Academy/Committees & Volunteers
Why associations use committees
A committee exists to do the board's legwork, not to replace the board.
Committees let a board divide its workload and pull in owners with relevant skills, without handing over the board's final say. A committee researches, discusses, and recommends; the board still makes the final call, and under Robert's Rules a committee holds only the authority the board actually gives it.
What a committee actually is
A committee is a small group the board sets up to work on one area so the whole board doesn't have to. Robert's Rules recognizes two basic kinds, sorted by how long they stick around: a standing committee, appointed for an ongoing period such as a year, and a special committee, created for one task that dissolves once the task is done. See Standing vs ad-hoc committees for the full split.
Either way, a committee has no authority of its own. It only has whatever the board that created it decided to give it.
"The subordinate body cannot modify any action taken by its superior."
Source: Robert's Rules of Order Revised, Article IX, Public domain edition
What committees are for
A five- or seven-person board cannot personally research every roof bid, review every paint color request, and plan every social event, on top of everything else it's responsible for. A committee lets the board hand off the research and legwork on one subject to owners who volunteer for it, often because they have relevant experience: an accountant on the finance committee, a landscaper on the landscape committee.
The trade the board is making is workload for control. The committee digs in and comes back with a recommendation; the board keeps the decision.
"Committees research and recommend. The board reviews and decides."
Source: How to Build Effective HOA Committees That Strengthen Your Community, Kuester Management Group
Most committees are this kind: advisory only. Members are typically appointed by the board itself, based on interest or relevant background, which is also why keeping volunteers engaged matters; see Volunteer recruitment.
What a committee cannot do on its own
A committee's report is not association policy the moment it's written. Under ordinary committee practice, a recommendation has to be formally taken up and voted on by the board before it means anything. Until that vote, it's just a report.
A committee also cannot vote itself a bigger job. If it wants to take on something the board never asked it to do, its only real move is to bring that idea back to the board.
Some committees, such as an executive committee or an empowered architectural review committee, are handed actual decision-making power by the board, and a few states attach specific open-meeting or minutes rules once that happens. Whether any of your association's committees work that way, and what your state requires if so, is in your bylaws, your declaration, and your state's own community association statute. See Committee authority.
Check yourself
Answer before you read the explanation, recalling it is what makes it stick.
A newly formed committee finishes its report and presents it to the board. Under ordinary committee practice, what happens next?
The board created a fundraising committee last year. Two directors now want to dissolve it entirely, without stating a reason. Under the general default rule, can they?
A social committee decides it wants to start managing a task well outside what the board asked it to do. What is its only real path forward?
Sources
- Robert's Rules of Order Revised, Article IX, "Committees and Boards", public domain 1915 edition
- Committees According to Robert's Rules, C. Alan Jennings, PRP, via dummies.com
- 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
Next, see how a committee actually gets created and what the board needs to decide before it names one. Creating a committee →
Whether a committee only advises or actually holds delegated decision-making power, and what your bylaws or state law require before a committee's work becomes binding, varies by association and by state.