Notes

Board Member, Committee Member and Management Company - Working Relationships
Board Member, Committee Member and Management Company: Working Relationships
Committee structure is totally necessary to the strength of the Association. There are a knockout post where the dynamics and reporting or working relationships between Board members, Committees and Management become muddy along with the result can be often frustration plus a sense of wasted time and effort by all parties involved.
A refresher course might be in order to bring the team back together.
Roles: Committees
The Board expects Committees to help you the Board in gathering essential information; research issues and provide recommendations; conserve the Board in maintaining standards; help in achieving financial objectives; utilize management to coordinate with the Board along with other committees.
Committees usually are not permitted by most Governing Documents or from the Committee Charters to bind the Association to contracts, financial commitments, or another binding agreement.
Committee charters should periodically be reviewed to align the current Board's charge to every one committee. This is the first step toward the Committees responsibility and should be clearly understood from the sitting committee. Likewise, there needs to be periodic overview of the committee's task list include them as employed in concert while using Boards objectives.
Roles: Management
The Board expects Management to help and facilitate the work of committees; coordinate issues between committees; receive committee reports and coordinate recommendation while using Board; advise committees along with the Board of CC&R and Bylaw requirements as necessary; execute the decisions with the Board
Management should serve as an overseer or facilitator to ensure the Committees and Board are following governing documents from the community. In addition, Management is in charge of making sure that the vision and direction in the Board is followed. In an ideal case, Management would be a consensus builder. In an imperfect world, Management will likely be charged with all the obligation of reporting towards the Board and Committees when their paths are straying through the association documents or State laws. At theses times, Management is likely to make recommendations on the Committees and Board. In some cases, the recommendation is going to be a clear path of guidance; in others it will be to find the advice of counsel.
In a relationship building process, it will be expected that Committee members, volunteer groups, advocated or individual Board member usually do not consciously as Management to complete tasks or services which is broadly known the Board won't want or will not likely approve but comes from personal agenda. Everyone needs to adhere to to processes. This process protects the Associate and all of its members from liability.
Teamwork
Committees meet independently, assisted, facilitated, and advised by management. Neither the Committee nor the Staff has any authority to behave for the decisions of the Committee. Committees and Management are a team which support of the Board. Board makes all official decisions to carry out the recommendations from the committees, but does not have any obligation to adhere to committee recommendations.
Communication
Management provides background information to accompany committee recommendations. Committees and Management need to operate in a cooperative effort to offer the Board factual and finish information. In many cases committees must operate in harmony with each other to ensure their recommendations could be fully supported financially and operationally.
Committees and Management cannot nullify any action with the Board. The committee contains the responsibility to present the reality, and then to further state the committees support or non-support of an issue, along using the reasons the committee supports or doesn't support a problem, as a way to permit an informed decision.
One final thought, please be reminded that homeowners sometimes act upon what's termed a "good faith opinion." In this scenario a homeowner features a conversation with a individual who has expressed or implied authority to represent the Association generally a committee volunteer, Board member or person about the management staff. A simple expression in step with "this will probably be fine" or "we will make it okay" or perhaps "yes, you're able to do that" becomes the impression to the homeowner they may have approval. The courts could rule that the homeowner acted based on a good faith opinion. The Association is then left minus the ability to act differently.
It is through fully developed working relationships that most three parties Committees, Boards and Management can effectively implement the vision and mission statements of a successful community.
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