Open BOD Directors meetings

RayC4, I believe all Board meetings should be open except during an executive session of a meeting. Meanwhile, a Declarant usually does what ever they want because it is difficult for unorganized apathetic homeowners to challenge them.

In Arizona we have an open meeting law for HOA's and another nearly identical one for condo associations.

In theory, when the Declarant holds a meeting of the board of directors it is subject to the open meeting law. The problem in this state is that the declarant is not required to announce board meetings or post an agenda, so the chances of attending a meeting of the Declarant's BOD is unlikely.

You are making an assumption that the Declarant-controlled association holds board meetings. The Declarant is not likely to even have a formal meeting of his board of directors. He is not in the business of making decisions by committee. In the case of my own association when it was under Declarant control, all the directors worked for the Declarant's real estate firm; they may have had a board meeting every time they passed each other in the hallway.

Precisely the problem. In our state, the statutes related to open meeting requirements even state that 'avoiding the membership' etc is part of the reason for the laws. So, for example, 'notice' of BOD meeting and its agenda must be given to all members who may attend (but not participate). Under those rules, a significant decision made in the 'hallway meeting' (let's say for a major expenditure that affects members) imo is clearly not proper. In a Declarant control situation, I'm not sure whether it's legal....

I understand the 'power' issue -- the members have none. But does that entitle the declarant to make end-runs around the open meeting statutes?

Ray,

In VA the Declarant still has to comply with the applicable statutes.