March 2018

RELYING ON THE...

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Experts By Vanessa J. Davenport, Board President, Regency at Quail Ridge HOA and Kari Valentine, CMCA, AMS, Community Director, Associa Mid-Atlantic

R elying on experts is sometimes a challenge for boards and managers since everyone brings some experience to the table. However, few of us in community leader- ship roles are experts in the more technical or legal aspects of maintaining a community. Those who are elected to unpaid voluntary board positions should acquire a certain amount of training as legislated by the state in New Jersey school law at N.J.S.A. 18A:12-1 et seq. However, there is currently no such statutory training requirement for residential community association board members or managers. However, when faced with a massive project or an uncomfortable legal matter, it is not uncommon to forego the utilization of an engineer or an attorney due to the cost. Only when something goes horrifically wrong do we think “if only.” Equally common is to consult an expert, such as an engineer, and then have a board member, or manager, whose brother-in-law works for a company who “knows”

more than the expert consult on the project instead. If you have hired an expert to do something and have appropri-

ately vetted them, then you should trust their expert’s knowledge. Trust is often a consid- erable stumbling block for both boards and managers. Sometimes there are a couple sus- picious board members who always feel as though the manager is

"...few of us in community leadership roles are experts in the more technical or legal aspects of maintaining a community."

out to get whatever they can from the association. Or, similarly, that if the manager is recommending a particular vendor, then they suspect that vendor is giving the manager something in return. To the contrary, the manager is usually

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