Hi all,
Well, we actually have a serious discussion item to chew on. Following are a number of extracts from State Law, which suggest to this researcher, that if you have a "compensated person" on your Board, he or she should be a Licensed Community Association Manager. So, I would opine that a LCAM may indeed serve on your Board. You read the following and see what you think.
Dave Israel
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(d) Unit owner meetings.-- From FS-718
1. There shall be an annual meeting of the unit owners. Unless the bylaws provide otherwise, a vacancy on the board caused by the expiration of a director's term shall be filled by electing a new board member, and the election shall be by secret ballot; however, if the number of vacancies equals or exceeds the number of candidates, no election is required. If there is no provision in the bylaws for terms of the members of the board, the terms of all members of the board shall expire upon the election of their successors at the annual meeting. Any unit owner desiring to be a candidate for board membership shall comply with subparagraph 3. A person who has been convicted of any felony by any court of record in the United States and who has not had his or her right to vote restored pursuant to law in the jurisdiction of his or her residence is not eligible for board membership. The validity of an action by the board is not affected if it is later determined that a member of the board is ineligible for board membership due to having been convicted of a felony.
The extract above would suggest that a Board member must be a unit owner.
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3. The members of the board shall be elected by written ballot or voting machine. Proxies shall in no event be used in electing the board, either in general elections or elections to fill vacancies caused by recall, resignation, or otherwise, unless otherwise provided in this chapter. Not less than 60 days before a scheduled election, the association shall mail, deliver, or electronically transmit, whether by separate association mailing or included in another association mailing, delivery, or transmission, including regularly published newsletters, to each unit owner entitled to a vote, a first notice of the date of the election. Any unit owner or other eligible person desiring to be a candidate for the board must give written notice to the association not less than 40 days before a scheduled election
This extract introduces the concept of an "eligible" person other than a unit owner; there is a minor problem, as the term "eligible person" does not seem to be well defined in the Statute. One more step to go!!!
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Unless otherwise provided in the bylaws of the association, the members of the board shall serve without compensation. However, if compensated, a board member may require licensure as a community association manager pursuant to Chapter 468, Florida Statutes.
Condominium: Section 718.112(2)(a) 1., F.S.
Cooperative: Section 719.106(1)(a) 1., F.S.
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Anu and Bel called by name me, Hammurabi, the exalted prince, who feared God, to bring about the rule in the land.
Dave Israel
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I asked my property mgr if they could be on our Board, it was the fastest most definite answer they ever gave – NO!
ReplyDeleteI thought our CV docs had clumsy language, but I see it is throughout Florida. More confusion is more $$ for lawyers. Jan CCFJ knows all about that, I wonder if he has experience of this Board issue.
Last year, after interviewing and getting proposals from four management companies, plus three pest control companies, our board switched management companies. I won't name any names.
ReplyDeleteIt strikes me this would have been at the least a bit awkward if we had had the property manager from our old management company on our board at the time, even if non-voting.
Here is an excellent article on the subject
ReplyDeletehttp://www.naplesnews.com/news/2009/mar/28/richard-white-community-association-manager-should/
The article if the url doesn't load:
ReplyDeleteQuestion: Can the president of an HOA board of directors also be the licensed property manager for the HOA? Are there any Florida restrictions which would prevent a licensed CAM from setting up a home office? — G.N., Ft. Lauderdale
Answer: I do not know of any legal restriction of a president holding a CAM license but there could be conflicts of interest. It is not a good thing for a CAM to serve on the board as he/she must make decisions that represents a conflict of interest. In this situation there is really a possibility of a self-serving interest rather than serving for others. Keep in mind that all directors have a fiduciary duty to the members. If the CAM is there for self-serving interests, it could be thought of as a violation of this fiduciary duty. As to the question of working out of his home, check your documents to see if operating a business in the home is a document violation. You can check if the county allows home businesses and if he has an occupancy license. One other thing, does he have proper insurance? If he handles the association funds he needs proper bonding or fidelity coverage that is separate from that provided by the association. If the association hires him as an employee, they need to pay payroll taxes, workers’ compensation, and other insurance coverage. If he is an independent contractor, he needs to carry his own insurance and name the association as an additional insured. As you can see there is more to consider than just having the license.
Hi Elaine,
ReplyDeleteFebruary 12, 2011 6:28 AM,
Beyond a shadow of a doubt the entire body of law that are the Florida Statutes is the most arcane, circuitous, illogical compilation of internally inconsistent drivel I have ever seen.
The inherent weakness of FS-718 is shameful; how many appearances of statements of the form: "A is true, unless your Bylaws provide otherwise" can be tolerated, before the itegrity of the entire structure is utterly compromised!
Obviously, our By-laws, for the most part, written by amateurs, raise the anti by orders of magnitude. It gives me a headache when attempting to read and parse them, as I trip over strings of non-sequiturs.
It all screams for codification most urgently.
Where is a Hammurabi when you need one.
Dave Israel
dave,
ReplyDeletecheck the golf's edge pool :)
I told you the Naturist where going to take over the Village. HA
ReplyDeleteThe situation with all our laws, rules, regulations and bylaws relating to condo management reminds me of what G. K. Chesterton once said: "When you break the big laws, you do not get liberty; you do not even get anarchy. You get the small laws."
ReplyDeleteOne day, not too long after I became a condo president, I was reading through some of our condo documents, and I found a place, tucked away, where it said that one of the duties of a condo president was to promote harmony. I thought to myself, "I think that's pretty important." I guess if I were a Chesterton, commenting on condo laws, I would call that one of the "big laws."
Jan Bergemann, President Cyber Citizens For Justice, Inc.
ReplyDeletesent an email, it lays the topic to rest for me.
Hi Elaine,
First of all: Many governing docs -- not the statutes -- clearly state that only owners can serve.
Dave states some examples:
1.) Any unit owner desiring to be a candidate for board membership shall comply with subparagraph 3.
Dave is correct with that statement!
2.) Any unit owner or other eligible person -- eligible person can be a trustee or a corporate officer, if unit is owned by a corporation, doesn't mean a CAM.
3.) However, if compensated, a board member may require licensure as a community association manager pursuant to Chapter 468, Florida Statutes. That refers to sitting board members who are doing work as a manager. That part of the statutes is meant to say: If a board member serves as well as a CAM he/she needs a license. It sure doesn't mean that a CAM is eligible to be a board member.
Having a CAM as board member is a HUGE conflict of interest. Don't even go there!
Just my opinion! Take care, Jan
Nicely done, Elaine. I think we have a consensus that given what seems to be an ambiguous law is made clear by common sense.
ReplyDelete