In the purest sense, the Community Association is a form of representative democratic governance. As with actual representative governments, the various actors and leaders have prescribed roles and responsibilities.

In community associations, the owners are the electorate and have the responsibility of being good citizens (paying assessments, voting, abiding by the rules, etc.) and for electing representatives to a policy body to carry out a policy-making and administrative oversight role. Officers are elected to provide leadership to the policy body. Committees are created by the Board to provide substantive input to the board's deliberative process and as a conduit for owner participation and involvement. 

The community association is self-governed by owners and as such, the homeowners select leaders from among themselves who make decisions for the group. Homeowners must then abide by those rules and decisions. 

Joining a committee is a responsibility for each owner since all members need to share in the work involved in governing the association. It also creates an opportunity for more in-depth participation and important decision making. 

Owners also have a responsibility to adhere to legal obligations. They have an obligation to pay assessments in a timely fashion in order to permit the association to meet its financial obligations without penalties. Timely assessment payments save the association, and you, the owner, the added costs of collection activity. 

Finally, owners have a responsibility to adhere to rules and regulations. mutually agreed to and properly adopted. This adherence to the rules permits owners to live harmoniously under the same constraints. It also saves us the expense of more formal enforcement.