Kentucky HOA Board Roles & Responsibilities
What each board position actually does, how many people you need, and how to keep a volunteer board functioning as members rotate out year after year — including where board composition is actually set by state law versus your own bylaws.
Kentucky at a Glance
Most HOA boards have three to five members, elected by the membership for terms set in the bylaws — often one to two years, frequently staggered so the entire board doesn't turn over at once. Your specific bylaws define much of the exact structure, but in some states, part of that structure — minimum board size, owner-eligibility, or officer requirements — is actually set by statute, not left to the association to decide.
⚠ Common mistake: Assuming your bylaws alone decide how big the board is. In Kentucky, the minimum board size is set by a law written specifically for homeowners associations.
In Plain DilloHere's the short version…
Kentucky's Planned Community Act covers almost every planned community in the state, except neighborhoods with no homeowners association. It requires at least 3 directors, elected from among the owners.
President
Runs board meetings, is usually the primary point of contact with homeowners and outside parties (attorneys, vendors, the county), and typically has authority to sign on the association's behalf for routine matters. The president does not unilaterally make board decisions — actions still require a board vote — but does set the agenda and keep meetings moving.
Secretary
Keeps official records: meeting minutes, the membership roll, and official correspondence. In a self-managed HOA, the secretary is often the person who ends up being the institutional memory of the association — the one who can answer "wait, when did we actually vote on that?" This role matters more than it sounds like it should, because undocumented decisions are one of the most common sources of later disputes.
Treasurer
Handles dues collection, financial reporting, and the annual budget process. Many associations require some form of annual budget, and increasingly a reserve study projecting future major expenses. The treasurer role is also the one most commonly outsourced even in an otherwise self-managed association — hiring an accountant or bookkeeper for the mechanics while the treasurer sets policy and reviews the numbers is common and often worth the cost.
Kentucky — Officer RequirementsBylaws/documents
The Planned Community Act does not set officer positions. During the developer's control period, the developer may appoint and remove officers and directors, and may give up that right early.
Minimum board size and who can serve
Whether your association has a statutory floor on board size, and whether some or all of the directors must be owners, depends on your state. Where a rule exists, it usually comes from one of two places: a law written specifically for homeowners or condominium associations, or general nonprofit corporation law, which applies only because the association is incorporated as a nonprofit. The badge on each rule below shows which one applies in Kentucky.
Kentucky — Minimum Board SizeHOA/condo statute
At least 3 directors, elected by the owners. The declaration or bylaws set the exact number.
Kentucky — Owner/Member RequirementHOA/condo statute
Directors must be elected from among the owners. If an owner is not a natural person (for example, a company), certain representatives of that owner may be elected.
Kentucky — Other Eligibility Rules
If an owner is not a natural person, a principal member of an LLC, a partner, director, officer, trustee, or employee of that owner may be elected to the board.
In Plain DilloPsst… here's what this actually means…
If a lot is owned by a company or trust instead of a person, that owner can still be represented on the board by one of its members, partners, officers, trustees, or employees.
Term limits
Some states cap how long a single director term can run. A cap on one term is different from a limit on how many terms in a row someone can serve: a term cap alone doesn't stop a director from being re-elected. That takes a separate consecutive-term limit. Check both rows in the reference below for Kentucky.
Kentucky — Term LimitsBylaws/documents
No statutory maximum. The declaration or bylaws must set board terms. If the association is incorporated as a nonprofit and no term is fixed, a director's term is one year.
Conflict-of-interest disclosure
If a board member stands to personally benefit from a contract or decision the board is voting on, several states require a specific disclosure process before that vote can happen — not just a general "act in good faith" expectation. Some states wrote this rule directly into their HOA or condominium statute; others expressly import the state's general nonprofit corporation conflict-of-interest rules instead of creating a separate one.
Kentucky — Conflict-of-Interest RuleGeneral corporate law
The Planned Community Act has no separate conflict rule. If the association is incorporated as a nonprofit, a transaction in which a director has an interest is protected if the material facts and the director's interest were disclosed to or known by the board and it was approved by a majority vote of the directors with no interest in it.
⚠ Common mistake: Treating a conflict of interest casually because "everyone already knows" a board member has a stake in a vendor contract. In states with a statutory disclosure requirement, informal awareness isn't the same as a documented disclosure — skipping the formal step can make the contract itself challengeable later, regardless of whether the board's decision was actually reasonable.
Additional roles on larger boards
Associations with five or more board members sometimes add a vice president (covers for the president, sometimes chairs a specific committee like ARC) and an at-large member with no fixed portfolio, available to take on whatever the board needs — chairing a violations committee, leading a specific project, or simply providing another vote and perspective.
Can one person hold two roles?
It depends mostly on your bylaws, and in some states on the statute itself. Very small associations sometimes explicitly allow combining roles out of necessity. Others prohibit certain combinations — most commonly, keeping treasurer separate from any role with check-signing authority, as a basic financial control. Check your specific bylaws, and the state reference below, before assuming either way.
The real challenge: surviving turnover
The hardest part of running a self-managed board usually isn't any single role — it's what happens when the person who understood how everything worked rotates off the board and nobody wrote it down. A self-managed HOA has no institutional memory beyond what the current board happens to remember or document. The associations that handle this well share one habit: they write things down as they happen, not from memory afterward — meeting minutes the same day, a violation logged when it's observed, a decision recorded the moment it's made.
State-by-State Quick Reference
Select your state below for its actual board-composition rules. Every field is tagged with where the rule comes from — a statute written for HOAs or condominiums, general nonprofit corporate law that happens to apply, or your own governing documents — because those aren't the same thing, even when the resulting number looks identical.
| Scope / governing statute | Kentucky's Planned Community Act (KRS 381.785 to 381.801) applies to all planned communities in Kentucky, except current developments or neighborhoods that do not have a homeowners association. It requires a board of at least 3 directors elected from among the owners and leaves the number of directors, election method, and terms to the declaration or bylaws. If the association is incorporated as a nonprofit, KRS Chapter 273 also applies. |
| Minimum board size HOA/condo statute | At least 3 directors, elected by the owners. The declaration or bylaws set the exact number. |
| Owner/member requirement HOA/condo statute | Directors must be elected from among the owners. If an owner is not a natural person (for example, a company), certain representatives of that owner may be elected. |
| Other eligibility rules | If an owner is not a natural person, a principal member of an LLC, a partner, director, officer, trustee, or employee of that owner may be elected to the board. |
| Officer requirements Bylaws/documents | The Planned Community Act does not set officer positions. During the developer's control period, the developer may appoint and remove officers and directors, and may give up that right early. |
| Max individual term Bylaws/documents | No statutory maximum. The declaration or bylaws must set board terms. If the association is incorporated as a nonprofit and no term is fixed, a director's term is one year. |
| Consecutive-term limit | Neither the Planned Community Act nor Kentucky's nonprofit director-term section limits consecutive terms. |
| Conflict-of-interest disclosure General corporate law | The Planned Community Act has no separate conflict rule. If the association is incorporated as a nonprofit, a transaction in which a director has an interest is protected if the material facts and the director's interest were disclosed to or known by the board and it was approved by a majority vote of the directors with no interest in it. |
| Citation | KRS 381.786; 381.787; 381.788; 273.211; 273.219 |
Read the law
What Kentucky's law actually says about board composition, in its own words, with links to the full text where available:
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KRS 381.786
- Governing Statute / Scope: “all planned communities in this Commonwealth are subject to the provisions of KRS 381.785 to 381.801.”
- Governing Statute / Scope: “The provisions of KRS 381.785 to 381.801 shall not apply to current developments or neighborhoods that do not have a homeowners' association”
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KRS 381.787
- Minimum Board Size: “The owners shall elect a board with at least three (3) directors”
- Owner/Member Eligibility Requirement: “The association shall be administered by a board of directors elected from among the owners.”
- Additional Eligibility Rules: “If an owner is not a natural person, a principal member of a limited liability company, partner, director, officer, trustee, or employee of the owner may be elected”
- Maximum Individual Term: “the declaration or bylaws for an incorporated or unincorporated association shall provide for the following: (a) The number of persons constituting the board; (b) The election method and terms of the board”
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KRS 381.788
- Required Officer Positions: “A declarant may surrender the right to appoint and remove officers and directors of the board”
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KRS 273.211
- Maximum Individual Term: “In the absence of a provision fixing the term of office, the term of office of a director shall be one (1) year”
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KRS 273.219
- Conflict of Interest Rule: “The material facts of the transaction and the director's interest were disclosed or known to the board of directors”
- Conflict of Interest Rule: “effective if done by a majority vote of the directors who do not have a direct or indirect interest”
Making the transition easier
Formtabulous keeps your association's records — elections, violations, ARC requests, homeowner communication — in one place that survives board turnover, instead of scattered across whoever's personal inbox happened to handle it.
See how it works →Kentucky — Common Questions
This article is general information about how HOA boards typically operate and is not legal advice. The specific roles, terms, and requirements for your association are set by your bylaws and, in some states, statute — consult the governing documents and, where needed, a qualified attorney for your specific situation.