Governance

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As everyone who has been within fifty feet of me during the college football season is well aware, I am a proud alumna of the University of Oklahoma.  I arrived in Norman two years after the bombing of the Murrah building; two years after my arrival, I witnessed the May 3, 1999 F5 tornado that destroyed Moore.  Today, I watch the news and worry about my friends and loved ones who have been impacted by the most recent storms.  While I was born and raised in Colorado, I will always be a Sooner.

Of course, as a community association attorney, I also see this destruction as a crucial lesson for my clients.  It’s important that association boards understand and recognize the impact that natural disasters can have on their communities, and prepare accordingly.Continue Reading Breaking Through These Times of Trouble

 We’ve written many times about the Fair Housing Act and assistance animals, most recently on April 29, 2013. Little did I know then that, just four days previously the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development had issued Notice FHEO-2013-01 addressing service animals and assistance animals for people with disabilities in housing and HUD-funded programs, a copy of which can be found here.

We’ve discussed in the past that the Fair Housing Act differs from the Americans With Disabilities Act (“ADA”), in that the ADA, with certain exceptions, typically does not apply to homeowners associations, which the Fair Housing Act often does. We’ve also discussed that the U.S. Department of Justice has published a fact sheet describing changes to the ADA rules relating to service animals. Those rules essentially said that a service animal was a dog that had been individually trained to do work or perform tasks for the benefit of an individual with a disability, and excluded emotional support animals.Continue Reading The Fair Housing Act – The More Things Change, The More They Stay the Same

 We’ve written many times about the Federal Fair Housing Act and its applicability to community associations. One of the more frequent questions that we have to deal with is residents requesting permission to keep their assistance animals. 

In Colorado and under the Federal Fair Housing Act, it is unlawful to refuse to make reasonable accommodations in rules, policies, practices or services when the accommodation may be necessary to afford a disabled person an equal opportunity to use and enjoy a dwelling unit, including public and common areas. This applies as well to enforcement of restrictive covenantsContinue Reading Fair Housing and Assistance Animals

As laws have changed over the past few years and more information has become available online, community association governance has been forced to evolve to new, higher standards. Now more than ever, volunteer board members must understand their role as leaders and decision-makers for their communities, and they must have the tools to communicate effectively with their owners. When it comes to effective communication, we see a good mix of exemplar approaches (many of which were learned from experience) and communities that could benefit from proven strategies. If your community is looking for ways to improve communication, or struggling with a contentious issue and wondering what may help, consider the following options for increasing transparency, educating owners, and fostering community within your association:

Hold regularly scheduled board meetings. If owners do not have access to the business of the association, they may get suspicious of what the board is doing. Unfortunately, all too often, perception is reality for owners. You may meet for months without other owners in attendance, but that does not eliminate the need for meetings that owners can attend if they so choose. Set the time and location of meetings at the beginning of the year and stick to that schedule.

Allow owner access to board members. The community manager often serves as the primary contact person for owners with questions and problems to report. Managers then communicate with the board and take action where appropriate. But the manager should not serve as a substitute for the owner-elected board. Board members must make themselves accessible, typically at board meetings, so that owners can feel more assured that their voices are heard and considered in the board decision-making process. Remember that, under the new records law, owners have a right to obtain board member email addresses, so owner contact with board members is a part of board member service to the community. But remember, too, that all board members must have access to information used to make decisions—so individual board members should avoid secret conversations and promises to owners.Continue Reading Good Governance and Communication Go Hand-in-Hand

Once again we read about an unhappy owner in his homeowners association acting out his aggression toward the association’s board of directors. This time, the owner shot and killed two members of the association’s board of directors because the board approved removal of three pine trees that shielded the owner’s view of overhead power lines behind his home.

Is it just our collective imaginations, or is there really more aggression and violence toward association boards? I suspect it is not just our imaginations. While some of the evidence is anecdotal, here in our office it truly seems that association boards face more hostility, aggression and violence.Continue Reading Violence Toward the Board – What Can You Do?

 We write regularly about the role of community associations’ boards of directors, as well as the role of each of the directors on the board. Today I saw an interesting article about potential liability of directors.

We routinely advise boards that it is important for boards to obtain proper information, thoroughly debate issues at a board meeting and make a decision. In fact, Colorado law provides that a Board, acting within its power, in good faith and in the exercise of its business judgment, will not be liable for its decisions, even if the decision is ultimately determined to be the wrong one. This is known as the business judgment rule.Continue Reading Together We Stand – Divided We . . . Are Liable? Personally?

All Colorado community associations are required by the Colorado Common Interest Ownership Act ("CCIOA") to adopt responsible governance policies governing issues like collections, meeting procedure, and records inspection.  CCIOA does not provide a lot of guidance for the terms of these policies, but the policy regarding enforcement of covenants and rules and the imposition of fines, must provide the following:

  • Notice and hearing procedures;
  • A schedule of fines;
  • A fair and impartial fact-finding process; and
  • An impartial decisionmaker.

These minimal guidelines do not address a question we frequently see from our clients: "Do I have to tell my neighbor I ratted him out?"

Many homeowners prefer the option of anonymity when making a covenant violation complaint.  The reasons for the preference are obvious – it allows the complainant some measure of protection from an irate neighbor, and can encourage free and open violation reports.

Photo courtesy of http://theduty.tumblr.com.Continue Reading Pssst…My Neighbor is Violating the Covenants!

We frequently talk about directors’ “fiduciary duties” to their associations and their members. While CCIOA seems to say that non-declarant directors do not have a fiduciary duty (it says no director nor officer shall be liable for actions taken or omissions made in performance of such person’s duties except for wanton and willful acts or omissions), Colorado courts continue to talk in terms of fiduciary duty. So what is a fiduciary duty?Continue Reading Directors’ Duties

I love the fresh start of a new year. Like many people, I use the last few days of the year to reflect on accomplishments, identify areas for improvement and growth, and set goals for the next twelve months. The last week of the year often slows down enough for reflection and planning, and I can chart my course for things like client relations activities, changes to internal business practices, and training for that three-day bike ride I want to complete in July.

How does your community association plan for the year ahead? If you’re a new board member, perhaps you’re eager to begin addressing concerns that led you to volunteer in the first place. If you’re a seasoned director, you may have a project underway that you intend to see to completion. But what are your goals as a board? Is your board approaching the New Year with a unified vision and voice?Continue Reading Better Communication in 2013