Cedar Management Group Blog
Something unexpected has occurred, leaving you with a vacancy on your condo or HOA board. Now board members must step up to the plate and appoint a new member to serve until the next election…. How can you make that decision without causing dissention amount the members?
It is important for a board to have all available seats filled throughout the year so if you find yourself with an open seat you should take steps to fill it. The steps you take could lead to finding a productive member or could lead to distrust within the community so it is important you consider taking the following steps.
First, you want to make the community aware that a seat has become available, and that any member of the community in good standing can nominate themselves to fill that position, which will be appointed by vote of the remaining board members. The community will appreciate knowing that you have opened the door to volunteers within the community. What the community will not appreciate, is appointing a close friend to the board the second a seat becomes available, without looking into possibly more qualified members.
When you begin receiving names of interested members, have a questionnaire prepared and ask them to take a moment to answer each of the questions. This will help you get to know each of the volunteers and what their goals and interests are. A productive board is going to be well rounded so try to vary the skills and professions of the members. This will allow for different insights into problems, and more knowledge about particular issues that come up during normal business. Try to always have one member that has an accounting or financial background, and one that has a profession that requires problem solving and long term planning, as both of these skills are important to an HOA. These questionnaires will help determine the skill sets of each candidate for an initial review.
If you have multiple people that are qualified, the best thing to do is bring them to a board meeting and interview them each, to get a better feel for how they will communicate and interact with the other members. Everyone should serve on a board for the same reason, to make the community a better place to live, so any personality conflicts between board members will just get in the way of the ultimate goal. Try to avoid selecting a member that may be too confrontational or opinionated. Confrontations between a board member and a resident reflect poorly on the whole board and cause the residents to lose faith in the board’s ability to run the community. Someone who is too opinionated may not be able to handle being outvoted on a particular topic which can cause a rift among the board.
Once you feel you have the best candidate selected, make them feel welcomed and announce it to the community. If you have the time, setup a quick meet and greet so residents can meet the new board member. The new board member should be made to feel like part of the team immediately, so get them caught up on projects already in progress, and assign them a task that they can handle right off the bat to make them feel like they are contributing. Since filling an open seat will only last through that term, it is important to make the new member enjoy their time on the board so they rerun for a position when their term expires.
