DATE: Saturday, October 18, 1997            TAG: 9710160395

SECTION: REAL ESTATE WEEKLYREAL ESTATE WEEKLY PAGE: 38 EDITION: FINAL 

COLUMN: Common Ground 

SOURCE: G. Robert Kirkland and Michael A. Inman 
                                            LENGTH:   62 lines

DIRECTORS MUST HAVE FINAL SAY

Q. I am a member of a homeowners association and I am frustrated with the lack of action by our board of directors. The board seems to want to ignore the desires of the majority of homeowners. Last spring, a large group of homeowners approached the board about making improvements and expanding our playground areas to no avail. Recently, I helped with a petition for additional plants to upgrade our landscaping on our main thoroughfares.

The board said there wasn't money in the budget for our request. I'm thinking about scheduling a special meeting in order to get a homeowners vote to make the board spend our money the way we want it to be spent.

Do you think is the best way for me to accomplish my goal?

A. Probably not, unless there is something written in your documents that is not typically in documents allowing a vote of a certain percentage of the homeowners to override decisions of the board of directors. The concept of the board of directors is that the board has the obligation to look at all aspects of the operation of the association, especially the financial status and budget of the association, in making all of their decisions involving expenditures of funds.

The board members have a fiduciary duty to be responsible for the interests of all the owners. In carrying out their duties, they have the obligations to spend money on certain essential items, such as insurance, management costs, bookkeeping, dues collection, common area maintenance, etc. Under your current dues structure, apparently, there are no funds for these items that you have discussed in your question.

It is certainly your right and responsibility as a member to bring these interests to the attention of the board of directors, and it is their duty, individually and collectively, to get out to the members to determine if there is sufficient interest in these projects and then, perhaps during the budget planning for the following year, to increase the budget to include these items.

It is not generally within the power of the owners to override the decisions of the board of directors on the operation or management of the association. The directors are ultimately ``accountable to the voters'' because if enough members don't like the way the directors are operating the association, they can elect new directors.

Therefore, if it is clear that a clear majority of the owners are in favor of one or both of the projects you have alluded to, and the board refuses to make budget adjustments to include them (which adjustment might include increasing dues), then you should help to bring on a new slate of directors who will be more responsive to the membership.

Perhaps you should consider being a director yourself. If you do, we strongly suggest that you sit down for a talk with one of the current directors to find out what is involved. Associations need the involvement of members who have your level of interest as board members or as committee members. MEMO: G. Robert Kirkland, president of a Virginia Beach property

management consulting firm, and attorney Michael A. Inman specialize in

Virginia community association issues and are affiliated with the

Southeastern Virginia chapter of the Community Associations Institute.

Send comments and questions to them at 2840 S. Lynnhaven Road, Virginia

Beach, Va. 23452. To submit questions by phone, call 430-3381; by fax:

431-0410; by E-mail (turk(AT)norfolk.infi.net).

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