working sessions

Since I noted the VA open meeting law at the last meeting to the Board and how working sessions need to be announced and open to the members, I received a notice for an upcoming work session. It states the date,time, location and purpose "for the hoa board of directors to conduct hoa business". It states that "since this is a working session we will not have an open forum discussion. Is this allowed and what exactly is considered a working session as opposed to a BOD meeting?

So they are just discussing business and not voting until the next meeting? VA state statues define meeting or meetings to be the formal gathering of the BOD where business of the association is discussed or transacted.
The regular BOD meetings only allow each homeowner to speak for three minutes at the beginning of the meeting and the rest of the meetings is for the BOD to conduct business and be observed by the homeowners in attendance. So this work session idea seems a bit like a meeting before a meeting but not allowing for the homeowner forum.

If the VA law is anything like the Florida law, closed meetings are not allowed except for very specific circumstances:

A meeting of the board of directors of an association occurs whenever a quorum of the board gathers to conduct association business. Meetings of the board must be open to all members, except for meetings between the board and its attorney with respect to proposed or pending litigation where the contents of the discussion would otherwise be governed by the attorney-client privilege."

That said, I'm not sure that there is any avenue of enforcement shy of suing the board (or of course, voting them out).

Natalie,

In my opinion, that would be correct.

A working session is not a Board meeting.

Members have a right to speak at Board meetings.

A working session is to review the documents and discuss the agenda. It is not for formally making decisions (voting on an issue). Votes on issues are to take place in Board meetings.

Kerry,

Working sessions are not mentioned in VA Statutes.
However, they are mentioned in chapter 2 of the Fairfax County Community Association Manual. Per that manual:

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 meeting

To show how others define it:

From Oregonlaws.org: A committee meeting held for the purpose of determining the contents of a measure to be reported to the desk. A work session is different from a public hearing: in a work session, no testimony is taken from the public, although the public may attend the hearing.

From Michigan Municipal League: Work sessions can be vehicles for addressing major issues more effectively. They can also provide opportunities for members to focus on long-term decisions rather than the day-to-day management issues that confront the city. Presumably they also make regular sessions more productive and shorter. Work sessions can also help members relate better to one another because of the greater informality of such sessions

From Roberts Rules of Order A meeting is actually a subset of a session, (for instance, the separate gatherings during an annual or biennial convention). The convention is a session, but its gatherings are meetings

Again, Natalie, your quote: ""for the hoa board of directors to conduct hoa business". "Conducting business" takes place with votes!! Dave's citation is very clear. And I'm glad to know that Open forum is required. Apparently your board feels that by calling their meeting a "working session," they don't need an open forum. But they are wrong.

So, Tim, re: Dave's citation (way below) below, the excerpt seems very clear to me. But are you saying it's not a state statute?

Va. Property Owners Act: "The board of directors shall not use work sessions ... to circumvent the open meeting requirements..."

Your Fairfax Co. citation, says the same thing: work sessions must be "open to members." I'm not sure how I'm misunderstanding you, but I seem to be.

Your other citations concern public entities and most HOAs are private. Robert's Rules is only used in most HOAs as a default resource when every other relevant document is silent, Robert's has no legal standing.

Here's Dave's citation again: 55-510.1. Meetings of the board of directors.
A. All meetings of the board of directors, including any subcommittee or other committee thereof, shall be open to all members of record. The board of directors shall not use work sessions or other informal gatherings of the board of directors to circumvent the open meeting requirements of this section...

VA has a different definition of working session in HOAs than you do, Melissa. So does CA. A quorum of our Board never meets for discussing HOA business unless the meeting is noticed and open to members (with th exception of very few ex. sees. topics). Sure our open meetings can sometimes be messy. The point is that all owners who attend can see and hear HOW we reach decisions (vote).

Conducting business is not doing tasks like changing light bulbs. I'm not sure what you mean about all of the business that's conducted outside of meetings. But, again, i don't know AL statutes on this topic.

OK, I get it. Some meetings in VA can be called "work sessions" Members still may attend. But not speak. Thanks, Tim.

Larry,

To my knowledge, similar language is not within VA statutes. I wish it was as your citation wraps up the issue nicely.

Cf,

It certainly is a good question to ask an attorney.

OR

Make a written complaint to the Board about the refusal to allow members to speak at "work sessions"
Specify that, per VA § 55-509, "Meeting" or "meetings" means the formal gathering of the board of directors where the business of the association is discussed or transacted. Since business is being discussed, the working session is indeed a meeting and must comply with VA § 55-510.1.

Once you receive your response from the Board, expecting it's "a work session is informal gathering, therefore, not a formal meeting and § 55-510.1 is not applicable" submit a request for a review to the CIC Board via the CIC Ombudsman's office. Their site has the form you will need to file a complaint.

NOTE: you must first file a complaint with your Board and have them respond prior to taking the issue to the CIC Board.