Be more involved in your community: are you qualified to be on the board of directors for your community’s association?
One of the best ways to get involved in your community is to volunteer to serve on your association’s board of directors. The board members are in a unique position to make decisions and implement changes and policies that can affect the entire community in a very positive way. Many owners may not realize that their community’s association is a nonprofit corporation. And, like every corporation, profit or nonprofit, associations have directors.
Section 14-3-802 of the Georgia Nonprofit Corporation Code, which sets forth the qualifications of directors, states the following: “Directors shall be natural persons who are 18 years of age or older but need not be residents of this state nor members of the corporation unless the articles so require. The articles or bylaws may prescribe other qualifications for directors.” Thus, Georgia law only requires that directors be a human being and at least 18 years old. All other qualifications for the directors will be set forth in your specific association’s articles of incorporation or bylaws.
Your association’s articles of incorporation are on file with the Secretary of State. In most situations, however, a community association’s articles of incorporation will defer to the bylaws when addressing the qualifications of board members. Accordingly, generally the best place to begin research on the qualifications to serve as a board member is your association’s bylaws.
Most well written bylaws will have a specific section that discusses the board of directors. The section will generally detail the number of persons to serve on the board, elections and terms of office, nominations, removal of directors, vacancies on the board, etc. Your bylaws might also have a section dedicated to board qualifications. In some bylaws, however, you may have to do some digging. For most associations, the bylaws will require that its board of directors be comprised entirely of the corporation’s members: the owners in the community. More restrictive bylaws may further limit the composition of the board to owners who actually live in the community. Thus, investors and off-site property owners would not be allowed to serve on their community’s boards. Bylaws may additionally allow the spouse or domestic partner of an owner to serve as a director; however, participation on the board is generally limited only one person per household. In addition, bylaws might state that owners who are more than thirty days delinquent in paying their assessments will not be eligible to serve on the board. Delinquency in payment of assessment is often grounds for removal, so if you want to run for the board and stay on the board, be sure to pay your assessments on time!
In conclusion, if you are interested in being more involved with your community association and making some positive changes in your community, run for your community’s board of directors; but first be sure to check your association’s qualifications.