Paul Lavigne Running for the Board of Directors
If elected to the Board I will advocate for a term limit.
I believe that every board of directors should have a term limit for its directors, i.e., a specification of the number of consecutive terms or years a person may serve. Our HOA’s bylaws do not include a provision for a term limit for the directors on our Board. Directors may run for re-election at the end of a two-year term.
Some would rightly say that requiring Directors to be subject to re-election every two years potentially limits a Director's service, if voters choose to do so. However, it has been our experience that once elected, a Director tends to be re-elected until s/he chooses not to run again. If elected to the Board, I will serve just one two year term.
I learned quite a bit about serving on our Board over the years. And not much at all. I saw that Directors spend a great deal of time in meetings, i.e. Board Committee meetings, Executive Sessions, and Open Board Meetings, estimated at 40 hours per month in total. But I never got to know very much about a Director’s contributions or performance, certainly not enough to decide who to vote for in an election, because:
• Time spent in Executive Sessions is “secret,” up to an average of four hours each meeting according to a former Director.
• Two Directors serve as a Board Liaison on up to three Board Committees, requiring that they are there to ”ensure their committee is serving at the direction of the board and adhering to the committee charter”; they aren’t supposed to otherwise participate in Committee meetings.
• And in monthly Open Board Meetings; there is rarely any discussion of any item by any Director, just a motion, a second, and a unanimous vote on each item.
There are also no term limits for Board Committee members, numbering less than a hundred out of an estimated1,600 residents. Members stay on a Committee until they decide to resign from the Committee. Maybe, term limits should be considered here too.
Having a term limit guarantees open seats; knowledge of this may encourage more homeowners to be interested in Board service. In my extensive board experience, fresh faces coupled with institutional memory normally results in a more energetic, innovative, and productive board.