florida petition to get and item on agenda

d)If 20 percent of the total voting interests petition the board to address an item of business, the board shall at its next regular board meeting or at a special meeting of the board, but not later than 60 days after the receipt of the petition, take the petitioned item up on an agenda. The board shall give all members notice of the meeting at which the petitioned item shall be addressed in accordance with the 14-day notice requirement pursuant to subparagraph (c)2. Each member shall have the right to speak for at least 3 minutes on each matter placed on the agenda by petition, provided that the member signs the sign-up sheet, if one is provided, or submits a written request to speak prior to the meeting. Other than addressing the petitioned item at the meeting, the board is not obligated to take any other action requested by the petition.

We are having a discussion as to if the 20% need to be members in good standing, what do you think?

Barbara

Well why not gather more to be safe?

The statute references voting interests not members. If members have lost thier voting rights by not being in good standing you could be in for a fight regarding eligibility.

Keep in mind putting something on the agenda does not guarantee ANY action. NOT EVEN A MOTION! It could just wither on the vine sort-of-speak.

If this issue or request is something the BOD is opposed to you are no better off unless membership support is so overwhelming that you could imply a recall of the directors or the entire BOD. (That however is a whole different fight.)

We have executed such a petition. We stopped at ~60% (of 98 possible) signatures to make the point that one way or another the issue will be resolved by either this or the "next" BOD.

You are beginning to mix things up a bit.

Memebrs RIGHT to Speak (RTS) at a FLA. BOD meeting is not guaranteed by FLA. ststutes unless a petition forces the item/issue on the agenda (thus the RTS is limited to ONLY that specific item/issue).

The statute is unclear as to what a "voting interest" is, but, regardless places NO restriction as to who can speak to the petitioned item/issue. It only speaks to the amount of time and that a "sign-in" can be required.

Just let the signature eligibilty go as a sign of good will, let them petition the BOD, call the meeting or add the item in accordance with the statute, and then take no action (motion, vote, etc.) on the agenda item. The BOD has met its legal obligation.

That's Politics!