When Idealism Meets Crushing Bureaucracy
Electing fresh faces can bring new perspectives, but passions can quickly fade when reality sets in. How do you overcome this?
Whether dealing with the smallest forms of bureaucracy, such as HOAs, MUDs, and small city councils, or with massive public school districts and large metropolitan areas, newly elected board trustees or councilmembers often find that what they fought for during their campaign is going to take more effort than they realized. This happens when they learn they cannot make changes overnight or may realize they have no idea how things work.
Those who follow me know that I have been highly focused on our local school district with Conroe ISD, which we will discuss in a moment, but this type of realization by the newly elected happens all the time at every level. It underscores the importance of elections and the need to vote for knowledgeable, competent individuals.
Similarly, you may know people at your job who get hired for a position that they are not qualified for, and they struggle to meet performance objectives due to their inability to grasp basic concepts required to do the work expected of them.
However, this does not mean that they will not be successful.
Similar to your professional career, being on an HOA or school board does require ‘on-the-job’ training, and as long as you are determined to see things through, you can achieve your goals with proper strategy and adopting realistic objectives.
Before diving into strategies for success as a newly elected representative, let's explore the initial challenges faced when stepping into a new role as a public official.
Everyone Hates their HOA
As President of two different HOAs over the last eight years, I will say that HOAs are one of the worst parts of living in suburbia (outside of loud neighbors).1 It is another level of oversight in your life that requires an additional fee you must pay. To be on your HOA Board is to become a facilitator of that oversight, part of a small bureaucracy. It is also mundane volunteer work that can easily be hijacked by the worst kind of people (you know who they are). Yet, if done right, your HOA can run smoothly in the background, humming along with minimal complaints on the Facebook group.
Pretend for a moment that you want to run for your HOA.
You may be upset that your neighborhood landscaping has gone downhill, or that the pool is looking more like a rundown hotel amenity. You run for the HOA Board and win, only to realize on day one you have no idea how things like budgets work. As you listen to the financial report at your first meeting, your eyes glaze over and a wave of imposter syndrome tsunamis over you as you attempt to keep up.
Your goal of getting rid of the landscaper on day one is thwarted when you understand you have to first give them a 30-day notice, as stated in your contract. Also, Texas law requires any HOA contracts over $50,000 to be bid out. As landscaping is expensive, it means you have to send out request for proposals (RFPs) to new contractors, all of which you must review, discuss, and vote on as a Board at the next meeting. Quickly solving problems becomes a months-long series of emails and meetings. Nothing is fast.
You are now on the other side of complaints as you see people rage about the HOA on Facebook. That was something you did as well, but now you are their target. As you attempt to explain to people how things work, they digitally plug their ears. They don’t want to hear your explanations. They either want things to change or see you fail in the process; the details do not matter to most critics.
I know this because I experienced it myself. I have seen simple projects take six months to a year to complete, because of all the red tape and decision making that must take place. This can truly discourage you with trying to make future changes.
This is why I believe joining small community councils or boards is a great way to cut your teeth on learning how things work. This forces you to peek behind the curtain and humble yourself with your own ignorance. It is also a great way to improve your skillset and build leadership capability in your professional career:
The best ways to improve upon understanding board or government basics is the following:
Ask a lot of questions, even if they are dumb. If your pride is too much of an obstacle, then only ask these questions in private. Your HOA property manager can help, or many times property management companies offer free board training. Your fellow board members can help. Your consultants can help, or your local professionals are available to sit down and help you understand how things work.
Get training. Whether it is official training, simple videos on YouTube, or asking ChatGPT to explain how finances work, do it. Do not expect the knowledge to just pop into your brain. Learn how things work.
Read books. There are countless books, articles, and blogs that touch on how to be a great public official. I covered a few of these related to school boards in a recent post.
Lean on your consultants or professionals. As a board trustee, you are not expected to run the day-to-day work of your association or district. You are expected to make decisions based on the information provided. Although it is important for you to understand how things work, you do not need to become a subject matter expert in the work itself.
Ideally, you should have learned much of this knowledge before running for election, but it is not a requirement. There are many things you can do to get better at running your association or district, but at its core you just need to keep learning how things work. It is the best way to stay informed so you can make good decisions.
Going Public
To increase the complexity of board work, you may decide you want to run beyond an association and go for city council or your local MUD. These are true government entities, which are bound by many more rules from state and federal regulators. You become acquainted with things like the Texas Open Meetings Act or Public Information Act. Finances become much more complex, as you now have taxing authority.
Words like ‘fiduciary duty’, ‘SB2’, ‘parity’, or ‘VATRE’ can quickly become a nightmare to navigate.
The benefit of public entities is that they usually come with great consultants. Whereas HOAs are typically run by underpaid property managers who have 10+ properties at a time, your city council or MUD has a dedicated attorney, engineers, operators, bookkeepers, tax collector, and so on. The work becomes much easier when you have the experts in the room to help guide you.
I have been part of our MUD Board for the last six years, and I recently became President. My initial mission was to drive down our outrageous tax rate, and we have made some strides with this (1.39 to 1.07 within last 8 years). However, over time you begin to find just how complex government systems are.
As an example, the challenge with tax rates is that lowering them is much easier than raising them. You have to consider this when planning for future needs like covering new expenses or debts (e.g., bonds). With this, I have learned that having a low tax rate is a double-edged sword. Although your constituents may celebrate you for lowering taxes, within the next year you may find you cannot add or expand important services (especially so when the state forces unfunded mandates). Many of the things you campaigned on cannot be realized, like renovating a park or giving raises to teachers.
Taxes are also something you can only change once a year. Implementing change in bureaucracy is a long, grinding process.
Similarly with this grind, you will now have to sit through the most mundane parts of being an elected official. You must listen to public comments, often from people who do not understand how things work or who have personal agendas. You have to sit through lengthy status reports and make decisions on things like turning off people’s water or putting a lien on someone’s home. Sometimes it feels brutal, especially as these may be people you know, but this is the role you signed up for and a responsibility you must meet.
Of course, these processes exist for good reason as they ensure fairness, transparency, accountability, and thoroughness in decision making. They help you meet your duties as an official, such as fiduciary duty, which requires you to act in the best interest of your association or district, even if it makes the public upset (e.g., closing schools).
Bureaucracy is important for our local government to work, whether we like it or not.
When Experience Matters
For many people, putting someone in charge of a meager $400K HOA budget is not that big of a deal, especially when the impact is the grass not getting cut or people receiving more letters about trashcans.2
It is a different story when it is a $700MM budget, or managing oversight of thousands of employees, or management of tens of thousands of students.
As an example, using my favorite topic of our local school district that is Conroe ISD, this was somewhat on display at recent board meetings.
Our new slate of ‘Mama Bear’ Trustees overseeing Conroe ISD are playing catch-up with their knowledge on how things work:
To summarize: The first board trustee talking did not understand a core concept of taxes and public school financing. A moment was taken to explain it. As a side note, that trustee campaigned heavily on the previous board not being good financial stewards because they adopted a deficit budget (like most Texas school districts in 2024). She was wrong on this.3
However, that trustee is doing what new board members should do. She asked a question, and now she knows a little more of how something works. This is a good thing and something that I believe they should all do more of. Also, if I am being honest, I am not confident that her opponent in the election would have known how that part of school financing worked either.
As another example, when Trustee Misty Odenweller was first elected to the Conroe ISD Board in 2022, she also asked many questions that revealed how little she understood about public school processes, as well as simple Robert’s Rules of Order. Over time, she now understands much more and is presiding over meetings. As President she is now driving the district bus, and I hope she continues to learn how things work so that the board can better support our children.
Related to our school district, I believe it is yet to be seen how well our new board performs. None of them had prior board experience before their election, and it shows. Yet, board experience is not a requirement, as they often mentioned during the election when their opponents attempted to use it against them. And they are right.
It is good to have experienced people in office, but it is not a requirement.
This brings me to my next point.
Critics often make the best Board Members
I have witnessed this on many occasions. Some of the most ardent complainers can become some of the best board members. It is why when I see complaints about something in our neighborhood, I ask them to attend meetings, join committees, or think about running for the board themselves. They clearly care about the issues, and at a minimum, I want them to hear what we are working on.
To state what you already know, most critics do not care to participate in building or implementing solutions. Nine times out of 10 they laugh it off because their lives are always too busy to volunteer for such things. Yet when they do end up joining your board, and peek behind the curtain to see why things are the way they are, it is often that they can bring the ideas or tenacity needed to see through change.
They can also completely derail everything and bring progress to a halt. As with most things, your results may vary. I have seen many times where people get into new hobbies or roles without planning, only to quickly realize they have no idea what they are doing:
Serving is Rewarding
Even with understanding the difficulties that can come with volunteering for your local board or council, the rewards can be immense. Being part of processes that help people feels great! Supporting others has many rewards, and for some it can launch them into areas they had not thought about before.
Also, learning how things work gives you the opportunity to share that knowledge and help others understand, which can give them the initiative to volunteer as well.
Ultimately, serving your community is a personal decision. If you are thinking about running for any type of office, make sure you are ready for the long-term commitments it takes to see through change, but also think about how you may make a positive impact while also growing your own skillsets.
Closing
Bureaucracy is a grind, and it can take a toll on those not prepared for or able to adapt to it. Their ideas and grand plans can quickly be crushed when they understand the weight of the responsibility and the perseverance it takes to see change through to the end.
This is not the case for everyone, as some can really excel. Even those with board experience can fail when they move from one level of bureaucracy to the next, so it depends on the determination of the person.
For those finding difficulty in their new role, there are things you can do to keep pushing forward, such as asking questions, reading more, leaning on your professionals, and keeping an open mind.
For those who wish to fight against those they dislike, or see them fail, this does nothing to help those who need leaders to make good decisions. Building bridges is always better than tearing them down and being part of the solution is better than heckling from your keyboard.
This does not mean we cannot recognize policies or agendas we believe are wrong, but it does mean that instead of ranting on Facebook we should be involved where possible to help influence more positive outcomes. That, and voting.
It is why I choose to volunteer my time in our community, discuss things openly with whoever is interested (like in this blog), and continue to learn how things work.
And I hope you will keep learning with me.
Thanks for reading.
Yet, HOAs are necessary in suburbs, which is an entirely different blog post.
Of course, HOAs can go awry when the budget is not properly managed or amenities maintained, which can lead to special assessments or an increase in yearly fees. Who you vote into your HOA Board does matter.
This Board Trustee blamed the use of ESSER funds for the deficit when in reality it was because the Board gave teachers a raise while they waited for the State to increase its funding allotments, which the Texas Legislature did not. This was also reaffirmed in the most recent meeting by the Board President (Dec 3, 2024). The school staff hired by the ESSER funds were mostly absorbed by the District within the new schools being built already.
I actually attended the finance meeting at the beginning of December. My favorite part was when they learned that ridding themselves of the deficit will not be easy. When the new board president suggested that simply explaining the need for a tax increase would be welcomed if it were just explained to the voters.
Hope she learns sooner rather than later that asking nicely and explaining clearly is necessary, but not sufficient.
Great article. I’m still disappointed in the outcome of the CISD trustee election, but I’m trying to be hopeful that the ladies are willing to learn and do what’s best for the whole district