057 | When Do You Retire an HOA Committee?

Robert Nordlund: 0:00

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Julie Adamen: 0:31

Throw it out to the entire membership and say, Hey, are you interested in doing this? And be honest about it? It takes only proximately three hours a month, you know, to work on this particular committee. And like I said, be honest, people don't like that bait and switch. I don't know how many board members said oh, I'll be on the board. Because somebody told them, oh, it's only two hours a month at that meeting. You know, and they're after that they're langree because they found out it was like 10 or 15 hours a week. But that's that's another thing to think about. So be honest about it.

Announcer: HOA Insights: 1:02

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Robert Nordlund: 1:32

Hi, I'm Robert Norland of association reserves. And I'm

Julie Adamen: 1:35

Julie Adamen with Adamen Inc. and welcome to Hoa Insights, where we promote common sense

Robert Nordlund: 1:41

for common areas. Well, welcome to episode number 57, where we're, again speaking with management consultant, and regular co host Julie Adelman. Today we'll be discussing the topic of when to retire a committee, or pretty much everything has a lifecycle. And sometimes committees or committee members get stale, or honestly lose their purpose. But committees have momentum. And it's easy to serve and feel good about serving when there's not much to do. And it doesn't take time. But remember, it's all about running a healthy Association. And that means sometimes you need to stir the pot a bit and say thank you, and move on and let things go. So what might that look like? Well, why might that be necessary? Settle in, and adjust your volume because you're about to find out. This is an episode to follow up episode number 56, another one of our popular board hero episodes. And it's always a real treat to hear from our board heroes from all across the country. Because everyone has a story that's different. We get to hear about what got them involved, what they contribute to the association. And we get some great ideas to share with our board member audience. And if you missed that episode, or any other prior episode, take a moment after today's program to listen from our podcast website, www HOA insights or watch on our YouTube channel. And better yet, subscribe from any of the major podcast platforms so you don't miss any future episodes. We enjoy hearing from you responding to the issues that you're facing that you're feeling at your association. So if you have a hot topic, crazy story or a question you'd like us to address, you can contact us at 805-203-3130 or email us at podcast@reserve study.com. So Julie, for today's program, let's start with one of those listener questions related to this topic. And this question came from Greg in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina. And he says we have an architectural committee of five people. Three are never available. And I read between the lines thinking. So Greg is doing all the work. How do we fire someone from a volunteer position?

Julie Adamen: 3:56

Well, isn't that the ask the question of the century? First of all, not easy, but it can be done. As long as you handle it with forethought, kindness, and a sense of fairness, and projecting that fairness to the rest of the community. So we're just use this architectural committee. It's it's perfect. So and I think your read on that is probably right, Robert, that you got one guy or two people who are doing all the work and the other people aren't doing anything. And so they are on the back. I'm on the committee. Yep, I'm on the committee, but I haven't shown up defend 10 meetings. So that really means you're doing nothing. So let's talk about that. If you're going to repopulate a committee part partially or fully, I would say Greg is probably on the committee. So this needs to be something the board has to step in and help with actually the board has to do it because committees serve at the pleasure of the board, with the exception of possibly the nominating committee and in some instances there architectural committee depending on your governing documents, but that's neither here nor there at the moments, let's start from the beginning, you have to have a solid reason for wanting to repopulate a committee or committees. Okay? So it can't be just, I don't like you anymore, get off, you know, you're a Republican or you're a Democrat, get off, you know, you're not the, you know, go to the same church, I do, too. Whatever it is, you have to have a solid reasoning. And this is a delicate dance, because some of these people who need to be off a committee may have served for years, and done very well for years, perhaps they are, their life has changed. Now, they're not doing so well, physically, or in a lot of communities, especially in retirement communities, maybe they're not doing mentally very well, I'm dealing with that on a committee that I serve on right now, in my community, and there's someone who just is just the most wonderful person, but just as does not have their all their faculties at I mean, this is a sad thing, but it's a truth. And for all of you out there, who are, you know, retired and you're living in 55, plus communities, which is now in 85. Plus community, you know what I'm talking about. So you have to be quite mindful of what you're doing. And you also have to be mindful of how politically sensitive it is on certain committees and with certain people to to repopulate those committees and to and to segue those people out. And so how are you going to do that? Well, first, do you want me to do it? Do I not comment on that, Robert, first before I launch into the next thing? Yeah.

Robert Nordlund: 6:35

Last time we spoke, we were talking about getting a pipeline for new board members. We talked about the importance of having committees, we talked about the importance of having communication, we talked about the importance of the board, almost mostly the chemistry how effective they were doing running the association. So primarily for a person that has spent years that you want the message to be. Thank you. Thank you, thank you for all the years and volunteer untold uncountable volunteer hours, you don't want that to blow up in your face, you don't want that now a stain on the board. So the message has to be well crafted. And maybe it is, can we say a confidants a friend of theirs? Who says, you know, hey, Joe, hey, Fred. Hey, Sharon, whoever it is. We noticed that you've been missing the meetings, we noticed that, whatever it is, and oh, make it polite, make it kind? Use it said that I wrote it down for thought, kindness, fairness, you want the board to be known for good things?

Julie Adamen: 7:44

As much as currency. Yeah. And transparency? Yeah, yeah. As

Robert Nordlund: 7:48

much as the board needs to do the hard things. Raising the assessments is a hard thing. Changing insurance companies changing landscapers and everyone was familiar with the green and white are red and blue colors of the landscape. Crew than they was familiar sights and familiar sounds, things need to change. And the board needs to run the business of the association. And that involves doing the hard things. But you guys still have that? Not not always with a hammer. But is it velvet gloves?

Julie Adamen: 8:22

I would say it's velvet gloves? Yes. And the kind touch. And so let's let's just take this Edwards, we need to get to to repopulate this particular committee. And we have a couple of people on there who just aren't showing up? And I think yes, I think a personal conversation from it from either the committee chair first, if one of these people is not the chair, and the board president or someone on the board, I probably the president, but whoever is going to be able to handle this well enough to go see what is, you know, talk to them? What is happening with you, this particular thing that I'm serving on now, there's actually people on the committee who are going to go do a wellness check to see how this particular person is living at home, because it's deteriorated quite a bit in the last few months, when I think what a huge kindness to go do for people, right. But this, this is still going to be very tough on this person. So I think that the the kindness and saying, look, I mean, you've missed x, in this case, you've missed X amount of meetings, you know, this puts a burden on us. And you have done your part we have thank you so much. And we're going to you know, we're going to have a dinner and your honor, or we're going to have some special thing, anything that you can do to make that person feel special. Thank them at the next board meeting publicly in the newsletter on the website,

Robert Nordlund: 9:42

local trophy store and spend 50 bucks and saying to our longest tenured committee member, Fred Smith, thank you from the bottom of the hearts of everyone at Happy Valley villas.

Julie Adamen: 9:56

Exactly. That's exactly right. I mean, whatever it is, have flowers, if it's women love flowers, people never underestimate this, a huge bouquet of flowers with thank you and a thank you card with a sign from as many people as possible. I mean, you think, well, we shouldn't have to do that, well, you know, you're dealing with other human beings. And in this type of volunteer environment, when you're the board member who has to who is going to spearhead this, or you're the committee chair that has to spearhead this, remember, this isn't just going to stay between you and that person, this is going to go out of out in the community, and you want to be perceived as you hopefully are kind, generous, but knowing what needs to change and changing it when it needs to be changed. If you can do all if you do all of that together, I think you can do this very well. So that's a real solid reason for needing to repopulate, particularly, this particular committee that we're talking about, and they may not like it, but things have to change. But you can do it in such a way that it needs to be done. And, you know, bringing the whole community in and number one, by thanking these folks publicly, at like I said, at a board meeting in the newsletter, you know, we had a nice dinner for them. Here's the picture of the bouquet of flowers that they received, here they are holding the flowers, whatever it is that you can do to thank them publicly, but also to let the community know that you're in touch with the needs of the community by needing to move on from those particular members. And also that you have the kindness that goes with it, that projects a very positive image of the board and of the other committee members as much as anything else. So

Robert Nordlund: 11:36

and then then it sends a message that these are nice people, yes.

Julie Adamen: 11:39

And that you are in touch with how things need to be handled and what needs to be handled, most importantly, what needs to be handled. And so Okay, now you're stuck with Well, what now we need three new committee members, what do we do we go to the community at large first and not well, you go to the community at large, asking for volunteers, you board members, you other committee members out there, maybe you've already identified someone, you can make a personal appeal. This goes right back to the last podcast we did Robert make a personal appeal. Uh, hopefully you have some people in the pipeline you think would be good. But if not throw it out to the entire membership and say, Hey, are you interested in doing this? And be honest about it, it takes only proximately three hours a month, you know, to work on this particular committee. And like I said, be honest, people don't like that bait and switch. I don't know how many board members said oh, I'll be on the board. Because somebody told them, oh, it's only two hours a month at that meeting, you know, and they're after that they're langree. Because they found out it was like 10 or 15 hours a week. Anyway, but that's that's another thing to think about. So be honest about it. And the next thing I wanted to say was for the board, you know, always remember to create and adopt policies that have to do with your committees. So they have a really solid platform on which to perform. And that could outline that the committee members must attend X amount of meetings a year or if they miss three meetings in a row. They may be considered for, you know, removal from the committee and all in a nice way, of course. But that's these things give the committee members know that if they've missed three to four or five meetings, that they're probably going to be removed anyway. So it gives the board and the other committee members a platform on saying no, you haven't been there. And I know your health isn't good. So we need to move on from this. But thank you so much. And then everything else comes back into play on that.

Robert Nordlund: 13:32

Well, I think we talked about the topic of replacing a person and that sometimes I guess, does look like a bit like replacing a board member or getting a new board member. What about the committee itself? If there's a developer transition committee that has served its purpose, or even a short term committee, a budget committee where they serve their purpose, they make the recommendation to the board sunsetting that committee, and then waiting to restart until next year? I would think that that's well dealt with. When you have what you were talking about a policy where this is the committee's purpose. This is its intended function. And when it's done its function you're done. Is that Yeah,

Julie Adamen: 14:14

yeah. Oh, absolutely. Those are the the the ad hoc committees, so they're, they are formed for a particular purpose. Once that purpose has ended, they are disbanded, it's up to the board to ensure that they actually disband that committee. I don't mean you need to. Well, you don't make a motion necessarily at a board meeting. But once that last thing has happened, let's just say it's the street resurfacing committee. So you've got people that have walked all the streets, they realize we need to, you know, crack crack repairs here, slurry sealing here. They've done all their work. They were a committee for about two months, they made their final report to the board and the board has taken that report. And they have thanked that committee publicly and said thank you so much. We, your your charter is now over We're as you have done your purpose, if we need further information, we will certainly be reaching out. And again, thank them. And you know, Robert, I really like you came up with the plaque idea. And I really, really liked that, even for these ad hoc committees that know, their their purpose is going to come to an end after just a couple of months. Now, those committee members may have been so good, you board members need to think where else could we put those people or this guy or that woman, they're so good, and they seem to be, you know, really want to help? Do we have an opening on another committee, think about that, always be looking at those ad hoc committees, as well as a pipeline for people to come in. And as we stated, in in the last podcast we did together is that, you know, people don't necessarily always want to serve on the board right away. Ad hoc committees are a great place to bring them into the process, but just for a short period of time, so they can dip their toes in the water, and not jump in to the deep end. But back to the plaque. I think even for ad hoc committees, it's so well worth the expense. And it's very nominal to give them a certificate of appreciation or a little plaque of appreciation, or flowers, or whatever it is to thank them for their service, because that leaves a really good taste in their mouth, not just theirs, but the rest of the community at large, Because don't forget, they know 1520 30 Other people in the community and none of this stay secret. So when it's a positive experience for them, people want to be a part of something positive and larger than themselves, you have provided that opportunity for them to do so in in in this process, even if their committee has been disbanded. And again, back to the members of the committee who are on the Standing Committee, who have to be kind of segwayed out, you always want to make that even the ending as positive and experience as you can for that person with thanking them. And their plaque. And you know, mentions in the newsletter and in person at the board meeting, we used to call that spin the Halo, you know, there's no, there's nothing about no reason not to do it. Yeah,

Robert Nordlund: 17:12

when you are going down this path. I know that on my wife's desk, she has a little paperweight. So thank you, because she won two years ago, was on the Pastor Nominating Committee at our church. And she just remembers that as a positive experience. And it's a trivial little thing. But she still has that on her desk today. And that's the kind of thing that you were talking about for thought, kindness, fairness, something that's positive, and they get a warm fuzzy inside themselves, because they know I made a contribution. And I just like all those things. Well, let's take a quick break for a message from our sponsor, and then we'll be right back afterwards to follow up with more of this conversation. Hi, I'm

Kevin Davis: 17:56

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Robert Nordlund: 18:24

And we're back with Julie, you got me thinking that I want to volunteer for a committee at my association. Now,

Julie Adamen: 18:32

I didn't mean to do that. Robert.

Robert Nordlund: 18:35

Give me a moment. And I'll settle down, calm down. But to point the idea of making a contribution to the association that is responsible for the well being of my home, being thanked for it working with capable people on a purpose. That all sounds like a great thing. But let's talk about that purpose. Is that a written document? Or what? Oh,

Julie Adamen: 19:00

yes, absolutely. It's a written document committee guidelines should be put forth by by the board to for every single committee, absolutely written document. And as we were talking on the break there a little bit, sometimes this has to be done delicately with a, especially if a committee has been long standing. And now the board's looking at how they're operating thinking, ooh, we can't have that anymore, because laws have changed, or, you know, or just the general population of the community has changed and what they used to do doesn't fit with where we are now. And that happens, communities do change over time. So I was thinking that, you know, if you have a long enough runway to get that the time wise to to get these policies and guidelines changed. I would suggest to communities that need this is have a couple of board members or a board member kind of head up an ad hoc committee and bring a couple of thoughtful members from the community and to help you you know, make that new charter make those new guidelines because especially if that's been up politically sensitive committee, over many years, the populace of the community will have a much better taste in their mouth. If they view that a couple of their peers, meaning homeowners, just general homeowners, not board members can help have some say in what that committee is now going to do. Okay, yes, board members who are homeowners and you are peers. But as Robert put it so aptly that sometimes the board has baggage in the eyes of the community. So if you could bring those people in and set them up as part of an ad hoc committee just to get these done, and there's another committee that's going to get disbanded, and you're going to thank them as well. And also, you've, you've formed another ad hoc committee that bingo could be regular committee board, regular committee members, or even potential board members. So you have to have this 360 view of the lifecycle and process of committee administration by the board, committee, life and committee disbandment or segwaying. Certain people off committees, it's all in a lifecycle. It's the circle of life of committees, I've, I feel like I'm gonna hear music playing song.

Robert Nordlund: 21:10

Yeah, the Disney Lion King stuff back. Exactly. Yeah, that's a good point. And I like your idea that it needs to be the body of the association. Some people, maybe the manager, maybe former committee, people, people that have standing in the community. And maybe one other idea, you see this sometime in business, where someone's valued to the company may be retired, but they give them the title of chairman emeritus or something like that. And nothing official. But it's a recognition that if there's ever a tough question on the architectural committee, we'll go to Joe, or Joe, always, whoever it is always had a way with words, and they can help on the refining the rules, and they can always be of assistance, boy, they have a way with words, they know how to craft things in such a nice way. So it can be those other elements, the people from the Association. And I really like that as being a way to have yet another pipeline for the board member, because that's really what it comes down to what we're talking about a well functioning community. And a well functioning community requires a well functioning board. And that well functioning board is fueled by committees, standing committees, ad hoc committees, or even trusted advisors. Yes,

Julie Adamen: 22:35

absolutely. Again, it's the holistic, it's 360. It is, and I know for board members, you're like, oh my god, I have enough to do. But if you start thinking of it this way, and set yourself up as your board functions, we always want to be looking at for the new committee members, we want the new pipeline we want to hear, we want to be as inclusive as possible. And that's one more thing actually go back to this about repopulating committees, maybe some people need to segue off, one of the great things you can do as a board member to to close that loop is what are the reasons you want to repopulate that committee? Well, you may know some of the real reasons. And actually, someone maybe has memory issues or something like that. But there may be real reasons that the people who are on those committees are really entrenched in an anti bored or anti community or something like that, what you need to do is you always want to and this is true, you always want a fresh set of eyes, you always want someone with a different thought processes. Maybe your committees are populated by folks who are all retired, which is great, because retirees have a lot of time on their hands. But they don't consider that now there are young families moving into the community. And maybe they have a different perspective on what we want the playground to look like, or what the dog park should be. Or maybe we should install a dog park on that other end of the community. So we don't have to get in our cars and drive to the other one. So I just think there's so many positive things about it, as long as it's handled correctly, and thanking people for their time, but again, recognizing the needs of the community, and has the community changed. That's a part of the board responsibility. And that's a part of the 360 view of your community. What Robert, I think I'm gonna write an article titled bad. I

Robert Nordlund: 24:13

like 360. Well, I want to take this just a little slightly different direction horror stories. We have audience members that send us questions, send us problems. And sometimes we just have to say you need to speak to your attorney about that. And some of them have been when an when a committee becomes a click. These people are all the moms at home, and they all think exactly the same way. Or we had one email, I recall was they're all ex cops. And so they all think the same way and good for them. Good for the moms who are able to be at home good for the ex cops, good for whoever, but there's value in having a dissenting voice different points of view, I can imagine that the retirees who walk slow, just aren't thinking the same things as the dangerous they are going to stereotype. A young mom who's out, pushing her stroller fast, fast, fast getting 10,000 steps in, that's

Julie Adamen: 25:15

a stereotype. That's reality, that's true.

Robert Nordlund: 25:19

Got some of that is physically true. And there, my wife serves on a committee where there is one frustrating person who only checks her email once a week, for whatever reason it is, you need to be cycling people. And that whole idea of always recruiting everywhere we look

Julie Adamen: 25:38

always always that's, that's, that's the healthy community. And of course, that's what you're always striving toward. That's what we're striving for in doing this podcast, right? And that Robert does with with our other co hosts, is striving for the health of community associations, because obviously, it feeds our businesses, but honestly, it makes people happier. I mean, it's, it's, it's no, it's no magic bullet, Robert, there's no silver bullet, but it makes people happier,

Robert Nordlund: 26:04

go. We're talking about building better communities, we're talking about affirming board members, inspiring board members, motivating board members, helping them and the hard work they do. And the well functioning Community Association, is the net result where people know that I live in Happy Valley villas, the management company goes by a different name. My board does good things. And every once in a while, they asked me for my opinion, and maybe that's it, maybe that's another way where you go out for a straw poll. And you get information back, you asked for comments. And even those people who respond with an articulate couple sentences to say that I think it should be this way, because that's what I did. And you say, whether you like it or not, that was a well written opinion. Thank you very much for thinking about it. And, you know, maybe leave that one alone. Maybe you follow up and say that's a person who's thoughtful, and who cares.

Julie Adamen: 26:58

You know, I want to you've talked about polling just right there. And I wanted to touch on something. When I way, way back in the day, many years ago, when I was a community association manager. Now, don't forget, this is before we had things like Survey Monkey or that I mean, a survey went out and it was a hand with me. So it went out in snail mail. And so when it came back, they all had to be opened in that. And when I was a manager a long time ago, I hated surveys, because first of all, they have a lot of work. But second, you have to fall, if you're going to take a survey in a poll, I'm all for it nowadays. But because it's so easy to do. But if you are bored, you're going to take a survey, you absolutely have to let the populace know what the survey said, not necessarily every answer, but maybe by percentages, or maybe by every answer, and you posted on your website. And if you're going to do certain things, you need to tell them, you're going to do it. And if you're not going to do it, or you're going to say we're going to study it, you just need to let the people know. So if you pull remember, you have to do something to follow up eight. That's really important. I just want to tell everyone that.

Robert Nordlund: 28:03

Yeah. Well, every time we have you on the program, you remind us that communication is so important. And an association is not going to function effectively if they are weak on their communication element.

Julie Adamen: 28:14

That's correct. Absolutely correct. Okay.

Robert Nordlund: 28:17

Well, Julie, I'm looking at the time here, it's time to wrap this episode. It's always great talking with you. Any closing thoughts to add at this time?

Julie Adamen: 28:26

The only thing I wanted to add is that if any of you board members out there or people thinking about being board members, or maybe you're just curious how community associations work, I have a set of online classes for board members and other volunteers. You can access them through my website at Adam and dash inc.com. Click on the Education tab and you can take a look, you know, especially if you're thinking about being a board member, I think it would give you an idea of what is entailed and and how it operates and also how the industry operates as a whole. So thanks for letting me give that plug in. Robert.

Robert Nordlund: 28:56

I want to thank our board members, I want to thank our committee members. I want to thank our homeowners who are listening to who are thinking can I should I might I want to and we want this to be an encouraging opportunity for you. Well, we hope you'll learn some HOA insights from our discussion today that helps you bring common sense to your common areas no matter what role you play. We look forward to having you join us for another great episode next week.

Announcer: 29:23

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