Enforcement policy

Tom,

Although you can amend the governing documents, you aren't required to.

Since there is a conflict between the governing documents and the Law, the law must be complied with.

If you are considering revising your governing documents I would suggest the following procedure:

1. Form a committee of Homeowners to make the initial draft.
This committee would identify the conflicts between the docs and applicable laws.
This committee could then review similar associations governing documents for suggestions.
Based on this information, the committee would then create an initial draft for the Board
(I would suggest a draft showing the old version and new version on the same page).

Note: By forming a committee, there is a higher chance of approval because the members feel that they had a say in the process.

2. Board reviews initial draft and makes changes creating a draft document.

3. Hold a meeting for membership feedback
Board publishes draft document and holds a meeting of the membership for the sole purpose of members to provide feedback and for the Board to answer any questions.

4. Board reviews membership feedback and makes changes based on the feedback - creating a draft proposal.

5. Board sends draft proposal to Association attorney for review and comment
This costs less than simply having the Attorney start from scratch.

6. Board makes changes based on legal review and creates proposed amendments/documents

7. Board publishes proposed document and calls a meeting for the general membership to vote

8. If adopted, the board signs, records with State/Counte and publishes amended document.

When we last did our documents in 1993, it was a year to 2 year process. We also voted on the entire package as a whole, vs each amendment individually.