What does the HOA president do?
The president runs the meeting, holds one vote, and doesn't get to act alone. Here's what the title actually covers.
The HOA president presides at board meetings: opening them, announcing business in order, recognizing speakers, and calling votes. That's the role's core, when your bylaws adopt Robert's Rules. The president holds one vote like every other director and cannot act alone for the association; anything beyond presiding comes from your bylaws, not the title.
Presiding is the core job
When your bylaws adopt a parliamentary authority like Robert's Rules of Order, the president's job at a meeting is procedural, not managerial. It means opening the session, calling members to order, announcing agenda items in the order they come up, recognizing who gets to speak, and putting motions to a vote.
"To open the session at the time at which the assembly is to meet, by taking the chair and calling the members to order."
Source: Robert's Rules of Order Revised, Ch. XI: The Officers and the Minutes, public domain edition
Anything past that, signing contracts, representing the association to vendors, supervising the manager, comes from your bylaws, not from the title of president itself. Whether Robert's Rules governs your board at all is a bylaws question; check what your bylaws name as your parliamentary authority, if any.
One vote, same as everyone else
A president who is a voting director keeps every right any other director has: making motions, speaking in debate, voting on every question. Custom asks presidents to set those rights aside while they're in the chair, to stay neutral, but that's a norm, not a rule that strips the vote away.
"If the president is a member of the voting body, he or she has exactly the same rights and privileges as all other members have, including the right to make motions, to speak in debate, and to vote on all questions."
Source: Robert's Rules of Order, Frequently Asked Questions, Robert's Rules Association
"The impartiality required of the chair in an assembly precludes his exercising these rights while he is presiding."
Source: Robert's Rules of Order, Official Interpretations, Robert's Rules Association
Read both halves together: the president isn't a lesser member of the board, but is expected to act like one only while not presiding.
The agenda isn't the president's alone
A president can walk into a meeting with a proposed order of business already written up. That's normal, but it's only a draft. It doesn't bind the board until the board itself votes to adopt it. A board that lets the president alone decide what does and doesn't get discussed isn't following this rule. Some bylaws hand the president more agenda control than Robert's Rules would give by default; check yours.
Check yourself
Answer before you read the explanation, recalling it is what makes it stick.
The HOA president is a voting member of the board. A motion comes up while they're presiding. What happens under Robert's Rules?
The president sends the board a proposed agenda the night before the meeting. Under Robert's Rules, what is that agenda's status?
A vendor asks the HOA president to approve a contract change over the phone before the next board meeting. What should the president do?
Sources
- Robert's Rules of Order, Frequently Asked Questions, Robert's Rules Association
- Robert's Rules of Order, Official Interpretations, Robert's Rules Association
- Robert's Rules of Order Revised, Ch. XI: The Officers and the Minutes (1915 public domain edition), Westside Toastmasters
Board Roles
Know what the president does. Next, see exactly where that authority stops.
Whether Robert's Rules applies to your board at all, and what additional duties (signing contracts, supervising the manager, representing the association to vendors) your president holds beyond presiding, are both bylaws questions this general rule does not settle.