Issue link: https://imageup.uberflip.com/i/1534541
| LIFE IN SOLERA | MAY 2025 | 3 FROM THE BOARD B Steve Bl As we are preparing to vote this month for new or current Board members for next year, I thought this article was timely. Serving as a Board member for a Home Association (HOA) requires a vast mixture of skills of leadership, communication, and organization skills. Here are some key skills that are valuable to being a good HOA Board member: 1. Leadership & Decision Making: Ability to make fair and informed decisions. 2. Communication & People Skills: Engaging with homeowners, resolving conicts, clearly conveying information. Speak clearly in short sentences. I recall a lesson from my early business history that when someone asks what time it is, do not tell them how to build a watch. e simple answer is 2:30! 3. Financial Management: Understanding budgets, reserves, and nancial reports to ensure responsible nancial stewardship. 4. Problem-Solving & Conict Resolution: Knowledge and managing disputes eectively. 5. Legal and Regulatory Knowledge: Familiarity with HOA governing documents, state laws and regulations. For Solera, the Davis-Sterling Act. 6. Project Management: Overseeing maintenance, repairs, and community improvements. 7. Organizational and Time Management: Handling meetings, records, and Board responsibilities eciently. 8. Negotiation and Vendor Management: Collaborating with contractors, service providers and legal professionals. 9. Teamwork and Collaboration: is is a big one. Working eectively with other Board members, committees and employees is a priority. You do not get far by yourself. 10. Commitment: e time devotion is signicant. Time devoted to maintaining and improving the community is quite a load. I just reviewed my Board schedule for April which amounts to about 15 scheduled hours in meetings alone. is does not include any prep or post reviews. Other Board members do more. As stated in my candidate information last year this is work. It is not fun and games or a popularity contest. is is a business. Choose your candidates wisely. 11. Diversity of Homeowners: Dierent homeowner expectations and preferences create challenges in decision making and community cohesion. 12. Transparency: Communicates decisions openly with homeowners and provides clear updates on decisions, budget, and policy. No hidden agendas. 13. Lack of Resident Participation: Comparing Solera resident participation to previous HOA Boards I served on, our residents Board or special meeting attendance is pitiful. We estimate there are 2,000 residents in Solera, yet we typically get less than 25 people attending or 1.3 percent. e typical HOA Board meeting in California is still extremely poor at 5 to 10 percent, which is ve to 10 times ours. We only had 25 residents at our recent annual budget review and announcement of the changes in the monthly assessments. is lack of resident participation leads one to believe people just do not care. is is a troublesome issue that you need to determine how important it is for you to enhance the value of your property. It takes two hours per month. I hope some of these skills and issues cause you to think about the vast amount of time and eort to become a good Board member. Hopefully, you see things from a dierent viewpoint. I caution you to be careful with your votes. Aer all, it is all our futures. WHAT MAKES A GOOD BOARD MEMBER?