New Director Orientation

Start here, then choose the tool you need

This orientation introduces the role and your first month. Use the companion resources when you are ready to organize the association’s work.

• Century Village Operating Checklist — local contacts, account handover, UCO procedures, and issue routing.
• Board Operations Starter Kit — annual calendar and responsibility chart.
• Board Operations Handbook — procedures, official-form links, and printable tracking worksheets.
• Proposed Board Leadership Academy — eight lesson plans for deeper learning; separate from required director certification and approved continuing education.

1. Understand the job

You serve the association and its unit owners. The board makes decisions collectively at properly noticed meetings; an individual director does not make association policy alone. Florida law describes directors and officers as having a fiduciary relationship to unit owners. [1]

Read more: Board Member Roles · Fiduciary Duty · Governing Documents.

2. Complete your Florida director requirements

For a newly elected or appointed residential condominium director, Florida law requires two items to be submitted to the association secretary within one year before election or appointment or within 90 days afterward: [2]

1. Written certification: certify that you have read the declaration, articles, bylaws, and current written policies; will work to uphold them; and will discharge your fiduciary responsibility.
2. Education certificate: complete a Division or Division-approved condominium board course of at least four hours and submit the completion certificate.

One year after submitting the most recent written and education certificates, and annually thereafter, submit a certificate for at least one hour of approved continuing education on recent Chapter 718 and related rule changes. Keep your own copies and confirm the secretary has filed them. A director who fails to file the initial certificates on time is suspended from board service until compliant. [2]

Use the Director Certification and Education guide for the submission checklist, continuing-education tracking, and documentation. Confirm any existing certificates and uninterrupted service with the secretary rather than assuming a new appointment always requires repeating a course.

Board Synergy Club materials supplement the required course; they do not replace it. Florida-law summary: §718.112(2)(d)5.b; checked October 16, 2026.

3. Your first 30 days

These are practical onboarding steps, not additional statutory deadlines. Ask your president, secretary, or manager where each item is kept. Do not put owner records, passwords, or private case details in personal or public files.

Week 1 · Get oriented

• Record your election or appointment date and calendar the 90-day certification deadline.
• Get the recorded declaration and amendments, articles, bylaws, rules, and current written policies. Begin reading them.
• Enroll in the DBPR or an approved four-hour condominium director course.
• Meet the board, manager, secretary, attorney, and emergency contacts; learn how requests are routed.

Weeks 2–3 · Understand the association

• Read the current budget, recent financial reports, reserve schedule, and any special assessment or loan plan.
• Review current insurance summaries, major contracts, and the management agreement, if any.
• Read recent board minutes and obtain a concise list of open projects, litigation, claims, and owner concerns through authorized channels.
• Check building maintenance priorities, recurring water damage, hurricane preparation, and any applicable inspection or SIRS reports with the manager and qualified professionals.

By day 30 · Contribute carefully

• Attend a board meeting; observe notice, agenda, owner participation, voting, minutes, and follow-up.
• Identify the association’s annual calendar: budget, insurance renewal, elections, reporting, inspections, and recurring contracts.
• Ask which decisions require counsel, an engineer, insurance agent, accountant, or other licensed professional.
• Finish the written certification and approved course early; submit both certificates to the secretary by the applicable deadline.

Checklist selections are saved only in this browser on this device when browser storage is available. Clearing browser data removes them. A checked box is a personal reminder, not proof of filing or an association record. Confirm receipt of certificates and retain completion evidence through the secretary’s records system.

4. How to participate in good board decisions

Before a vote, ask:

1. Authority: Does the board have authority under the statute and this association’s documents, or is an owner vote needed?
2. Process: Was the meeting properly noticed, and are the agenda and supporting documents available as required?
3. Facts: What written reports, bids, contract terms, and alternatives support the choice?
4. Money: What is the full cost, funding source, and effect on reserves and future assessments?
5. Risk: What happens if the board delays? Does a professional need to inspect, advise, or draft?
6. Record: Is the motion clear, the vote recorded, and someone assigned to carry it out?

Declare potential conflicts promptly and seek counsel on required disclosures or recusal. Do not promise an individual owner an outcome before the board has acted. Read Conflicts of Interest and the Board Meeting guide.

Prepare for your first board meeting

Board Synergy recommended practice

1. Before the meeting: read the agenda and supporting packet. Ask the manager or authorized contact for missing reports and identify questions about authority, cost, scope, and alternatives.
2. During discussion: ask focused questions, disclose potential conflicts, and distinguish facts from assumptions. If professional advice is needed, identify the question and appropriate reviewer.
3. After a decision: confirm the assigned lead, next action, target date, and evidence of completion. Use the decision/action log to track follow-through alongside the association’s minutes and records.

For each proposed instruction, identify whether it comes from Florida law, a governing-document requirement, UCO procedure, contractual duty, or Board Synergy recommended practice. Ask for the actual source before treating advice as a universal rule.

5. Four areas to watch every month

6. Know who does what in Century Village

• Your association board: governs its association and makes decisions within the law and its governing documents.
• Manager or management company: performs the services in its contract under board oversight. The board remains responsible for its decisions.
• Association attorney, accountant, engineer, and insurance professionals: provide specialized advice within their roles.
• UCO and WPRF: have separate community-wide roles. Check their current official materials and governing agreements for a particular service or responsibility.
• Board Synergy Club: offers independent educational resources and opportunities to share good practices; it does not direct association decisions.

For local procedures, use After an Election or Appointment, Working With Your Quadrant VP, and the Explaining UCO directory. For filings and access, consult DBPR Resources and the Sunbiz association-record guide.

Additional resource routes: Board roles · Working with management · UCO and WPRF · A–Z resource index.

Official sources and review note

1. Florida Statutes §718.111 — association duties, fiduciary relationship, insurance, and official records.
2. Florida Statutes §718.112 — board meetings, budgets, director certification, continuing education, and building-study provisions.
3. Florida DBPR Condominium Education — free courses and current enrollment information.
4. Florida DBPR Condominium FAQs — official answers on records, meetings, reserves, and inspections.

Resource and styling update: October 16, 2026. Director education and meeting summary checked against §718.112 on that date; other original references retained. This is an educational orientation, not a determination for a particular condominium. Before using it as association policy, compare it with the current statutes, your recorded governing documents, contracts, and professional advice. Requirements can change.