Academy/Committees & Volunteers
Safety committees
A safety committee can spot problems around the property. On its own, it usually can't fix them.
A safety committee usually has no power of its own. The board creates it and decides what it's allowed to do. Its normal job is to spot hazards, like broken lighting, cracked walkways, or blocked emergency access, and bring the board a recommendation. The committee cannot act, spend money, or make rules unless the board specifically delegated that authority.
What a safety committee actually does
Most safety committees are advisory. Volunteers walk the property, look at conditions like lighting, gates, pool fencing, or fire lane access, and bring what they find back to the board. A property-management industry source puts the general committee role plainly:
"Committees research and recommend. The board reviews and decides."
Source: How to Build Effective HOA Committees That Strengthen Your Community, Kuester Management Group
That's the default shape of a safety committee too, unless your board has specifically handed it more.
Who creates it, and who's in charge
A board creates a safety committee by vote, under the association's governing documents, and the committee exists only as long as the board wants it to; it typically "serve[s] at the pleasure of the board." The board also appoints its members, unless the bylaws hand that job to an officer such as the president. If no one is named chair, the first person named to the committee becomes chair by default, though most boards just name one directly. A committee charter is where a board can spell out exactly what a safety committee is allowed to do, and who it answers to.
What it can't do on its own
A committee only has the authority the board actually gave it. It can't expand its own job description. If your safety committee votes to require something, like fencing around a retention pond, or wants to close an amenity after finding damage, that vote is a recommendation, not a decision, until the board takes it up.
Whether a board can delegate real decision-making power to a safety committee, and whether committee volunteers carry the same liability protection as directors, depends on your state and your own governing documents. Check your bylaws, CC&Rs, and any board resolution before assuming the committee can act alone. See Volunteer liability for more on the protection question.
Check yourself
Answer before you read the explanation, recalling it is what makes it stick.
Your safety committee finds a cracked tile on the pool deck and wants to close the pool that afternoon, without asking the board. What should happen, absent a specific delegation of authority?
The board creates a safety committee but never names a chair. Under the default rule, who chairs it, absent a bylaw or resolution saying otherwise?
The safety committee votes 4 to 1 to require motion-sensor lighting on every unit. What is true about that vote, unless the board specifically delegated final authority to the committee?
Sources
- Robert's Rules of Order Revised, Article IX, "Committees and Boards"
- Creating Committees, Stephen T. Brindle, Esq., HOA Law Blog (SwedelsonGottlieb)
- How to Build Effective HOA Committees That Strengthen Your Community, Kuester Management Group
Committees & Volunteers
Want to know exactly what your safety committee is allowed to decide versus recommend? Read Committee charters next.
Whether a safety committee can be given binding authority, what it may spend without board approval, and whether its members carry the same liability protection as directors all vary by state and by your own bylaws, CC&Rs, and any committee charter.