HPP Board 2014

[msky]

So, let me ask a question if I may. I'm about to take the test to be a Notary Public. The Association files liens and releases that require notarization which used to be free when June was on the Board since she was in town a couple of days a week volunteering at the pier and offered to take time out of her day to take the documents to FHB to be notarized for free. That option is no longer available. Consequently, we have to call a notary and that can add up to be quite a bit of money depending on how many pages need notarization. It sounded like a logical option that there should be an in-house notary to save the Association some money. The former Finance Committee said there were funds available to proceed with the application and so I did. The idea was that the company paid for the items to get me started and I would notarize the liens and releases for free...at least up to the amount the company paid to make this happen. That should get them a lot of notarization. Once I "pay back" the fees paid to put this process in place, I would then charge the company the basic notary fee. Question: Would his be a conflict of interest?

In studying for the test I have learned that as a "Notary Public" I would have to be available to the general PUBLIC to notarize documents during business hours and could charge them for the service. This fee would be mine to keep and pay taxes on.

Can someone untangle this for me? Becoming a Notary Public is NOT on my bucket list. I've only chosen to go ahead with it to facilitate a portion of my job and to save the Association some money, however if there could be a conflict of interest I could just as easily repay what the company has already paid out and chuck the whole idea. Or I could pay the company back, get my license anyway. But would it be a conflict of interest if I, an employee, charged them to notarize documents for a fee?

Thanks,
Morgan