HOA Board Member Duties: President, Treasurer, Secretary

If you have just joined the board of an HOA or condo association, the short version is this: the president runs the meetings, the treasurer watches the money, the secretary keeps the records, and everyone on the board owes the association careful, honest decisions. Everything below is general. State law varies, your declaration and bylaws come first, and this is not legal advice.

The three officer roles in practice

Most boards elect a president, a treasurer and a secretary (often a vice president too). Your bylaws define each office; these are the common patterns.

President

• Chairs board meetings and member meetings, and keeps the agenda moving.
• Signs contracts and documents the board has already approved.
• Is the usual point of contact for the management company, the association's attorney and the insurer.
• Does not decide alone what the board must decide together. A president acting without a board vote is a frequent source of owner complaints and disputes.

Treasurer

• Makes sure there is a budget, and that actual spending is compared to it regularly.
• Reviews the bank statements, the delinquency list and the monthly financial report.
• Confirms that reserve money is kept where the board decided to keep it.
• Makes sure the year-end financial reporting and tax filings happen, usually through the association's accountant.

Secretary

• Sends meeting notices and keeps proof of how and when they were sent.
• Takes the minutes, or makes sure someone does, and keeps the signed originals.
• Maintains the association's records: governing documents, resolutions, contracts, correspondence.

What fiduciary duty means, without the jargon

Board members are volunteers, but they are managing other owners' money and property, so the law generally holds them to a standard of conduct. In plain terms:

• Act for the association, not for yourself. Disclose a conflict of interest, such as a contractor who is your relative, and step out of the decision.
• Use reasonable care. Read what you vote on, ask for a second bid on a large contract, and rely on qualified professionals for engineering, legal and accounting questions.
• Follow the governing documents. The declaration, bylaws and rules are the board's rulebook. Acting outside them is the fastest way to lose protection.
• Treat owners consistently. Enforce rules and collect assessments the same way for everyone.

The exact definition, and how much protection a volunteer director gets, differs by state. Ask the association's attorney, and check whether the association carries directors and officers insurance.

A one-page duties checklist you can copy

[ASSOCIATION NAME] — BOARD OFFICER CHECKLIST            Year: ______

PRESIDENT: ____________________
[ ] Agenda for each meeting sent to the board before the meeting
[ ] Board votes recorded for every contract and expense above the limit
    in the bylaws ($________)
[ ] Annual meeting held and notice sent as the bylaws require

TREASURER: ____________________
[ ] Budget adopted and shared with owners
[ ] Monthly: budget vs. actual reviewed
[ ] Monthly: delinquency list reviewed, collection steps on schedule
[ ] Reserve balance and reserve plan reviewed (quarterly / annually)
[ ] Year-end accountant package delivered

SECRETARY: ____________________
[ ] Meeting notices sent, proof of delivery filed
[ ] Minutes drafted within ____ days and approved at next meeting
[ ] Signed minutes and resolutions filed in the records
[ ] Owner records requests logged and answered within the time the
    state and bylaws allow

Keeping the paper trail

Almost every board dispute turns on one question: can the board show what it decided, when, and why? That is why the secretary's work matters as much as the treasurer's. Keep notices, agendas, minutes, votes and contracts in one place that survives the next change of board. We cover notices and minutes in HOA meeting notice and minutes templates and the money side in HOA budget and reserve fund basics.

How to do it in Unitify

Unitify is a platform for the association or its manager. It does not replace the board's legal duties, but it removes some of the manual work behind them:

• Voting. Resident voting lets you run an owner vote or survey from the resident app and see participation as it comes in. The tool records votes; whether a meeting or vote is legally valid depends on your state and governing documents.
• Billing. Billing sets assessment rules per building, issues invoices and tracks payments, so the treasurer reviews one list instead of reconciling spreadsheets. It is not an accounting ledger, so your accountant still keeps the books.
• Announcements and requests. Notices reach residents in the resident app, and resident requests become tracked tickets with a history.

See how the United States setup works, or book a demo.