April 2023

SUCCESSION PLANNING

FOR COMMUNITY ASSOCIATION BOARDS By Damon M. Kress, Esq. McGovern Legal Services, LLC

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I n many ways, community associations are just like other businesses. They have facilities to administer and services to provide, on a fixed budget, and although associations are not trying to make a profit from their oper ations, they are not trying to lose money either. But there is a critical distinction between community associations and most other businesses, and that is the political nature of their volunteer leadership. Depending on how the board of trustees is structured in the community’s bylaws, it is possible for the composition of the board to change significantly, if not completely, during any election cycle. If the transition of control does not go smoothly, it is possible the organi zation will suffer from a period of confusion and inaction, causing diminished services to the residents. Below are a few proactive steps any community association can take to ensure the organization is prepared to continue operating no matter the results of the most recent election.

Stagger the Election of Your Board of Trustees:

It is less common these days to see communities where all of the seats on the board of trustees are up for election every year, but they are still out there. Those antiquated communities fail to appreciate the community association’s most valuable asset, its existing members’ “institutional intelligence.” Although people might not agree with the board’s prior decisions, those decisions were always made “for a reason.” Those reasons provide critical context for the prior decisions and understand ing that context will help the newly elected board members avoid spending time and resources performing the same investigation the previous board already completed. In those rare instances where the election of board mem bers is not already staggered, it is generally easy to correct this shortcoming in the bylaws through a “Radburn-style” amendment. As we all know, Radburn amendments elim CONT I NU E S ON PAGE 18

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