amending the past

GordonS (Florida)
Posts: 10

Posted:

Our current HOA President wants to ammend some of the previous months minutes. He also wants to vote on expenditures months AFTER charges have already been made.
Is there any recoarse on this?
He was confronted on this (and other) issues and proven wrong. How can he make it legal now, without consequence?

TimB4 (Tennessee)
Posts: 21,059

Posted:

Any board member may propose to revisit past minutes or previous decisions. However, all the board members participate in the decision to amend or revisit.
If the board says no, that the decision until it's proposed again.

Tim

SusanW1 (Michigan)
Posts: 5,202

Posted:

Yes, use the "amend something previously adopted" motion and it must pass with 2/3 vote. (Can you give us an example of what he wanted changed?)

As far as the expenditures, the budget for something can also be amended at any time. Kind of like when I wanted to put a bathroom upstairs and found the downstairs eletrical lines needed to be all re-done. My budget was 'amended' in a big way.

Of course, if the general membership approved the budget, then it must approve the revised one too. Otherwise, it's a board call.

BruceF1 (Connecticut)
Posts: 2,535

Posted:

Gordon,

As Susan has said, you can use the "motion to amend something previously adopted", or you can repeal a motion previously adopted by a "motion to rescind" a previous action. Both motions require a 2/3 vote to pass without notice, or a majority with notice. ("Notice" meaning that the intent to offer such a motion has been communicated to board members prior to the meeting and placed on the agenda.) One can also amend the minutes of a previous meeting by "amending the minutes previously adopted", but it is improper to do this with the intent of making it appear that an action was taken that was not or that a motion was made and passed when it was not. Some might consider that fraud.

Also, you cannot, by such a motion, undo an action that has already taken place. For example, suppose at a meeting you authorize the clubhouse committee to spend $1000 to purchase new tables and chairs for the clubhouse. Suppose at the next meeting someone feels that $1000 is too much and wants to amend the previously adopted motion to authorize the expenditure of no more than $700. If the clubhouse committee has already spent more than that amount, such a motion would be pointless because you can't ask the clubhouse committee to give back money it was previously authorized to spend.

However, from the wording of your question I'm guessing this is not what you really want to do. It sounds to me like your president may have exceeded his authority and committed some act or made an expenditure without first seeking the approval of the board. The proper way to handle this is to introduce a motion to ratify (do not use the word "approve") the action taken, or the expenditure made, by the president. This makes the action made by the president "legal" in the sense that the board consents to it, without attempting to hide the president's prior action by trying to make it appear as if it never happened (which it sounds to me like he would like to do). If the board approves the motion to ratify, the president is "off the hook" (this time). Otherwise.......