Right # of Board Members?
David
I'm wondering if anyone can share some wisdom on the right number of board
members for a condo. association. I live in a new building that has 80 units.
It was just turned over to the association by the developer this past summer.
Currently there are 3 board members. This seems like it's too few. I would
think that 5 would be better. Any feedback on finding on the right number?
Does anyone agree that 3 is probably too few?
David
Ned Forrester
We have a very different situation: 10 yr old voluntary association
for about 30+ single family houses/lots in a 25 yr/old subdivision (in
MA), about 15 active (dues paying) members.
We had a 5 member board for the first 5 years or so. It was a good
number with regard to having a range of opinions represented. This was
probably worthwhile in the beginning when there were a lot of startup
issues to resolve (e.g. estabilishing relationships with contractors,
making adjustments to the by-laws, obtaining tax exempt status, etc.).
In recent years we have had trouble finding volunteers to serve on
the board; everybody who can has already done it, and the rotation
comes around too often. The solution was to reduce to 3 members.
This has been fine so far, as there has been very little activity
beyond the routine stuff.
Where you have a greater pool of people to draw from, 5 board members
sounds like a good number. On the other hand, you may find that a
smaller fraction of your neighbors are willing to take a turn; your
board members may have a lot more work to do than ours, or perhaps you
have a management company handling the day-to-day stuff.
--
Ned Forrester nforr...@whoi.edu
Applied Ocean Physics and Engineering Dept. / Oceanographic Systems Lab
Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution Woods Hole, MA 02543, USA
Frederick L. Pilot
On 14 Feb 1997 16:09:29 GMT, n...@kilowatt.whoi.edu (Ned Forrester)
wrote:
What you describe is a structural flaw in how common interest
developments throughout the states in the U.S. are organized and
managed. Many CIDs have reported difficulty constituting and
maintaining functioning boards of directors. There are reports that
some CID members in California may be forced to petition the courts to
put their developments into court-supervised receivership since there
are too few members willing to serve as directors.
The structural flaw is based on insufficient political economies of
scale..there are only a small number of people in any body based on
elected representation who are interested in or willing to serve on a
panel of elected representatives. The framers of CID laws mistakenly
assumed that there would be sufficient numbers of willing directors in
all size CIDs. IMHO, only the largest CIDs of 500 units and above
would likely be able to conduct meaningful, competitive elections and
maintain fully constituted boards of directors.
Fred Pilot *** Pilot Group *** Camino, California *** fpi...@directcon.net
Consulting and Alternative Dispute Resolution Services for California HOAs
"Experience from the trenches"
Carl H. Starrett II
In article <5e0v6e$9q7$1...@gail.ripco.com>,
da...@ripco.com (David) wrote:
>
>I'm wondering if anyone can share some wisdom on the right number of board >members for a condo. association. I live in a new building that has 80 >units. It was just turned over to the association by the developer this >past summer.
>
>Currently there are 3 board members. This seems like it's too few. I would >think that 5 would be better. Any feedback on finding on the right number?
>Does anyone agree that 3 is probably too few?
The number of directors is usually state some where in the governing documents, usually in the bylaws. Sometimes the number may be stated in
CC&Rs or Articles of Incorporation. In some states, the number may be
specified in the statutes, perhaps based on the number of units or members.
David
I'm aware that we can change the number of directors by amending the by-laws.
What I'm asking is if there is a generally meaningful ratio of board members
to units in an association. We have 3 board members serving 80 units and that
seems light to me.
: The number of directors is usually state some where in the governing documents, usually in the bylaws. Sometimes the number may be stated in
Art Carlson
At this time you could use two more.....split up the work load.......as we
found out that after 11 yerars we were lucky to get 5 and we are only 42
units....and because of the reluctance to serve we are probably going to 3
and going to a management company. My feeling is that if have a management
company satay with tree for now till you get your feet on the ground
AES
> I'm asking is if there is a generally meaningful ratio of board members
> to units in an association. We have 3 board members serving 80 units
> and that seems light to me.
We have 8 (or 9?) for a vacation townhouse assoc with 128 units,
plus an outside accountant and an attorney on retainer. Units
are mostly used as second homes and/or rental units, assoc owns
substantial common property including internal roads, pool,
clubhouse, two full-time managers, occasional part-time help.
Frederick L. Pilot
On 17 Feb 1997 06:03:32 GMT, da...@ripco.com (David) wrote:
>
>I'm aware that we can change the number of directors by amending the by-laws.
>What I'm asking is if there is a generally meaningful ratio of board members
>to units in an association. We have 3 board members serving 80 units and that
>seems light to me.
When you consider that city councils of five council members set
policy for an entire city, certainly that number (five) is an
adequately sized governing body. The number of units per directors
really isn't meaningful. The idea is to have a odd number of
representatives that can comprise a meaningful diliberative body.
Three directors could probably accomplish that, but tribunals are
usually used in judicial rather than legislative roles. Five would be
a better number. But common interest developments face insufficient
political economies of scale that can make five-member boards
difficult to maintain, particularly in smaller associations. See my
prior post.
Chris Bishop - aka bulbguy1
> >I'm aware that we can change the number of directors by amending the by-laws.
> >What I'm asking is if there is a generally meaningful ratio of board members
> >to units in an association. We have 3 board members serving 80 units and that
> >seems light to me.
>
> When you consider that city councils of five council members set
> policy for an entire city, certainly that number (five) is an
> adequately sized governing body. The number of units per directors
> really isn't meaningful. The idea is to have a odd number of
> representatives that can comprise a meaningful diliberative body.
> Three directors could probably accomplish that, but tribunals are
> usually used in judicial rather than legislative roles. Five would be
> a better number. But common interest developments face insufficient
> political economies of scale that can make five-member boards
> difficult to maintain, particularly in smaller associations. See my
> prior post.
This thread is exploring an interesting question for me. I currently
sit on a 4 member BOD of a 6 unit condo in Chicago. With out
abstentions, it seems that an odd number of BOD members will always
allow for a clear majority, while an even number of BOD members may not
yield such results. However, with an even number, majorities are
supermajority, therefore strongly approved or not.
Other than getting stuck in a stalemate which could drag on a vote,
what other +'s and -'s are there to maintaining an even number of BOD
members?
- Peace
-
- Chris Bishop - aka BulbGuy
- eMail @ bulb...@wwa.com
-
- With so many people in the world starving,
- couldn't we put SPAM to a better use?
Michael Andrew Iverson
Chris Bishop - aka bulbguy1 wrote:
>
>
> This thread is exploring an interesting question for me. I currently
> sit on a 4 member BOD of a 6 unit condo in Chicago. With out
> abstentions, it seems that an odd number of BOD members will always
> allow for a clear majority, while an even number of BOD members may not
> yield such results. However, with an even number, majorities are
> supermajority, therefore strongly approved or not.
> Other than getting stuck in a stalemate which could drag on a vote,
> what other +'s and -'s are there to maintaining an even number of BOD
> members?
One perk of an even number has to do with election.
In our association, we have 6 board members. Members are elected to
3 year terms, and the terms are staggered such that no more than two
expire on any given year.
This has a nice benefit of giving some stability to the board, and
dampen out any radical change. Not a bad idea in a 520 unit
development
You could do this with an odd number, but it's not as neat.
Mike
>
> - Peace
> -
> - Chris Bishop - aka BulbGuy
> - eMail @ bulb...@wwa.com
> -
> - With so many people in the world starving,
> - couldn't we put SPAM to a better use?
--
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