The Education of Community Managers

P.O. Box 93355, Las Vegas, NV 89193

By Robert Holloway

After having lived in a community association for three years and after having contacts with three community managers, I have noticed a common characteristic of these community managers. They seem to be trying to operate at a higher level than their education and training permits. The documents that are used to govern their work include state law, mostly Chapter 116, and the governing documents of the association. Each association has its own unique governing documents and a community manager often works with several associations at the same time. A community manager needs to be well acquainted with several sets of governing documents, in addition to the more than 100 pages of state law and regulations. These documents are often written in a style that is complex and often suffer from the muddy writing style of some attorney whose greatest strength obviously is not in writing. Nevertheless, with effort these documents can be understand but usually not by community managers.

I decided to look into the the requirements for education and training of community managers and was surprised by the low requirements found in state law. But perhaps I should not have been surprised because only recently has the state required community managers to be certified and apparently the scant training requirements are only a few years old also. This is in fact one of the problems with the association type of housing. It is a relatively new form of government and housing that has almost overnight exploded onto the scene and hardly anyone has had time to adjust to it.

Here is what is currently on the State Real Estate Division website on the education of community managers:

Education required for the certificate is 60 hours of pre-certification education.

Examination

Each applicant must pass the state examination prior to permanent certificate issue. Examinations are scheduled through PSI. The fee is $100.00.

Only 60 hours of education! Although management associations could try to hire those with a college degree, it is obvious that in most instances they do not, apparently in an effort to reduce costs. A high school dropout could take the above mentioned 60 hours and if he or she could pass the test, could become a community manager. My interactions with several different community managers convinced me that the low educational requirements are a major source of problems. For instance, one community manager, Laury Phelps, worked with the board to try to pressure me into stopping the distribution of a newsletter in my small community. If Ms. Phelps had an education equivalent to that of a school teacher, she would almost surely have not attempted to suppress my newsletter. Most school teachers are aware of the importance of free speech and freedom of the press and would have realized that it was futile to try to suppress a newsletter.

I urge the state legislature to revise the law to require education for community managers equal to that of a public school teacher. In view of the fact that virtually all of the work of community manager has the potential to embroil associations in litigation, an increased level of education would be very helpful. I believe that my own problems with my association would have been greatly reduced if not eliminated if the community manager had been better educated. In some cases I have noticed a distinct problem of reading comprehension among community managers. I don't mean to imply that they are borderline illiterates but only that their reading skills seem to be below that of a typical college graduate. They should be able to read and understand governing documents or proposed governing documents. In a recent election of my association, it became obvious that the community manager did not understand the proposed documents and incorrectly described the effects of the documents to the residents.

Another indication of the low educational standards of community managers is the attempt by Laury Phelps, of Taylor Association Management, to intimidate me into stopping circulation of a newsletter critical of her and the board. Had she had an education equal to that of a school teacher, she would have known enough about freedom of the press to realize the futility and the impropriety of her actions. Her poor judgment in this instance cost the association two thousand dollars. The cost would have been much greater if I had decided to press this issue to the maximum.

Aside from the low educational requirements of community managers, I believe that otherwise the state has created a very good set of laws for community associations. The homeowner who feels abused by a dictatorial board or incompetent community manager has considerable protection under these laws to correct any unfair situation. If informal contacts with the Ombudsmans Office do not correct the problem, the next step is arbitration. I have gone through that once and was satisfied with the result.

Although there have been allegations that Real Estate Board is too strongly influenced by the Association Management firms, the only evidence I have noticed is that the former Ombudsman, Eldon Hardy, seemed to be slightly partial to the management firms. He apparently was not well respected by the activists who are critical of the HOA industry. His replacement is better educated, with a law degree, and may well do a much better job. In my case, Mr. Hardy once offered advice to Taylor Management that I consider contrary to the intent of state law. Mr Hardy retired and after a brief flirtation with the idea of running for Lt. Governor, seems to have disappeared from the scene. For those of us who would like to see management companies and boards reduced in power, his retirement is a positive development.

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