Does Your HOA let Owners who Aren't Directors Place Items on Board Mtng. Agendas?

My Board does not want to waste any time with HO ideas. I'm the secretary of the Board. Any HOs who attend the monthly board meetings are not encouraged to speak and if they do their suggestions or comments are not even added to the minutes. Effectively they are ignored, mistreated and often maligned after they leave or in private conversations. It's just another one of those reasons why I don't enjoy being on the board ... It's horrible watching people who screw up the courage to come forward only to be treated as if they weren't even there. Perhaps MC companies are promoting this sort of abuse.

We don't automatically put things on the agenda at the request of an HO. HO suggestions/requests/problems get circulated to the entire board via email, and any director can have it added to the agenda. So requests that can't get a single director interested wouldn't make it to the agenda. This would be similar to how things work with your local, state, and federal government. People bug their local representatives about concerns, and if the representative thinks there's value, they introduce a bill. Of course, in the HOA you don't have campaign donors whose requests carry more weight than the general populace.

The HO could still bring it up during the meeting when we ask for HO input.

To repeat, Fred, the H/O's contribution must in writing a week before the meeting so that it can go on the agenda. Anything sudden or last minute cannot be on the agenda in CA. Sorry I didn't make that clearer.

It would be great, Douglas, if all directors had a chance to look over and approve (or not) of an H/O's written request. Unfortunately, about a year ago, the board voted to give the prez sole authority over what appears on the agenda. Two of us 7 voted no, but lost, obviously.

I'm very interested too, Jim, to hear why this sudden change.

Yes, I've read your problems, Sally and that's sad, but you response doesn't deal with my question.

Very interesting thread - thanks for posting up Kerry!

Do we encourage it? No.

Do we allow it? Yes.

However, most of the issues are brought up through the open forum section.

Well, um, I'm not going to direct everyone to my O.P. I must not have written it very clearly. In our HOA of 211 condos, normal attendance is about 12-15 each month.

I'll start over in a different way:

In CA, HOAs must allow an Open Forum at every monthly open Board meeting. Here Owners make remarks--sometimes complaints, e.g., "the pool water is too cold, can we raise the temp?" Questions, e.g., "When will the new ellipticals arrive?" Compliments,"the New ellipticals are great!" Occasionally they'll give their opinion on an agenda item. Usually there are a few short remarks of that type at this Open Forum.

We also hold an Open Forum at the end of the meeting, though not required by law. The ground rules for the Open Forums are on the back of the agendas that owners pick up when they come in.

In CA, open meeting agendas must be posted 4 days before the meeting or delivered to owners. Our agenda is posted in our mailrooms and on our website. In CA, no items may be added to the agenda after this period. Nor may items be added AT the open meetings. Owners may NOT speak during the business portion of our meetings. Our meetings, then, are completely efficient and on task.

We 7 directors get our meeting packets about a week before the meeting. If any of us want items on the agenda, we submit them in writing to the PM & president about 10 days before the meeting with a rationale and suggested solution or request for further research.

Since I've been on the board, we also have permitted owners to submit their items 10 days ahead of the meetings. Sometimes, they are requests for reimbursement with evidence, say that the plumbing clog was not caused by the owners' plumbing, but by common area plumbing. The plumber's receipt, etc., is included in our packet. We have one so far this year of that type.

Another type is different. Last month, and in opposition to our CC&Rs, an owner wanted us to give him permission to charge his electric motor scooter in a common area electrical outlet in our underground garage. He wrote a request with the av. amt. of elec. the scooter would use, etc. (THIS IS NOT MY TOPIC: IF YOU WANT TO TALK ABOUT CHARGING ELECTRIC VEHICLES, START A NEW THREAD!)

Yet another type is a suggestion for improvement, e.g. ways to save energy, to improve trash pick up in our hallway refuse rooms, etc. The requester provides nice evidence why the Board should consider it, and sometimes actual savings amounts. This type has produced a couple of very nice changes.

AS noted in my OP, we have 2-3 OWNER AGENDA ITEMS PER YEAR! (12 mtngs.) This year, we may have 5-6. This has NOT in my 7-1/2 years on the board produced chaos or cluster-um-kissing!!

I do get your remark, Bruce, that Robert's says that non-members of the Board may not participate in any way during the biz portion of the meeting. But we don't adhere to Robert's that strictly, Robert's is not a law, and, until now, we have believed that encouraging owner participation is healthy for our HOA.

I don't understand your point, Bruce. Not every owner who attends makes remarks at Open Forum. Some owners who want something on the agenda may not ever attend.

Our Board has done a good job of responding to owners' requests with the whole community in mind. So, no we did not increase the pool temp because one owner wanted it. And no, we did not permit the owner to use common area juice to charge his motor scooter, etc. I must be missing something or my second attempt to explain our situation also failed?

What are you getting at? that we should stifle Owners' sometimes really good ideas? And their right to speak at Open Forum in my state?

WE have been doing it that way for 7 years. but now the PM & prez, for reason that I don't know yet want to stop the practice.

Though your wording is different, Bruce I wrote twice above that we do just about the same way. Your cite;
"If a homeowner has a concern, the homeowner is advised to contact the PM. The PM drafts a proposed agenda (the PM keeps the calendar and knows when routine items, such as issuing the irrigation contract, renewing insurance, etc. need to be discussed and approved). The proposed agenda is distributed to board members one week in advance of the meeting and board members comment and suggest changes. The final agenda is prepared and distributed to the board members about 2 days prior to the meeting. Any last minute changes are made by board members when the agenda is formally adopted at the beginning of the meeting."

The difference is that our Board doesn't approve the agenda about a week before the meeting, president, advised by the PM does. I like your way much better an know it's consistent with RONR, which is a good practice, legally required by law or not.

I also, Bruce wrote that NOTHING may be added to agendas in CA after the 4-day posting period prior to the open meeting. Nothing may be added during the meeting, during Open Forums, etc. Th Board doesn't adopt our agenda at the beginning of the meeting, but per CA law, no one can hand ours either.

You added, "Yes, we listen to the homeowners, but they don't control board meetings." Ours don't either, but I don't know what I wrote that makes you think they do???

Kerry,

I guess another thing that threw me was the title you used for the topic. Although some items on our agendas might originate with homeowners, I think we view them as being put on the agenda by either the PM or a board member since unit owners don't contribute directly to the agenda.

This is exactly the sort of thing I try to find out about beforehand so that I can address it before the homeowner comment period. Often it is a simple explanation and as long as the homeowners are aware that you know about it and are addressing it, they are usually satisfied.