In our last post, we discussed home owners confusion as to where all the money collected from our community is being spent and some of the charges made by the (unelected) Board Secretary/Treasurer during one randomly-selected month.
While the (unelected) Secretary/Treasurer is spending money at Cajun Kitchen, the managing agent (Rise AMG) has approved the following invoice that apparently pays another unelected Board member – the Vice President, Ceceilia Carrizales.
This description of providing a dumpster pick-up is surprising, as the association already paid an established company over $1500 for the same services during the same period:
The disbursement report shows a different description than the invoice – one that implies that the VP is being paid to remove trash from the dumpster.
There is also no mention in any of the meeting minutes made available to home owners that this is a decision that was approved by the board or home owners, that there was any sort of open bid for this work, or any controls in place to check potential abuse.
When asked by home owners as to how it validates invoices/charges to ensure it is appropriate, Rise AMG does not respond and the unelected Board does not reply, though both have a fiduciary duty to home owners.
How would you want your managing agent to act if an unelected Board member asks you to approve and pay questionable invoices where there is no contract, no strict controls, and no communication to home owners that this is happening? Would you risk your reputation as a property manager or as a legal entity by acquiescing to these requests and supporting them by not providing any further information to questions home owners raise about these charges?
Property managers owe a fiduciary duty to the communities or buildings they represent. A fiduciary duty is the highest duty owed at law, and requires the property manager to always act in the best interests of their clients. This means avoiding conflicts of interest and opportunities for self-gain that would work to the detriment of the client. This duty is owed to the community as a whole, though, not to each individual resident within the community.
-Property Management Law, as seen on https://www.hg.org/property-management.html