Subject
Governance
154 lessons across 7 courses. Each one is about three minutes, cites its sources, and stands on its own.
Course
Starting as a Board Member
- I just got elected, what now?
- Your first 30 days as a board member
- Questions every incoming director should ask
- Documents every director should obtain
- What financial information should a new director review?
- What contracts should a new director review?
- Understanding pending projects
- Understanding pending litigation
- Reviewing the insurance program
- Understanding current delinquencies
- Understanding the reserve position
- Reviewing prior board minutes
- Reviewing open violations
- What can you change immediately?
- What shouldn't a new board rush to change?
- How board transitions should work
- Receiving association accounts and credentials
- Director orientation checklist
- Board member education requirements
- Creating institutional memory
Course
Governing Documents
- What are governing documents?
- Understanding the hierarchy of HOA documents
- Declaration / CC&Rs explained
- Bylaws explained
- Articles of incorporation explained
- Rules and regulations explained
- Board resolutions explained
- Policies explained
- Architectural guidelines explained
- Plats and surveys explained
- Easements explained
- What happens when documents conflict?
- Governing documents vs state law
- Governing documents vs federal law
- How to read CC&Rs without being a lawyer
- How to research a governing-document question
- Mandatory vs discretionary provisions
- Developer rights in governing documents
- Declarant rights
- Amendment procedures
- Voting thresholds for amendments
- Recording amendments
- Updating outdated governing documents
- Restating governing documents
- Rules versus amendments
- When legal review is appropriate
Course
Board Authority & Fiduciary Duties
- What is fiduciary duty?
- Duty of care
- Duty of loyalty
- Duty to act within authority
- Business judgment rule
- Acting in the association's best interests
- Board discretion
- What directors can decide without an owner vote
- Decisions requiring membership approval
- Individual director authority vs board authority
- Why directors cannot act individually
- Delegating authority
- Reliance on experts
- When a board should seek professional advice
- Personal liability of board members
- Director immunity and indemnification
- Directors & Officers insurance
- Conflicts of interest
- Disclosing conflicts
- Recusal
- Self-dealing
- Gifts from vendors
- Confidentiality
- Board ethics
- Codes of conduct
- Abuse of authority
- Selective enforcement
- Avoiding favoritism
Course
Board Roles
- What does the HOA president do?
- What doesn't the president get to do?
- What does the vice president do?
- What does the secretary do?
- What does the treasurer do?
- What does a director-at-large do?
- Officer vs director
- Can one person hold multiple offices?
- Appointing officers
- Removing officers
- Removing directors
- Filling board vacancies
- President and manager relationship
- Treasurer and accountant relationship
- Secretary and records responsibilities
- Board liaison roles
- Dividing responsibilities effectively
- Avoiding a dominant president
- Avoiding the disengaged board
- Collective responsibility
Course
Committees & Volunteers
- Why associations use committees
- Standing vs ad-hoc committees
- Creating a committee
- Committee charters
- Committee authority
- Advisory vs decision-making committees
- Architectural committees
- Finance committees
- Landscape committees
- Social committees
- Election committees
- Rules committees
- Safety committees
- Reserve/project committees
- Selecting committee members
- Removing committee members
- Committee meetings
- Committee minutes
- Committee recommendations
- Volunteer liability
- Volunteer recruitment
- Preventing volunteer burnout
- Succession for committees
Course
Board Leadership
- Leading volunteers
- Running an effective board
- Building board consensus
- Healthy disagreement
- Decision-making frameworks
- Strategic vs operational thinking
- Avoiding micromanagement
- Delegation
- Board-management boundaries
- Setting annual priorities
- Tracking board goals
- Board calendars
- Board self-assessments
- Director performance
- Dysfunctional boards
- Dominant personalities
- Factions and voting blocs
- Board confidentiality
- Rebuilding board trust
- Leadership transitions
Course
Board Succession & Institutional Memory
- Recruiting future directors
- Officer succession
- Treasurer succession
- Secretary succession
- Committee pipelines
- Board transition books
- Annual calendars
- Decision logs
- Contract registers
- Project histories
- Litigation histories
- Insurance histories
- Reserve-study histories
- Credential inventories
- Vendor contact registers
- Transition meetings
- Preventing knowledge from leaving with one director