FEBRUARY 2020
Greetings and welcome to the winter edition of the Community Advisor .

Saturday, February 29th is the first of our two 2020 Annual Law Seminars and Vendor Expos. February 29, we host the seminar at the Hyatt Atlanta Perimeter. On March 21, we will host the same seminar at Infinite Energy Center Gwinnett. If you have never attended before, you do not want to miss this!  Pick the venue most convenient and join us while we explore living in and governing community associations through the lyrics of the Grateful Dead. Dead Head or not, the wisdom of the Grateful Dead applied to community associations will keep "You Truckin On!" 

In this issue of Community Advisor, we are happy to share our latest articles. In “Essential Roles and Duties,” Melinda K. Banks reviews the responsibilities, obligations, and who serves as Association Directors. Megan Elaine Harsh then reviews one of the most invaluable tools for a community association in enforcing its governing documents in "Fine Collectability."  

In other news, we were honored to have two of our attorneys as speakers at the recent national Community Associations Institute Law Seminar in Las Vegas.   During the "Practicing in Your Personality: How to Thrive as a Community Association Lawyer," I was moderator of a dynamic panel of law firm leaders as they discussed how to practice to the strength of each attorney's best qualities. Our partner Bill Gourley also presented the most recent insurance case law impacting community associations during the "CIRMS Masters Program: Risk Management & Insurance Case Law: Learning at the Expense of Others."

For more community association law news, visit our blog, The Community Counsel . For notifications and everything else NowackHoward, follow us on LinkedIn and Facebook . 
 
Julie McGhee Howard
Editor, Community Advisor 
Essential Roles and Duties   
A Guide for Community Association Board of Directors

by Melinda K. Banks
One of the common questions facing community association volunteer leaders after election to the association’s Board of Directors is, “What are my duties and responsibilities?” To understand the Board’s role, it is important to first recognize that members of the Board of Directors serve as the governance body of the association as a non-profit corporation. Just as the decisions of for-profit corporations like Delta Airlines or Coca-Cola are made by a Board of Directors, the affairs of community associations are also directed by a Board. While the Boards of for-profit corporations make decisions to maximize shareholder value, the Board of a community association makes decisions in the best interest of its members – the owners of the homes within the community.


Fine Collectability  
How to Ensure Fines are Properly Authorized

by Megan Elaine Harsh
Fines can be an invaluable tool for a community association in enforcing its governing documents. By levying fines, an association can incentivize an owner or occupant to correct a violation and, in many cases, avoid the expense and emotional toll of filing litigation. However, based on recent cases from around the country, courts are increasingly scrutinizing fines levied by community associations and increasing the burden on community associations to show that fines levied by the association were authorized by the association’s governing documents, that the association followed all proper procedures for levying the fines, and that the association provided the violating owner with proper notice of the fines.    


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