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The Arizona Open Meeting Law A.R.S. 33-1804 / Condo A.R.S. 33-1248 The Arizona Open Meeting Law A.R.S. 33-1804 / Condo A.R.S. 33-1248 added requirements and restrictions on committees. Regularly scheduled committee meetings must now follow the Arizona open meeting law which requires proper notice of the meeting, conducting a committee meeting as an open meeting and requiring an agenda at every [...]
COLLECTING DELINQUENT ASSESSMENTS Almost every community association has problems collecting unpaid assessments. Most associations start the collection process by sending late notices, imposing late fees and recording a notice of lien on the lot/unit. However, if these efforts are unsuccessful, the association may want to consider taking legal action to enforce its rights. Under most association CC&Rs, the board has two options [...]
The Community Association Budget Process A community association budget is an itemized summary based on the anticipated income and expenses for each fiscal year. Most community association documents require that the board of directors adopt a budget for each fiscal year. Most associations’ fiscal year is the calendar, and thus, the board will start work on the budget in the [...]
The Board of Directors Association owners/members look to their board of directors to provide the caring leadership and service that makes living in their community association desirable. The board of directors is overseeing what might be one of the largest assets association members have - their homes. This is why owners want their association to be run as a business [...]
Plan And Prepare For A Board Meeting Plan: Planning takes time, but planning will ultimately save time, leading to better-informed and prepared boards resulting in smoother meetings. Determine the best meeting time: Take into account the schedules of board members and association residents and then choose morning, afternoon, evening or a combination to obtain optimum attendance. Prepare the agenda: A properly planned agenda will provide [...]
Bidding and Contracting Properly managing an association’s finances is one of the fiduciary duties of an association board of directors. Within that financial responsibility is the management of the reserve fund and any association contracts. The board must do its due diligence and request bids to complete a new capital project, follow through with an identified reserves maintenance project or [...]
The Arizona Open Meeting Law A.R.S. 33-1804 / Condo A.R.S. 33-1248 Board meetings are open to all members of the association: Notwithstanding any provision in the association documents, all meetings of the association, board of directors and regularly scheduled committee meetings are open to all members of the association, or any person designated by a member in writing as the member's [...]
Architectural/ Design Review Committee (ARC/DRC) The function of the architectural or design review committee, usually established in the association’s CC&Rs, is to review and approve homeowner requests for additions, renovations and exterior changes to members’ homes or landscaping in compliance with the Association’s CC&Rs or design review guidelines (CC&Rs and design review guidelines provide land use restrictions along with limits [...]
Reasons to Amend An Association’s Documents The most common reasons for amending association documents are the following: to delete or modify restrictions that are outdated, ambiguous or unreasonable; to comply with changes in federal, state and local laws or ordinances; to delete or modify provisions inconsistent with the management and operation of the association; to delete provisions regarding the rights [...]
Best Practices for Assessing Fines In 2017, an Arizona Court of Appeals decision found that (1) attempting to levy monetary penalties/fines without a properly adopted fine schedule, which demonstrates the fine amounts and appropriateness of those fines, is per se unreasonable; and (2) even if a community association has a validly adopted fine schedule, the community association still has the [...]
