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Maine Alliance for Road Associations

We are a non-profit since 1975, we are looking for liability insurance

  • 17 Jul 2012 10:58 PM
    Message # 1012727
    Deleted user
    We have been a non-profit corporation since 1975. Our last by-law update was in 1985. It seems we have been operating as a statutory association since its inception. At our 2012 annual meeting we voted to obtain insurance for BOD and the road, and to have an attorney review our by-laws.

    1. Do we need to be a IRS 501c3 to get insurance?

    2. Do we need to adopt the  statutory association template to be current with current laws and be able to collect from all who benefit from the road?

    3. We currently have winter and summer fee's but the road is here for everyone 365 days a year. Can we move to one yearly fee for all as we will be providing insurance for everyone year round?

    4. Can anyone recommend an attorney and an insurance carrier in the York county area?

    Thanks Russ

  • 17 Aug 2024 9:22 AM
    Reply # 13394931 on 1012727

    The Beach road association in Windham, Has been a nonfunctioning nonprofit corporation since the 80s and now is in the process of updating the bylaws to make it a functioning nonprofit corporation. In that process, we have a couple questions.

    1.  Would you recommend that our nonprofit corporation purchase liability insurance? What are the pros and cons of this?
    2.  Is there a specific form that you would recommend us using in terms of having homeowners sign on to the nonprofit corporation as required. Up to this point this is the reason why the nonprofit corporation has not been a functioning entity, as homeowners never signed on in agreement to, the nonprofit corporation bylaws 
    3.  Is there any procedural issues that we need to be aware of as a association, as we go through this process of updating the bylaws?


  • 18 Aug 2024 2:01 PM
    Reply # 13395187 on 1012727

    Wow, you sure have a bucket load of issues to address, and each is important.

    There are many subtopics to insurance with the only obvious negative issue being cost.  Cost, however, is offset by peace of mind and the very practical issues surrounding the potential losses being covered.  It would be difficult to find an attorney who would recommend against insurance if only because attorneys are very much aware of the high cost of defending a lawsuit no matter how frivolous.  So, the one loss most overlooked is the cost of defending against a lawsuit.  Is your group large enough to justify and absorb the cost?  I suggest the organization seek a quote for both Officers & Directors coverage and General Liability coverage and then determine if the coverage is worth the cost.

    A quick search reveals a Beach Road Association in Windham is an active Maine nonprofit started in 1992, many decades after the lots along Beach Road were established. The articles of incorporation are poorly drawn, citing no purpose and including a scant description of its members (“Each unit of Beach Road Association in Windham shall be considered a member….)” and containing signatures of five property owners, one of whom claimed an Orchard Street address.  It appears you have an identity crisis.

    Using a Google map, Beach Rd runs south west from Falmouth Rd with a continuance onto Lower Beach Rd.  There appears to be an unimproved path or road connecting the two. On the tax map the connecting road is called “not a through street.”  Perhaps because there is no bridge over an intervening creek? Orchard Road, by the way, connects to the now Lower Beach Rd. not Beach Rd.  So, which parcels are considered to be members and does that assumption square with the original intent of the nonprofit? Perhaps the existing bylaws can clarify.  

    Frankly, if only those few (10ish) parcels along Beach Road are what your group has in mind, then I wonder why bother with the nonprofit? Create a statutory association, being very careful about identifying those parcels to be included and consider what would happen if the “not a through street” indeed becomes a through street. 

    I suggest you peruse the sample bylaws offered in the Resources page of the Members Only tab as a format guide to handling the reorganization. If you decide to continue as a nonprofit, retain an attorney to handle the changes to the articles of incorporation.  They need to be specific as to the organization’s purpose and exactly identify the parcels that will be members, perhaps as a mention on a filed map. Each existing parcel owner should agree to membership on a recorded document so that future purchases, when performing a title search, will be on notice of the mandatory association membership.   Of course, all of that is unnecessary (but nice) if you decide to become a statutory association.

    Stay in touch with us as you move along the process and I suggest starting a new post rather than continuing on with a much older post so that others might easily find the topic and gain from the resulting writings.

    Last modified: 18 Aug 2024 2:05 PM | Anonymous member
  • 18 Aug 2024 3:28 PM
    Reply # 13395209 on 1012727

    Hi Raymond 

    Thanks so much for taking the time to respond to the issues that I presented .  I really appreciate your advice, and will be in conversation with other members of the group in regards to you recommendation...

    I will be in touch 

    Rosie Hartzler 

    35 Beach Road

    Windham, Maine  04062

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