The Bylaws of the Douglas Downs Homeowner’s Association lay out the function, operation, and governance of our HOA. Many of these Bylaws are pre-determined by the state of Georgia given the HOA’s status as a nonprofit corporation.
Articles 1 and 2 describe the Georgia location requirements for the HOA to remain fully operational and the purpose of the organization under the Georgia Nonprofit Corporation Code. After establishing these top level guidelines, the document goes into more detail in Article 3 to define members of the HOA as homeowners, and then describe what that membership entails. For example, members pay dues, have the opportunity to attend meetings to discuss and vote on issues, and participate in other ways of making community decisions.
Then, Articles 4 and 5 get into selection and responsibilities of the HOA Board of Directors and Officers. The Board is in charge of the general management of the organization following the guidelines laid out by the Bylaws. Board members are elected by the community yearly and can resign or be removed before their term is up. The Board is responsible for holding meetings and hiring advisors and employees to help them out as needed. Within the Board, there are elected officers to help structure their work, including a President, Secretary, Treasurer, and whatever other roles they deem necessary.
Articles 6, 7, 8, and 9 dive deeper into the specifics of how the Board carries out disbursements, distributions, contracts, checks, deposits, funds, etc. These Articles govern how necessary business processes should be done on behalf of the community. Since the board acts on behalf of all residents in these transactions with their dues, keeping a paper trail and acting ethically in the best interest of the entire neighborhood is extremely important. Article 9 defines the best practices for how those records should be kept.
Finally, Articles 10, 11, 12, and 13 discuss how the Bylaws can be amended by a majority vote of the Board, what the organization’s tax-exempt status means, and how committees of directors and special committees can step in to resolve unforeseen situations. Given the HOA’s status as a nonprofit corporation, the Board is responsible for ensuring its business is carried out responsibly to allow the HOA to remain tax-exempt. For addressing more specific issues that don’t require the entire Board, or perhaps require research/ investigation before being presented, the Board can form committees as needed. Those committees can have their own rules and internal structure, so long as they abide by the Bylaws.
You can visit the following link to view the Bylaws:
