Budget work session?

Is the BOD required to announce a budget work session? It was my understanding that the Board could not use work sessions or informal gatherings to circumvent the open meeting laws. I live in a 64 home neighborhood with very few homeowners showing up to anything the way it is. I always go the meetings to hear the discussion that leads up to the decision as it as important to me as the decision itself. I know doing things behind the homeowners back is always easier than doing it in plain view but I find openness and honesty go much further in earning peoples trust.

Natalie,

I refer you to the Fairfax County Community Association Manual, Chapter 2, page 38 [emphasis added]:

Some boards hold preliminary “working” sessions prior to the actual board meeting, particularly when there is substantial business to transact or when the issues to be addressed are complex or controversial. This gives board members an opportunity to discuss the agenda and time to obtain additional information to enable them to act efficiently on the matters in the upcoming meeting, but these too, must be open meetings.

In 2000, the laws were amended to require a notice of the time, date, and place of each meeting be published where it is reasonably calculated to be seen by a majority of the members (association newsletter, bulletin board, website, or e-mail). Further, any member who writes to request such notice must be sent a written notice by first-class mail or e-mail on a continual basis for a full year. Unless exempt from public knowledge (as in an executive session), a copy of the full agenda package and supporting materials for each meeting must be made available to review by the membership. The very clear intent of these amendments is to preclude private board meetings that attempt to avoid the members, and associations should openly publish the schedule and location of all meetings, and welcome the attendance and input of all interested members.

The question is, what to do if the Board doesn't comply with the statute? Well in Virginia First, you should make sure that the Board is aware of the statute. A simple reminder that holding meetings like that can be done but must still be announced to the membership and be open for the members to attend. If this doesn't work, then you need to follow the procedure outlined in your governing documents, and required by the Virginia Administrative Code, for your association complaint procedure. Third, if this doesn't work, would be to file a complaint with the CIC Ombudsman's Office.

If the first step fails to work, the other steps won't stop the meeting from happening behind closed doors. However, it should stop it from happening in the future.