It’s Your Dime, It’s Worth Your Time!

Wed, 15 May 2013 02:25:11 -0500

Homeowner and Condominium Associations are comprised of owners with a wide variety of skill sets and vast experiences in a multitude of areas. As a Community Association Manager, I have the responsibility and opportunity of attending many meetings with the Association’s Board of Directors; many of those meetings include additional members of the Association. A seemingly common misconception is that the members of the Board of Directors are “Iron Fisted Czars” doling out rules, regulations, violations and fines. This misconception could not be further from the actual position that these unpaid volunteers on the Board of Directors find themselves in serving their community. The elected members of the Board of Directors of a community are owners that feel strongly enough about contributing to their community that they have decided to submit their name for consideration for service on the Board. The Board has some preset guidelines that they follow for all decisions they are empowered to make per the Master Deed, the By-Laws and the Rules & Regulations coupled with State and Federal rules and regulations. Also, a majority of the decisions can be driven by the actions and decisions of the previous Boards of the Association and input from the professional Association Manager.

Many times I hear homeowners questioning where their money is spent. With the help of their professional management company, Boards annually provide homeowners with budgets and accompanying correspondence explaining, in detail, the entire financial composition of their community. Far too many times it seems that these types of correspondence are put to the side and not reviewed by the homeowners. Unfortunately, it seems the common philosophy is that if the dues remain the same or go down, all is in order. Conversely, there is also the thought process that if the dues go up or there is a special assessment, there is something horribly awry and the Board has not done their job.

Board members are not only faced with the constraints of the Association documents and the available funds allotted for the operation of the Association, they are also faced with the consumption of their time in their capacity as Board members. Many of these volunteer Board members offer and provide their service to their Association and hold full or part-time jobs. The majority of the Boards that I am fortunate to have the opportunity to work with welcome the opportunity for members of their Association to volunteer and assist with the research on suggested ideas or providing support in a field in which they have experience. In this day and age, the Board of Directors simply cannot do it all and welcome the assistance from members in the form of ideas, suggestions and volunteers.

Being involved in your community association is important and you are important to your community association. Without the membership, there would be no community association. It is up to the existing membership, and most importantly new members, to help make their community a productive and viable place in which to live. It is the funding from the membership that allows the community association to function. It IS your dime, so it is ABSOLUTELY worth your time.

Ethan Carney, CMCA

Association Manager

Chicora Association Management

Office: 843.272.1123 x.261

Facsimile: 843.272.1628

ethancarney@chicora.net

Homeowner Association Document Inspection

Wed, 01 Aug 2012 02:34:17 -0500

As a member and resident of a homeowners association, I attend an occasional meeting of the Board of Directors to better understand the administration and operation of my community. Board meetings are open to the membership and the Board will often take questions from those attending. Boards also distribute information such as meeting minutes, audits and newsletters in the spirit of openness. We all expect that. There are times when I prefer to view other association documents held in the office of the association. The question - how do I obtain access? Well, why not just call up the President or manager and request that the documents be sent to me?

If I did, I probably would be advised of the requirements of the State of South Carolina statutes:

Written notice at least 5 business days before the desired date to inspect.
Demand to inspect is made in good faith and for proper purpose, describes with reasonable particularity the purpose, and the records are directly connected with this purpose.
A document may be copied.
A charge for copying a document may be imposed.

The requester will have to visit the facility where the documents are stored particularly for association’s having professional management. Other arrangements would have to be made for self managed associations.

I also find that a community association can be compared to a private corporation versus a public government, and thus a request for records does not have to comply with the Freedom of Information Act.

Whether a homeowner agrees or disagrees with the above, the best result for the homeowner – to acquire desired documents - comes with complying with the State statutes.

Coldwell Banker Chicora Blog

It’s Your Dime, It’s Worth Your Time!

Homeowner Association Document Inspection