What is a Community Association Manager?
To homeowners and residents, a community association management organization can be bewildering or at least confusing.
They ponder about what is community association management, what a board is, and what the title manager means?
Many won’t ask the appropriate questions to give them a clear picture. Other times, the answers they find online or receive from management staff is incomplete and hard to comprehend. With limited patience, they might ignore the association.
When we say community manager, it is a person who manages/operates a homeowners association, condo association, or community association. While the rules of these communities might differ, the community manager and their staff are hired to serve them.
Besides experience, some association managers may have professional accreditation as a Certified Manager of Community Associations. However, each state has its own certification and licensing rules.
Managers of large associations will likely have a combined wealth of management skills, experience, and education.
Let’s take a common sense look at what community managers do.
What Community Managers Do
The community manager organizes and keeps the community running in a safe, efficient, and productive way. They are not part of the association board nor are involved in the decision-making processes at the board level.
HOA or Community Association Managers execute activities to achieve community goals and objectives. Very often these “managers” are outsourced service providers, but may also be an in-house manager paid by the association (as an employee). Commonly, they may be the owner of a property management company or association management service company guiding a variety of workers and volunteers.
20 Key Responsibilities of Association Managers
Instead, this person’s challenge is to run the HOA. The manager will:
- oversee tasks such as welcoming new members
- operate building mechanical equipment
- manage and pay for utilities
- control access via gates to neighborhoods and common areas
- maintain roadways, collect trash and recycling materials
- organize community events
- enforce association bylaws/rules and regulations
- conduct bookkeeping and accounting, issue and pay invoices
- patrol and issue violation notices
- collect member dues and fines
- negotiate and hire service vendors
- buy or rent equipment
- coordinate the association’s insurance coverage renewal
- attend meetings and take meeting minutes
- manage IT solutions, compliance and data safety
- execute polls/surveys and votes on resolutions
- manage communications from both residents and homeowners
- manage inspections and maintenance tasks where needed
- manage association staff and volunteers
- handle concerns, complaints, and requests from residents and liaise with board members to decide on action to take (Any decisions on board policy however is not their area of work)
Association boards may lean heavily on association managers who may have significant expertise in reducing liability and solving complex problems.
What Community Managers Don’t Do
Managers don’t partake in making decisions, but instead report on the status of accounts/budget/events.
They do not stray from obeying board/community policy which is stated in your Community Association’s Governing Documents. You’ll find them online on your community association website or in your residents portal.
The responsibilities of the community manager should be detailed in the association’s service contract with the professional management company or the individual community manager.
They are not to settle disputes between neighbors or with the board, as the board decides how to handle disputes.
What Should Your Board Look for in Your Next Manager?
If your community needs to hire an association manager, you’ll need to establish a list of all the tasks and responsibilities they will be requested to handle, with guidelines for handling each. These tasks and skills needed will help you formulate the many questions you’ll ask in the interview.
You’ll need to create a role description and establish benchmarks, priorities, and procedures to gauge success and deal with shortfalls in your expectations. You’ll need to ensure the manager is able and willing to execute their tasks.
By developing a clear, detailed job description for them, they will be more focused and accountable in their role. Clear expectations are needed.
You’ll need to evaluate their personnel and equipment along with demoing the digital association management platform they use. Their technology platform plays a critically important role in what they might accomplish.
The HOA community association software platform is a foundation for credible accounting, financial reporting, maintenance work processes, violation tracking, and aiding in communicating with tenants, taking surveys and polls (eVoting), to managing users and documentation so all is secure and according to association rules.
An inadequate software may pose serious limitations leading to association failure, fines, and lawsuits.
You’ll need a clear process for evaluating their application or proposal for the role.
Conclusion
We hope this brief overview of what an association manager is and what they do is clear. Hopefully, your association will be organized and well-prepared to identify and hire a professional quality property manager.
As you can see, homeowner or association managers have significant responsibility.
Check out ManageCasa’s association management software solution, the top choice for professional managers. Our modern software is rated as one of the best, and offers benefits far beyond the common association solutions commonly used.
Speak with our sales team at 415 800 1245 to get a clearer view of what ManageCasa™ can do. It’s time well spent.
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