and balances in place to ensure that neither the manager nor any
one board member becomes comfortable with making unilateral decisions on
behalf of the association;
-This board utilizes technology and
various forms of communication to reach out to the community members and
conveys not only what has been done and is being done on their behalf
but also to take the community's pulse in terms of long-range planning
and goals. This can be done via an association website, newsletters, a
community-wide cable channel and regular "townhall" style meetings;
-This
board realizes that it must follow all statutory and documentary
guidelines when dealing with the association's finances including
seeking proper membership approval as needed, when waiving or partially
funding reserve funds, using reserve funds for non-specified purposes,
and when reducing the financial reporting requirement level;
-The
highly functioning board of directors realizes that part of its role is
to enforce the terms and provisions of the governing documents. At
times, this will require that enforcement action or collection efforts
be commenced against a neighbor. This board is fair but tough;
-This
board knows its limitations and does not pretend to be an expert in
every area that impacts the community whether it be filing an insurance
claim or overseeing a capital improvement project. The highly
functioning board employs the proper experts needed to lend a guiding a
hand;
-This board avails itself of all available
educational resource materials to ensure that it knows about the changes
in the law which impact the manner in which it operates and administers
the community.
If every community was tended to by a highly
functioning board, we would undoubtedly see an increase in real property
values and a huge decrease in the number of complaints filed with the
Division of Florida Land Sales each year. Whether you find yourself
serving on a board or living in a community operated by a poorly
functioning board or even a functioning board, there is always the
ability to encourage your board members to take their level of
participation up a notch in order to become a highly functioning board.
Highly functioning board members endorse a "best practices" policy and
always seek to fulfill their responsibilities to the membership who put
elected them for the job.
Donna DiMaggio Berger
Katzman, Garfinkel & Berger
http://www.kgblawfirm.com
954-486-7774
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I
hope that the new board, will aspire to improve. Donna's classes and
guidelines will help all Board member's to improve their performance to
the betterment of Southpoint.
Your comments are appreciated.
Please be sure to attend the Special Meeting
Thursday, March 1 -- 7:00 PM
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Michael E Katz
Director
Southpoint
954-563-0959
Katz8356@comcast.net
