Hawaii Condo Board Member Gets Brushed Back by Manager: Who Was Right?
HOAleader.com - Tip of the Week -
September 1, 2023
We got wind of a Hawaii board member who complained that she was told by her community’s manager that she was overstepping by contacting vendors and trying to fix things in the community herself.
In this week’s tip, we discuss whether the actions in dispute were out of bounds.
"It’s a little hard to tell from the article what exactly was the factual background behind it," says Richard S. Ekimoto, a principal at Ekimoto & Morris in Honolulu, who has practiced community association law for nearly 40 years and is a College of Community Association Lawyers fellow.
True. We need more information to fully understand what was taking place and evaluate this board member’s actions. According to the Honolulu Civil Beat, the board member says she got shut down for:
- Trying to check on a water heater after the building lost hot water for four days, allegedly with no response from management
- Contacting the building’s fire alarm company
at a fellow owner’s request to see if a new alarm system eliminated the need for an expensive security service
- "Attending to" a clogged trash chute.
"The statement that a board member is only a board member during meetings, that’s legally correct," says Ekimoto. "But that doesn’t necessarily help with any of these examples. For instance, many associations have policies that say, ‘Hey, you shouldn’t be contacting the association’s vendors.’ If you have questions, there are procedures to follow to contact vendors.
"That’s primarily because some vendors will charge you when you make an inquiry," he adds. "It’s time the vendor has to spend on something. And most board members don’t have the authority on their own to incur expenses on behalf of the association.
"At the same time, board members do have a right to know what’s going on in their property," notes Ekimoto. "Usually, there are procedures for board members to contact the site manager or managing agent to find out about certain things. The manager may have answers, and that doesn’t
require contacting the vendor directly or incurring costs for the association. If there are going to be costs involved with a board member’s action, the board has to get involved in deciding whether to expend those costs."
That’s the main
issue here, says Scott D. Weiss, CCAL, a community association lawyer at Ortale Kelley in Nashville, Tenn., who represents more than 800 condos/HOA communities throughout the state.
Best regards,
Matt Humphrey
President