Arizona Practical Questions Archive
Have you ever thought about what could happen to all of those e-mails you are sending or receiving on behalf of the association (whether as a board member or a community manager)? Did you realize that those e-mails could be considered official association records?
Did you know that, if you don’t keep those e-mails and other association electronic records in a separate place (such as, by use of a separate e-mail address), your entire inbox (and, potentially, your entire hard drive) could be subject to discovery and review in the case of litigation?
How can you avoid this from happening? Board members should consider establishing a separate e-mail account solely to send and receive e-mails that relate to association business. There are many different sources of free e-mail accounts that are completely web-based (meaning that nothing becomes stored on your computer). Additionally, board members should consider viewing documents through these web-based accounts, and not storing the documents on their computer. By only using the web-based e-mail account for association business, a board member could help prevent all of their personal e-mails from being subject to review and scrutiny in the case of litigation.
If you have any further questions on this issue, or would like to consider adopting a record retention policy (to address these types of records as well as other records of the association), please contact Lynn Krupnik at 480-922-9292 or This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..
