INDUSTRY JOURNAL Vol . 8
down their thoughts and what is important to them ( and the more input from the board the better ) to give the attorney ideas tends to lend a realistic and general ‘ flavour ’ that should be carried on into the solicitation materials that go to the homeowners . After all , the board members do come directly from the community , and if they are pleased with the communication that is going to the homeowners , chances are the homeowners will be more likely to understand it . If the board members see the communication as a bunch of legal nonsense then the homeowners will do the same , and if people can ’ t understand something , they won ’ t read it and they aren ’ t likely to respond to it . If a board of directors cannot get a quorum at an annual meeting , it cannot hold a legally valid election . If it cannot get enough of a response to a voting measure that is put to the homeowners ( for things like special levies , amendment of governing documents , etc .), it cannot follow through with important business decisions and properly administer the community . Here are some other things I have seen done to ‘ beat ’ apathy :
• Include a general proxy in with billing statements and encourage owners to return the proxy so that it will be at the meetings in the event they cannot be present .
• Give as a choice on the proxy a box to check ‘ for quorum purposes only ’.
• Implement a fine system for people who don ’ t return proxies and don ’ t come to the annual meeting ( although I certainly would not recommend this , unless the association has the measure approved through an amendment to the governing documents , preferably the MOI / Constitution ).
• Making telephone calls and going door-to-door when a ballot measure is out before the members , or an annual meeting is coming up .
Now comes the more serious issue ... what happens when you cannot get enough board members to serve ? While homeowner apathy mostly causes grief , when it leads to board member apathy , or more precisely , a lack of resourceful people to serve on the board , it can lead to serious legal issues and , ultimately , the demise of the association . The ‘ board pool ’ depends , though , on the strength of awareness , education , and information that flows to the owners . So , you have to work backwards , at the lowest level of apathy , to create the type of groundswell that will elicit competition among these resourceful people to serve on the board . It is not just about community ; it is about finding people who are capable of contributing something to the board , not just people who are looking for a ‘ figurehead ’ position .
An association is in the best position to create the groundswell of interest and ‘ groom ’ candidates to give service ( either on committees or on the board ) by , again , ‘ reaching out to the community ’. In the newsletters I talked about above , you could use these opportunities to survey the membership , find out areas of interest , and find out what kind of people are available who have given service in the past and may be willing to do what it takes to learn how to be a good board member for the homeowners association . The association can solicit feedback from the membership . Surveys can be provided asking for input on areas of interest , areas of concern ( within the association ), jobs or positions that had specific qualifications or expertise that might be valuable to the association ( construction background , landscaping , legal , accounting , leadership , management , etc .). You might just seek out the best form of interactive communication .
These items could be used to find out how many people in the community are on the ‘ net ’, and might reveal what is the best means of communicating with the homeowners . Questions could be asked about whether the membership would be interested in attending social functions , participating in board training , etc . Sometimes , you have to get creative . In one of my current roles as leader of a resource panel for a particular industry group , I recently sent around a signup sheet asking for volunteers to serve on committees or possibly participate in leadership roles in the group . The piece of paper came back blank . The next piece of paper I circulated at a meeting asked everyone in the group to
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