Executive session -agenda, meeting notice

Another question -

Tonight at the meeting, MC says, we don't need to disclose details of what we discussed at the executive session. Agenda at the executive should be disclosed only. Is this commet correct? Based on what our MC said. it seems we don't keep minutes for executive session.

Generally Executive Sessions are to discuss personnel issues like salary, performance, firing, etc. Discuss late payers and specific courses of action, etc.

Excecutive Sessions are not for doing general association business. Many owners distrust Executive Sessions as they feel the BOD is doing business behind there backs.

What you might consider is calling a Special Meeting. Just give out the appropiate notice of such.

There are only specific things that can be discussed in executive sessions. An executive session requires member notification and that includes an agenda. For an idea of how executive sessions should be noted in minutes, check with your local school board. I got one from a community college. It lists the reason, sometimes by the legal statute being considered, but not specifics. You need to keep meeting minute notes and who voted for what. Who voted for what is important for all meetings for legal liability and for an informed vote. Executive session minutes are required to be included in the next meeting minutes.

Your questions indicated you haven't read the Davis-Stirling Act closely.

The act only requires posting in a public place. Mail or email only if it has been requested. At least two days in advance. Your secretary should have a list of members who requested mail/email notification, but if you have an email list, it would increase transparency and thus trust in the board in my opinion if you emailed notification.

Our board had to be taken to court.

Also note that your CC&R may require more advance notice. For instance, our CC&R required 10-day notification for ANY meeting except emergency meetings. Thus, our board was required to follow this and was taken to court as part of an enforcement action.

Others are right--on the surface it doesn't appear that the topics, Lisa, should be in executive session. But I'm not sure about a discussion to send a claim notice to your delveloper. Potential lawsuits SHOULD be discussed in executive session. I HOPE THAT YOU HAVE A GOOD CONSTRUCTION DEFECT ATTORNEY!! They need to be totally familiar with the Davis-Stirling legislation as all of the requirements are listed in it. You shouldn't just be using any attorney. Some HOA legal firms also engage in construction defect legal actions. You might consider this

As I wrote in reply to one of your other posts, a special meeting of the board could be held and requires 4-days posted notice. The notice has to be in a public place--ours are in our mailrooms. There's no requirement to hand deliver or mail them.

Yes, general comments about the topics that were discussed in ES must be noted in an open meeting and be in the minutes.

I'm thinking that you & your board should have a session with your HOA attorney to learn more about your rights and obligations. It sounds like you're all trying to teach yourselves, but that can be very frustrating and interpretation of the law is EVERYTHING.

Lisa, I urge you NOT to divulge the nature of your potential legal action against the developer without your attorney's OK. I believe you need only disclose that the Association may initiate legal action. I do not believe that you need to be as specific as to say against whom. Neither Richard nor I are attorneys.

But don't delay, you probably fall under the defect legislation called SB800 & may need to move very fast!

Thank you all.

I guess this time, we will have executive session only for the discussion on claim process against the developer, since it's important and running out of time. We will post this executive session meeting notice in public area 4 days prior to the session.

Then in next regular meeting in Dec, we will appoint a new board member.

We have discussed the claim issue for a while. THe board has not decided whether we start with a laywer or not.

Lisa, I urge your Board to interview 3 firms that specialize in construction defects right away! Don't talk about this on your own, you need professional advice.

In our defect case, we interviewed 3 firms and none charged us for that initial interview. The best part about the interviews is that we directors learned a lot!!

I'm worried that the statutes of limitation in your case already have been blown--act now!!

Lisa, I hope that JM is NOT saying that you would be able to educate yourselves about construction defect litigation. Having been through the litigation process, I guarantee you that you won't be able to. Our board even had an construction defect mediator on it in the 1st couple of years of our existence ('01--'03) before I lived here, and he did not suggest that statutes of limitation were running and that the then-board needed to act.

There are legal processes that must followed to the letter.

I think JM means about other aspects of HOA biz like taking minutes, organization agendas.

Carol is correct. I mean that there are plenty of ways to educate the board regarding minutes and agendas.

These things do NOT require a lawyer and having a lawyer educate you about taking minutes or setting agendas is expensive.

The original questions seemed to indicate that the board didn't know what could be dealt with in an executive session and other basics.