Family members attending annual meetings

There's been a lot of previous postings on this issue. Some will advocate that a non-owner/renter can speak at the Board Meeting, but our convenants specifically say that they can only address the board with written permission of the owner. Now the Board is there to conduct Board Business and not there to converse or interact with all the resident members. We generally leave a segment of 30 minutes at the end of the meeting where they can say their peace for 3 minutes. They have to sign in before the meeting and identify themselves. If the elderly gentlemen wants to be involved at this level, then he needs to run for office, I say. In a lot of states, a non-owner resident can be a board member (maybe not president), if he/she resides with the owner and the owner provides permision to them to do so. If the member's have complaints that the Board has not heard previously, this isn't really a good format for the compliants. They should document their concerns and put them in writing. Generally Roberts Rules would circumvent this problem and nip it in the bued.

David - B.T.W., We're in Virginia and I would suggest that the agenda items be set well in advance of the meeting. I really don't believe in homeowners bringing new issues through the door (just prior to the meeting). If they want to get an issue on the agenda, they should write or email the Board well in advance of the meeting and it's up to the Board to make the decision if it winds up the agenda for this month.

Our Bylaws state that a member OR a representative of the member may speak at a meeting. The homeowner must provide written authorization for the representative to speak. That is a simple piece of paper stating that John Doe authorizes Jane Lamb to speak as representative of the homeowner. Both the representative and the homeowner may not speak. Only one of them.

Your bylaws probably says the same. Have the president stick to that.

I would suggest announcing at the beginning of the meeting the meeting's agenda. That agenda is most likely already in your By-laws/CC&R's. Then say that to reduce meeting times ALL questions will be answered on an "Open Forum" basis at the end of the meeting. Assign a specific time limit for this. Something like 2 -5 minutes for question/response for each homeowner. Whatever seems comfortable.
It may not go over so well at first. However, emphasis the fact that business MUST be covered by the board before questions can be addressed. This is a BOARD meeting and the other members are welcome to the meeting. However, first and foremost the board must discuss issues amongst themselves. I would even include setting time limits for board members as well for question/response.
Meetings are hard to handle in a HOA. Learning and following the correct protocol is the utmost important to get things done. I'd suggest going to a city council meeting and seeing how they handle their meetings. They are much similar to your HOA's meetings. You may find some ideas there. Plus you get more involved in your city.

In AZ homeowners are allowed to comment on issues under debate by the board, prior to the board taking their vote; and they are allowed to comment again during a homeowner forum.

The law allows the board to determine when that forum is, the length of it, and to limit the number of speakers on one subject and the time the speaker is allotteed.

Our meetings are scheduled for 90 minutes. On our agenda we show the time allotted for each portion of the meeeting, as a guide to help us keep on schedule.

We hold our forum last, and schedule 20 minutes for it (20 out of 90 is reasonable). We tell the people that we hold it last because their questions may be answered during the business portion of the meeting, and that will save everyone time.

That explanation, which is true, is easier for people to accept than to say this is a board meeting for board business. That can irritate some.

If we finish the business early, then that gives more time for the forum.