recording a meeting without knowledge

Hello
In the state of PA, is it legal for a member of the Community to record a quarterly meeting without the knowledge of fellow members or the Board of Directors?
Thanks

Thanks for that great advice William.

William - If a member wants to record, there is probably a reason - real or imagined. Your refusal to allow recording could become moot here in Arizona because there is a Senate bill introduced this session that would allow video or audio tape recording of ANY HOA meeting open to the members. This same bill would require all committee meetings to be open, and I assume that would include the architectural review committee. Doesn't mean it will get passed, or even out of committee this session, but it does portend what the future holds. Harold

In Flordia our State Statues read: RECORDING: Any parcel owner may tape record or videotape meetings of the board of directors and meetings of members. The borad of directors of the association may adopt reasonable rules governing the taping of meetings of the board and membership.

Lets take this step further. Most states are now moving toward board and committee meetings being open to the members, and to allow the recording of these. In other words, you may not be able to prohibit this in the future.

What should concern you is not just the recording of a meeting, but where it may end up, such as on YouTube or Google videos. In other words, what's to stop someone from video recording your annual meeting, editing it and posting it to the internet.

I'm going to be posing this question to a group of attorneys a couple of weeks from now, with the suggestion that associations are going to need an "Information" policy, outlining what you can and cannot do with association information, or recordings of meetings of the association. At a minimum, I would state that meetings of the members are private, and any release of information outside of the members would require a release from both the board and any member who appeared or was present.

Or something to that effect.

Just more to think about.

Joe

To add a little more confusion.
I would believe that a lot of HOA'ss are moving to teleconference for Board meetings, if they allow and provide a free exchange (under the rules) of all attending (listening), how are they going to prevent someone from recording the meeting. I see nothing wrong with recording what is said at a Board Meeting. If you don't want people to note what you say, don't say it. None of us can recall who said what let alone what they said ten minutes after we leave the meeting.

Look at this interesting bit of news:

http://blog.pennlive.com/patriotnews/2007/06/brian_d_kelly_didnt_think.html

18 year old videotapes his friends speeding ticket only to be arrested for felony wiretapping as he didn't get the officer's permission.

i just became secretary of our board and recored the first meeting with their knowledge. It will be used to aid in transcribing for minutes to make sure motions are correct and the such. Once the minutes are approved, it will be destroyed.

Personally in my situtaion, I don't think there would be a conflict of interest..the reason was expressed, and there is no way i would give it to homeowners - if they want to know whats going on - get involved *sorry we have a bunch of whiners here that only express disgust at the annual meeting, but refuse to get invovled.

Minutes of a board meeting are "discoverable".... as in can be used as testimony in a court case. If you record do so, and have transcribe and erase tapes. After they are admitted into the next meeting as "previous meeting's minutes" the recordings really serve no useful purpose. I would suspect that most "recorders" do so, with this process in mind.

If you are recording to catch the board in a "ah haaah" moment, as someone mentioned there is a greater underlying problem, possibly. If you are doing to assist a hearing impaired, or otherwise members, the board is NOT require to supply the recording process, the member is - but it allowed under most "open law" statutes. Please note that I stated most, not all.

I think that making it known that you are recording a meeting should be done, and not done by anyone in secret. Not sure how to "manage" what happens with copies - someone mentioned "youtube" internet, etc. I would think that it would be just as easy to post up written copies of minutes as well. For that matter we can download and created governing documents which allows "such and such HOA" to invade Vermont and sell to Canada.. doesn't make it valid.

Personally I which that we could afford to tape and videotape our meetings - there used to be a time where mental institutions would pay ya about $40 bucks if you brought in a new "patient," and HOA's boards and members are teeming with potentials - trying to remember if this was a green or yellow pill day for me.....