Academy/Committees & Volunteers
Reserve/project committees
Know what this committee can decide on its own, and what always goes back to the board.
A reserve or project committee researches major repairs, capital projects, and reserve funding, then recommends a plan to the board. It does not hold independent authority. Where state law requires a reserve study, the legal duty to obtain and act on it belongs to the board, not the committee, no matter who does the work.
What this committee actually does
A reserve or project committee typically reviews the association's reserve study, tracks ongoing capital projects like roof or pavement replacement, gathers contractor bids, and recommends a funding level to the board. Some associations fold this into a broader finance committee; others keep it separate. Either way, the work is research and recommendation, not decision.
"Committees research and recommend. The board reviews and decides."
Source: How to Build Effective HOA Committees That Strengthen Your Community, Kuester Management Group
A committee report on reserves is not final the moment the committee votes on it. The board still has to take it up and act. Until then it is a recommendation, not policy.
The legal duty belongs to the board, not the committee
Handing reserve planning to a committee does not move the underlying legal responsibility. In California, for example, the law requires most associations to obtain a reserve study, have the board review it annually, and adopt a funding plan, and that duty is written into the statute as a board obligation, not a committee one. Check whether your state imposes a reserve study requirement at all, and if so, who it names.
"a reserve funding plan that indicates how the association plans to fund the contribution"
Source: California Civil Code section 5550, State of California
No state law requires a standing committee by the name "reserve committee." A board can create one, and many do, but the statute's obligation stays with the board even if a committee never existed.
What to put in the committee's charter
Because state law rarely defines this committee, the committee charter is where the board has to spell things out: the committee's mission, its scope of authority (research only, or authority to solicit bids up to a set number), who sits on it, how often it reports to the board, and how it meets. Without a charter, a reserve committee's role is whatever the board and the committee informally agree to that year, which tends to drift.
Membership defaults to whoever the board appoints, unless the bylaws hand that job to an officer instead. The committee serves at the board's discretion and can be reshaped or dissolved the same way it was created.
Check yourself
Answer before you read the explanation, recalling it is what makes it stick.
A California board hands the reserve study review entirely to its reserve committee and stops discussing it at board meetings. What is actually true?
The reserve committee votes to spend forty thousand dollars in reserve funds on a roof repair. What happens next?
A new board member insists state law requires a standing committee named exactly "reserve committee." What is accurate?
Sources
- California Civil Code section 5550, State of California
- Robert's Rules of Order Revised, Article IX, Committees and Boards, public domain text of the original standard-setting work
- Creating Committees, Stephen T. Brindle, Esq., HOA Law Blog, SwedelsonGottlieb
- Committees (Generally), Tinnelly Law Group, PC
- How to Build Effective HOA Committees That Strengthen Your Community, Josh Hurst, Kuester Management Group
Related elsewhere in the Academy
Committees & Volunteers
See how to write a mission and scope for this committee in Committee charters.
Whether a reserve study is legally required at all, how often it must be updated, and what your association calls this committee, if it has one, vary by state and by your governing documents.