Yes, you can tell me how old, white and ugly I am!!! 

But seriously, since I lived here I have been approached twice to run for a local government position. And I have been approached I don’t know how many times to run for my HOA board. I turned down the opportunities mostly because I am working and I am afraid of coming into an already bad scenario and allowing my mouth to run with a few choice cuss words since I cuss waaaaaaay too much. I don’t consider myself PC. Also, I need time to take care of my wife and I need time to decompress from work every day.

But now I am retiring with plenty of time on my hands. I am moving into another HOA controlled neighborhood in AZ that the HOA is going to transition from controlled by a property manager to homeowner controlled. It will be a chance for me to come into a newly formed association and be able to steer it in the right direction from the beginning. In other words, make a difference. The other thing I am considering is volunteering in my local government (they have volunteer positions) that I can do with possibly a chance to run for city council or something else.

So who here has some experience in HOA boards and/or government service that you can give me some advice/opinions on my future endeavors. Even if you don’t have experience I want to hear your opinions. I understand how thankless these positions can be. I even understand I can make a few enemies. Just let me know the good, the bad and the ugly.

Thanks in advance!   

I have served in our HOA as president and treasurer and it can be trying and challenging. Some issues are mundane and some are very trying. Legal challenges, liability issues, hearing complaints can be challenging. The problem we had in Mililani was lack of owner participation in voting for important issues. The reason why I volunteered was to see how costs were managed and where they came from. The bulk of it was landscaping and management fees. We have 2 management companies. One company to run the daily admin affairs and another to manage the property. I think there  is nepotism and kickbacks going on but there is nothing illegal about that in this kind of business. To uncover that it will take some time and effort.
But anyways, that's my experience.

I am not in the HOA board where I live, but like you, have been approached to run and participate.  I am, by nature, an observer.  And what I observe is an overabundance of whiners and lazy mofos. 

IMHO, If you can deal with the constant infantile whining, not give a f*ck about standing firm on your decisions, and can let all the Bullsh*t flow off your back like a waterproof goretex jacket, then go for it.

If you like peace and want to relax, then it's not going to be fun at all.

Of course, shaping the direction of the HOA and your life, knowing you inspector, would be an awesome thing, for your self and your community, however, headache and stress would be a heavy burden.   

Know that you can't and won't make everyone happy no matter what...

     I was the Resident Mgr at Xxxxxx Xxxxxxxx  (see recent shooting) for 3+ years.
Though not "technically" an owner in the HOA, my participation in its duties and admin were daily 24/7/365 which was much more than any HOA Board Member.

     As such, I found corruption including financial theft from money being siphoned off from my budget.
I found it linked to the HOA Pres and Treas.
Worried because it was money allocated to my dept, I brought this to the Property Management Agent's attention, I was told they would follow up but nothing happened.
I later found that the Property Management Agent was in cahoots with the Pres and Treas 

    As almost all of the money missing was from my department for landscaping, maintenance, payroll, subs etc and I could not turn to my immediate superiors, the Pres and Treas and Property Management firm for help and not sure who else on the board was also in on it, I was getting worried.
I was set up to fall hard.   
Fortunately the Annual HOA Annual Board meeting was approaching and I saw that as my window of redemption.

     When it came time for me and my yearly report in front of all of the home owners, I announced the theft.
Talk about frick'n awkward silence and you should have seen those three break into a sweat.  .
They immediately dismissed me from the meeting and the next day I was terminated. 

    Within 24 hrs, the majority of home owners reversed the Pres, Treas and Property Management Agents decision as per bylaws.
120 yeas of 122 available votes out of  144 total owners. 2 nays were Pres and Treas.

Also have Gov experience but can't tell ya about that or I'd haf ta kill ya ! 

So yeah, I got some experience, you got my number.
 

My opinion is, if you want to run for a full-time, paid political office, you need to start by doing volunteer and part-time paid positions.

Elections hinge on how many people you can recruit to help spread your message.  If you volunteer for Meals-on-Wheels,  work with the Red Cross to help with relief efforts, head up your neighborhood watch program, become an auxiliary police office (writing up illegal handicap space use), and maybe become a scout leader or youth league coach/umpire, you'll build a broad network of people who know and trust you.  It'll be much easier to raise money, find volunteers and attract voters if they know you or know someone who knows you.

Focus your time on efforts that not only help the community, but that also provide experience and access to areas that might need gov't problem-solving.  Like, if schools are a problem, maybe be a substitute teacher for awhile or see if they need security or technical support people.

The more you put yourself out there, the better your chances of achieving whatever public position you're seeking.

Yes, you can tell me how old, white and ugly I am!!! 

Seriously? You want the truth?  😳

I’ve been asked to participate in my HOA. Haven’t yet. Lots of infighting that I heard of.

Start another email specific for the hoa emails. Do not use your personal email.

Sent from my SM-G950U using Tapatalk

Thanks for all the advice! Very informative and interesting.

My intention is to not run for an office that pays nor to get a paid position unless they pay less than $18k a year. I’ll be on Social Security and if I make over $18k a year they tax the shit out of my SS check.

I have a story about an HOA in a subdivision of 108 homes. We went from $45/month to over $200/month inside of 2 or 3 years. There was emergency after emergency and they raised the dues accordingly. One day I had a neighbor who kept blocking my access to my garage and breaking the parking rules constantly. Along with the loud music. So I complained to the HOA. They gave me a form to fill out and told me to write a letter. Which I did. And nothing really happened. Someone recommended that I attend a meeting and talk to the HOA directly. So one day I show up at a meeting. They asked me to leave and come back in 15 minutes because they had to have a closed door meeting. It didn’t dawn on me at first but when I walked in they were dining on lobster and crab! After they let me back in all the food was gone. I made my case and they wrote the neighbor a letter and most of the problems stopped. But after I left I realized that our dues were buying all that expensive food and they were trying to hide it from me. I eventually sold my house and moved to Hawaii. But a neighbor I stayed in touch with told me that the HOA members got caught siphoning off money from the dues and I don’t remember what happened to them. Except my neighbor told me that the emergencies that caused the dues to go up so drastically in such a short period of time were made up.

Yeah, I want to keep things honest.

Opinions?

You don't need no stinkeen OPINIONS!

Get out your wife beater, thong, and Elton John glasses and get to work!

Opinions?

You don't need no stinkeen OPINIONS!

Get out your wife beater, thong, and Elton John glasses and get to work!

Whoa! Do I know you? Have not seen you around these parts for a long time!

I’m too big for a thong. 

That's NOT what she said....

Remember, mirrors can distort reality.

Just here for the legislative updates, looks like there's a bumper crop this year.

I'm thinking it's due to the fact that we haven't gotten the bad actors out of office.

 

I served as a board member for my condo for about 5 years. Met once a month and argued about what to spend money on and how much to raise rates, etc. I never really got hasted by residents for it but I also wasn't the board president. A board member can make a difference especially if you put some effort into it. If you are the person monitoring the books you can catch waste or theft for example. You can also consider products and services to introduce. I brought up a few items to our board that I saw would save us money. Plus you have a say in rules and how much to increase maintenance fees.

That's NOT what she said....

Remember, mirrors can distort reality.

Just here for the legislative updates, looks like there's a bumper crop this year.

I'm thinking it's due to the fact that we haven't gotten the bad actors out of office.

 

I wish my mirror would distort my reality. Then I would be brave enough to wear a thong at the beach. 

I am afraid Hawaii is too far gone. So much so that the Republican Party has been infiltrated with Democrats parading around as RINO’s. Until the citizens get woke to who and what they are voting for, I’m afraid Hawaii will never be a conservative state.