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REASONS Why You SHOULD Serve on Your Community Association Board of Directors
By Salvatore J. Sciacca Chicago Property Services
Over the last 20 years, community association living has exploded across the United States. In Illinois alone, there are more than 25,000 associations. Homeowners have bought into associations with the hope that the experience will be less demanding than owning a single-family home and more enjoyable since there are other homeowners living closely together within the same community.
Unfortunately, more often than not, homeowners buy into community associations without realizing that there are duties and obligations as a homeowner that are amplified for those serving on the board.
Shortage of Volunteers
As a result of the unexpected time commitment required to serve on the board, there are frequently shortages of homeowners willing to serve as volunteer board members. In relation to this shortage, community associations around the United States struggle to find volunteers to serve on the board. Whether there is a 10 unit building with only 3 board of directors or a 100 unit building with a 7-person board, associations sometimes do not reach quorum to have an election or don’t have enough volunteers to fill the open positions.
Causes of Volunteer Shortage
In some cases, the governing documents are at fault. For example, there is one particular association with only 13 units that requires a 7-person board according to their governing documents. How realistic is this? This is the fault of the developer who hired an attorney who used a boiler plate template from a larger building and did not bother to review the details of the document and just reused it for a smaller building.
In other circumstances, homeowners are reticent to volunteer due to their experience attending board meetings that were not well run and left a poor lasting impression upon them. Other causes include apathy or a lack of understanding of how important serving on your board can be. Regardless of the reasons for a shortage of homeowners, there are actually many strong reasons as to why homeowners should volunteer for the board.
12 | COMMON INTEREST®
• Spring 2021 • A Publication of CAI-Illinois Chapter
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