Homeowners say HOA is doing things right
Q: We read your column regularly on Sundays. Nearly all of your responses seem to be to complaints about real or perceived homeowners association board member abuses, unfair charges or fees, covenants, conditions and restrictions questions or infractions, legality of board decisions and the like. Some seem to be very valid concerns, others not so much.
With that, here’s a little change of pace (although we have also had a couple of bouts with the board or the property management company over the 30-plus years we have lived in our development where we raised our three children, including having a portable basketball hoop in the driveway, needing to paint a gate or the eaves, etc.): For the most part our HOA board has done yeoman’s work in keeping our community in decent shape. Our development literally once was the farthest one in the south end of the Las Vegas Valley. So much so that the developer had to build three swimming pools and two tennis courts to attract folks down this way. But once the 215 Beltway and the airport connector tunnel were built, development eventually steamrolled past us and now we are practically in the inner city.
The board has increased our dues for the first time in 30 years, mostly as a result of continued maintenance and needed upkeep of the pools and tennis courts. Our neighborhood, which could have begun to crumble with all the urban pressures that have closed in on us, has not. And we are not a gated community. We have attended a few (too few) meetings, and are impressed with the way in which the board addresses issues, as well as their keeping us informed with periodic emails, and U.S. Postal Service mailings of meeting agendas and electronic newsletters. The board is striving to keep this a nice place to live, where our now-grown kids enjoy coming back with theirs for visits.
A: It is not an easy task serving as a director for an association board. Thanks for the positive feedback.
I’m currently on a committee and have been told repeatedly by management if I get elected to the board of directors I’d have to give up my seat on the committee. However, a new committee has just been formed and two of the members are husband and wife, and the husband is a sitting board member. I don’t know where I can go from here. I look forward to your valuable advice.
You will need to look at your governing documents as Nevada Revised Statutes 116 does not have any regulations concerning committees. Your association may have regulations that a board member may not serve on a committee. This is not an unusual regulation as other associations have the same policy.
What the association cannot do is have two standards, denying you to sit on a committee while allowing another board member to sit on a committee. You need to address this first with the community manager and, if not rectified, at the next board meeting. Send an email to the community manager to place on the board agenda regulations concerning board members serving on committees.
Barbara Holland, CPM is an author, educator, expert witness on real estate issues pertaining to management and brokerage. Questions may be sent to holland744o@gmail.com.