BOD only meetings

You should have 1 person on your board talking to the lawyer. The HOA lawyer is not open to everybody. Preferably it should be the president. Although a board member with legal knowledge could do it if agreed by the board.

Having 1 point of contact will save money and protect information. When someone sues their HOA they are suing themselves and all their neighbors. However, the HOA members have a right to know the HOA board is handling it. So I would not give details but in the open meetings discuss the issue is being addressed. The updates will be given when appropriate. Otherwise they could be called in as witnesses if they want more details. That should hold off the nosy.

One more thing... a lawyer need not be present to convene an Exec. session.

Cool.

Once the matter(s) are settled we have full access. There's a littany of reasons for this.

Typically the Board would Start the meeting in open session, recess to executive session, return to open session and then close the meeting. The open meeting minutes would be something like:

Board meeting was held on mm/dd/yyyy @ hh:mm with the following Board members in attendance which satisfied quorum requirements:

The minutes of mm/dd/yyyy were approved.

Motion was made to go into executive session to discuss pending legal matters.
Motion was seconded by [name] and passed unanimously.

Meeting was recessed to executive session at hh:mm
Meeting was reconviened from executive session at hh:mm

[any other motions as a result of executive session]

The next board meeting will be held on mm/dd/yyyy

Meeting was adjourned at hh:mm

Minutes of the open meeting would be available to all members (just as all open meeting minutes are).

Minutes of the executive session are maintained and only available to Directors. Court orders would be needed to release them to anyone else.

Motions are decisions of the Board.
Agreements can be made in Executive session but decisions should be mentioned in the open session. Example:

otion was made to go into executive session to discuss pending legal matters.
Motion was seconded by [name] and passed unanimously.
Meeting was recessed to executive session at hh:mm
Meeting was reconviened from executive session at hh:mm

Motion was made, seconded and passed by x yea to x nay, to have the President contact the attorney concerning question brought up in executive session (this documents that it was a board decision to contact the attorney but doesn't reveal what the question was).

Motion was made, seconded and passed by x yea to x nay, that the President enters into discussions with member and bring the issue to resolution (this documents that the Board voted to have the President bring the issue to resolution - it is implied that the President would be using options discussed in executive session).

Motion was made, seconded and passed by x yea to x nay, to continue follow the advice of the attorney in the matter of abc. (this documents that the boards decision is based on a legal opinion, which may provide protection to the board if the advice is bad, and that the board desires to follow that advice).

Motion was made, seconded and passed by x yea to x nay, to drop the legal action against abc.

Motion was made, seconded and passed by x yea to x nay, to escalate collection methods and authorize the Treasurer to contact the attorney concerning account that is x days behind.

As you can see, the wording of the motion can be made without giving away what was discussed in executive session but still documents a boards vote and actions.

Hope this helps,

Tim

Mike notification to members of executive session in CA is 2 days, you'll need to look up what it is in FL.

In CA, we are permitted by Civil Code to hold executive session before, after or on a different day than the regularly scheduled monthly (in our case) open meeting of the board. But you need to follow FL codes on that. Our Board does not adjourn to ES from our open meeting as, indeed, we'd have to kick homeowners out of the meeting room. Some would undoubtedly not wait around to return & we, as a board, do appreciate their comments, etc.

Tim wrote that: "Motions are decisions of the Board," but I think he may have meant something different than that-- perhaps "approved motions," something like that?

So, Mike, based on the site that Peter provided, it looks like you need 48 hrs. notice for a session where the attorney is present. But I don't see anything specific to executive session notice requirements. I remember months ago on this forum that someone wrote that attorneys must be present at all executive sessions but I can't recall the reliability of the source.

I also see that 14 days notice applies to meetings of the member (homeowners), but not meetings of the board though there are exceptions. I urge you and your fellow directors to become more familiar with FL laws.