Board meetings: attendance and frequency

Our association is for a condo development at the beach. Most of our owners are non-resident. That means we live somewhere else, visit the beach from time to time and rent the unit through a local rental agency at other times.

We have a five-member board. Only one member actually lives at the site. The other four members live as far away as Texas. This means that our meetings are infrequent and most of the members attend by telephone.

Is this a typical setup? Do you have any suggestions as to how to make such an organization more effective?

Thanks for your comments.

I agree with Kelly, especially when she says to "be thankful you get any business done".

I was on the BOD of a business group with BOD Members from all over the world. We conducted monthly BOD telephone meetings and met face to face twice a year.

Telephone conference calls are done all the time by BOD's.

Easy peezy solution.

I should probably add just a few comments to the original. As it turns out, our chairperson is the member who lives on site. And, she is very effective at getting things done, including getting the board to make decisions as needed. I put up this topic because I can imagine situations in which the effectiveness of a board would be sorely taxed by having to act primarily electronic. It's another case in which "leadership" plays such an important role in making things happen.

Thanks to all of you who responded. This was my first topic/post, but I think I will enjoy participating with so many obviously intelligent and educated homeowners.