A service of:
Community123.com
Professional websites for HOAs & condos, since 2004
🎁 1st year FREE for HOATalk members! →
← Return to Topics List

BIG MEETING MONDAY: Homeowners Banned from Speaking

Started by SharonB9 • 16 replies • 1556 views

💬 Join us to post & get advice from 50,000 HOA & Condo leaders.

Create Free Account →

⚡ Takes 30 seconds

Already a member? Log in

SharonB9 (Florida)
Posts: 2
Posted:
We have a contentious meeting on Monday and the press will be there. A legal issue will be on the agenda and a lot of angry homeowners are showing up and want their voices heard. The Presidents has made it clear that she does not want anyone other than the board to speak.

This is a FL HOA....can she do this? Can she not allow others to speak? BTW, the issue we are discussion is a 1st amendment issue of independent website. Interesting.

Thanks for any information
JohnC46 (South Carolina)
Posts: 14,265
Posted:
It is quite common (Bylaws, Robert's Rules, etc.) for only BOD Members and those they invite to speak, to be able to speak during a formal BOD meeting. A BOD Meeting is not a member free for all.

Some BOD's will have an open question/comment session before or after a BOD Meeting.

A BOD Meeting is the meeting of a corporation BOD. It is not a public meeting such as your local town council where quite often the attendees are allowed to speak during the meeting.

Hope this helps.

MelissaP1 (Alabama)
Posts: 13,836
Posted:
It should be in your documentation on how meetings are to be held. I would suggest looking there first.

Open meetings are really open board meetings where members are welcomed to join to listen and give feedback if requested. It is so the membership can hear the decision of the board and know what they are doing. Since the board is elected to manage the HOA on a daily basis on the behalf of the general membership.

As for the media attention issue. It's like shooting yourself in the foot when that happens. You now have ruined the reputation of your HOA by broadcasting it's dirty laundry. It's going to leave a bad taste in people's mouths who may be looking to buy into your HOA. HOA's are to make your property ATTRACTIVE to potential home buyers. It's not really to keep home values up. It does not matter if your HOA board is right or wrong. It's now perception of the media.

I'd suggest not having the media attend your meeting. Your HOA should be able to do that. There's no rights for a lawyer or the media to attend a MEMBER ONLY meeting. Which is what a HOA meeting is. So you all should be able to not have the media in attendance which would be my first step. They can sit outside those gates or property line and interview people out there.

I would then explain to people this is an "In-house" issue and going to the media is really damaging the HOA and possibly their ability to sell their homes. Would they move into a HOA with this issue splattered on the news? Then why do it to themselves?

My suspicion is this has something to do with someone having another HOA account on social media? Which is not the official page of the HOA? I would just make sure the HOA has it's own endorsed website and ignore the other one completely. Make sure there are areas only for members only on your site who have to log in. Let the other person do what they want with their site but don't recognize it on yours. They will do their own damage to themselves by publishing bad or wrong things in the end.

Once you get your membership to realize that it's shooting itself instead of resolving itself, then you all may make some headway into this issue.
Former HOA President
KevinK7 (Florida)
Posts: 1,343
Posted:
Florida Statute 720.306 states that members and parcel owners have the right to speak at all membership meetings and any meeting and any meeting with reference to items open to discussion OR on the agenda.

One question - is your HOA mandatory?

The reason I ask is that statutes define HOAs as mandatory. Many HOAs I have seen that are voluntary operate under the belief that 720 does not apply and only 617 applies.
SharonB9 (Florida)
Posts: 2
Posted:
Quote:
Posted By KevinK7 on 05/11/2013 7:52 AM
Florida Statute 720.306 states that members and parcel owners have the right to speak at all membership meetings and any meeting and any meeting with reference to items open to discussion OR on the agenda.

One question - is your HOA mandatory?

The reason I ask is that statutes define HOAs as mandatory. Many HOAs I have seen that are voluntary operate under the belief that 720 does not apply and only 617 applies.

Thank you Kevin, Yes I found it. It is a mandatory HOA http://www.floridacondohoalawblog.com/2012/03/articles/qa/owners-have-right-to-speak-at-board-meetings/

JohnC46 (South Carolina)
Posts: 14,265
Posted:
I agree with Me.

I think there has been a lot of damage done to the association. If I were looking to buy, this is one place I would avoid like the plague.

Shame on someone.
CarolR11 (Colorado)
Posts: 2,563
Posted:
I may have missed it, Sharon. Are you on the Board? Whether you are or not, did the Board invite the press?
TimB4 (Tennessee)
Posts: 21,059
Posted:
Sharon,

You should inform the board that not allowing owners to speak at the meeting is in violation of FL statutes. Then cite the Statute. You should continue that since the Press will be in attendance, it's probably better that the Association allow members to speak than to be seen by the press as violating State laws.

TimB4 (Tennessee)
Posts: 21,059
Posted:
Question:

Was this advertised as a membership meeting or is it simply a press conference.

As others have pointed out, members have a right to speak at meetings.
That right would not confer to press conferences.
CarolR11 (Colorado)
Posts: 2,563
Posted:
Related to Tim's question, Sharon: Is the meeting a board meeting or a meeting of the members (homeowners)?
CarolR11 (Colorado)
Posts: 2,563
Posted:
Related to Tim's question, Sharon: Is the meeting a board meeting or a meeting of the members (homeowners)?
KevinK7 (Florida)
Posts: 1,343
Posted:
How exactly did the press get involved?
JohnC46 (South Carolina)
Posts: 14,265
Posted:
Quote:
Posted By SharonB9 on 05/11/2013 8:11 AM
Posted By KevinK7 on 05/11/2013 7:52 AM
Florida Statute 720.306 states that members and parcel owners have the right to speak at all membership meetings and any meeting and any meeting with reference to items open to discussion OR on the agenda.

One question - is your HOA mandatory?

The reason I ask is that statutes define HOAs as mandatory. Many HOAs I have seen that are voluntary operate under the belief that 720 does not apply and only 617 applies.


Thank you Kevin, Yes I found it. It is a mandatory HOA http://www.floridacondohoalawblog.com/2012/03/articles/qa/owners-have-right-to-speak-at-board-meetings/


Sharon

What you posted was reply from an attorney to a question. Please note the last part of the reply which I have emboldened:

Question: I live in a community with a homeowners’ association. Does the board have to let owners speak at board meetings? S.R. (via e-mail)

Answer: Yes. Prior to the 2011 Legislative Session, HOA members, unlike their condominium counterparts, were not legally entitled to speak at board meetings, with a limited exception for meetings called under a somewhat complicated member petition process.

In 2011, the statute was changed to provide owners with the general right to speak at all HOA board meetings with reference to all “designated items.” As mentioned in a recent column in response to a related question, the Florida Homeowners’ Act does not require a detailed agenda for HOA board meetings (as is required in the condominium context). My interpretation of the new law is that it entitles members of homeowners’ associations to speak at board meetings with reference to any item that the board takes up at that meeting.

The statute does empower the board to adopt written reasonable rules expanding the right of members to speak and governing the frequency, duration, and other manner of member statements.

So it cannot be a free for all grill the BOD, grandstand in front of the media, etc. session which I think some of your dissenters are looking for.

Hope this helps.

CarolR11 (Colorado)
Posts: 2,563
Posted:
With Kevin, I think I also asked earlier how the press got involved. WHO invited them?? WHO has the authority to invite non-members to your board or membership meetings??

Like John46, Sharon, I noticed that Kevin's reply was from a lawblog. 720.306306 seems only to refer to membership meetings, and does not cover board meetings. Here's the actual code:

RIGHT TO SPEAK.—"Members and parcel owners have the right to attend all membership meetings and to speak at any meeting with reference to all items opened for discussion or included on the agenda. Notwithstanding any provision to the contrary in the governing documents or any rules adopted by the board or by the membership, a member and a parcel owner have the right to speak for at least 3 minutes on any item, provided that the member or parcel owner submits a written request to speak prior to the meeting. The association may adopt written reasonable rules governing the frequency, duration, and other manner of member and parcel owner statements, which rules must be consistent with this subsection."

So if the meeting on Monday is a membership meeting, 720.306 would seem to apply, which would include a required written request prior to the meeting from each member who wishes to speak. This might help avoid chaos.

If, however, it's a Board meeting, 720.303 appears to be the statute to follow:

(2) BOARD MEETINGS

(b) "Members have the right to attend all meetings of the board [which} includes the right to speak at such meetings with reference to all designated items. The association may adopt written reasonable rules expanding the right of members to speak and governing the frequency, duration, and other manner of member statements, which rules must be consistent with this paragraph and may include a sign-up sheet for members wishing to speak. . . ."

At a board meetings, a sign-up sheet may be used and might make sense at Monday's meeting to limit those who tend to blurt out anything that pops into their heads. But please read the FL codes for yourself, Sharon, as I didn't look at everything and may have taken these cites out of context.
KellyM3 (North Carolina)
Posts: 2,239
Posted:
Colleagues,

What you'll see here is an entire neighborhood get dragged through the mud - the "evil" board and the "noble" homeowners will both be painted as grumblers to the outside world. I am curious about the press involvement in the meeting where the people paying the HOA bills are not invited to engage. Weird top to bottom. "Don't ever talk family business outside the family."
KevinK7 (Florida)
Posts: 1,343
Posted:
I would also suggest being careful about the press getting involved. They'll edit you down to. Catchy minute or two story.

The press got involved early on in my neighborhood and they took a complicated issue, a couple snippets from neighbors being sued, and boiled down the situation to one homeowner suing the association over $100, which was far from the truth. They didn't even research the situation. The news reiterated the homeowners being sued and presented their opinion of what was going on as fact. The HOA attorney interviewed who went into more detail was almost completely ignored and the plaintiff was presented as anothe disgruntled kooky homeowner. In the end it helped nothing.
CarolR11 (Colorado)
Posts: 2,563
Posted:
How'd the meeting go, Sharon? Want to share? Thanks.

🎯 You've read this entire discussion

Join the conversation with 50,000 HOA & Condo Leaders:

  • ✓ Ask follow-up questions
  • ✓ Share your experience
  • ✓ Get expert advice
  • ✓ Access 350,000 discussions
Create Free Account →

⚡ Takes 30 seconds

Already a member? Log in here

Terms of Use and Privacy Statement