Condo Media - November 2010 - 16

ASKED & ANSWERED

The Buck Stops Where?
Board vs. Manager Decisions

Q A

QUESTION: Board members tell owners it’s the manager who insists on doing or not doing something, and the manager says it’s up to the board. How do you deal with managers and board members who play the “blame game?” ANSWER: The short answer is, the manager is right. The manager advises the board and implements its decisions, but it is the board that sets the policies for the community — at least, that’s how things are supposed to work. Of course, boards and managers don’t always operate precisely as they should.

Jarred McNabb, CMCA, PCAM, director of acquisitions at Massachusettsbased Crowninshield Management Corp., encounters this problem with boards “quite often.” He says it usually arises because: Board members are inexperienced and don’t understand their role and obligations; or they are not as actively involved as they should be, preferring to let the manager make decisions and take the blame when those decisions are unpopular. “Under no circumstances should that happen,” McNabb says. Managers who take over for weak boards aren’t doing their job, and board members who

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allow managers to take over aren’t fulfilling their obligations. McNabb understands board members may find it easier to say, “It’s the management company, not me” to dodge an angry homeowner. “But, when the trustees sit down at a meeting,” he says, “they have to be prepared to make the decisions.” And owners should be prepared to challenge board members who try to suggest that the buck stops anywhere other than with them. Although board members are probably more likely than managers to duck when owners start complaining, some managers might try to avoid criticism by telling owners, “I agree with you, but the board ignored my advice.” That also is unacceptable and unprofessional, agrees Barbara Kansky, CMCA, AMS, PCAM, general manager at Devon Wood Condominium in Braintree, Mass. Managers work for the board, she says, and part of their job is “to take the heat off of board members.” Kansky and McNabb make the same point: Managers are advisers and implementers, but not decision-makers. They are required to give boards their best advice, but boards are not required to accept it. If managers disagree with the board’s decision, they should document their concerns and their recommendations. But whether they agree or not with the decision, they are obliged to implement it. If managers disagree so strongly with a decision they don’t think they can ethically implement it, the correct response is not to tell owners why they think the board was wrong. “That’s childish,” Kansky says. The correct response for managers in that situation, most experienced managers will tell you, is to resign. CM

CONDO MEDIA • NOVEMBER 2010

Condo Media - November 2010

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Condo Media - November 2010