Some condominiums or homeowners associations have a “Meet the Candidates Night” to allow owners the chance to learn more about the prospective Board Members that are on the ballot. If your association hosts this kind of event, are you doing everything you can to make sure the event is civil and fair? If your association does not have a Candidates Night and you are thinking about it, perhaps this blog post will help you understand the benefits, the risks and the preparation necessary to make it work. A good Candidates Night is like a good board meeting – it starts and ends on time and everyone is happy in the end. A bad Candidates Night shares some of the same problems as the Presidential election debates in 2016:
This is particularly bad for a Community Associations because it may result in neighbors turning against each other.
A Meet the Candidates night is a risky proposition and shouldn’t be conducted unless you are completely prepared for it. You would be shocked at the behavior of some of the residents at events I’ve moderated and without proper ground rules and a stern moderator it will quickly turn into something that does more harm than good.
If you are going to have a Candidate’s Night, the most important thing to do is to define the rules and process with all the candidates and the members of the crowd in advance:
One more thing to consider:
Meet the candidate's night is not a trial, it’s not an inquisition. There is no obligation to answer a question just because it was asked. Often members of the crowd want to ask questions of currently sitting board members as to employee issues, contract negotiations, potential legal issues etc. Some of those questions may be totally inappropriate to be answered in an open forum where the potential for liability exists on the part of the association. Current Board members up for re-election must remember they have a fiduciary responsibility to the community and need to know when it’s appropriate not to answer a question and do so confidently.
If you are going to host a Candidate’s Night at your community, then be prepared for the worst case scenario. Hopefully, it will not work out that way, but the best way to avoid issues is to be well prepared and make sure that everyone understands the rules in advance: owners and candidates.