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Special Meeting Rules

Started by BettyO1 • 12 replies • 1454 views

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BettyO1 (California)
Posts: 104
Posted:
What, if anything, can be done if board does not allow any members to speak at an special meeting where board is meeting to respond to members' petition? Can board decisions made at the meeting be invalidated?
TimB4 (Tennessee)
Posts: 21,059
Posted:
Betty,

I understand that this was a special meeting of the Board of Directors.
Typically, per CA statutes, the Board is supposed to allow members an opportunity to speak. However, there are exceptions where members are not allowed to speak. To offer a better opinion, I have the following questions:

Was this considered an executive session?

What was the topic of discussion?

Were you the only non-board member in attendance?

As for invalidating any decisions, I doubt that would be the case unless the issue was an enforcement issue and then, perhaps, only if fines/monetary penalties were involved.

Without knowing the answers to the questions I asked, I really can't offer a better or more specific of an opinion.
BettyO1 (California)
Posts: 104
Posted:
It was an open meeting with many members in attendance who petitioned board to allow members to vote to approve a large, non-budgeted capital project.
JohnC46 (South Carolina)
Posts: 14,265
Posted:
Betty

Typically a BOD does not need permission from fellow owners to make an expenditure. You can present all the petitions, request for votes, etc. you want and they may well not have to pay any attention to you nor let you speak.

You have not given enough information for one to give an educated/experienced opinion.

TimB4 (Tennessee)
Posts: 21,059
Posted:
Quote:
Posted By JohnC46 on 04/16/2015 8:04 AM

nor let you speak.

Per CA statutes, the Board "shall" allow members to speak at open meetings.

However, they don't have to listen and the fact that they didn't allow anyone to speak would not change any decisions made at that meeting.

You may need to gather support and recall the Board in order to have a say on the proposed expenditure.

BettyO1 (California)
Posts: 104
Posted:
Board violated Open Meeting Act!
DonA2 (Arizona)
Posts: 170
Posted:
The fact that they called a meeting in the first place means they didn't violate the open meeting act. Can't speak about California, but I know it's not a requirement that homeowners speak at any meeting our BOD's hold. We always allow it though, but it's not required.
BettyO1 (California)
Posts: 104
Posted:
Open meeting says members can attend, can provide input.

CA. Civil Code §4925. Open Meetings; Open Forum

(b) The board shall permit any member to speak at any meeting of the association or the board, except for meetings of the board held in executive session. A reasonable time limit for all members of the association to speak to the board or before a meeting of the association shall be established by the board.

Read more: Civil Code §4925 http://www.davis-stirling.com/MainIndex/Statutes/CivilCode4925/tabid/3777/Default.aspx#ixzz3XULvBZjL
NpS (Pennsylvania)
Posts: 4,216
Posted:
Quote:
Posted By BettyO1 on 04/16/2015 9:02 AM
Open meeting says members can attend, can provide input.

CA. Civil Code §4925. Open Meetings; Open Forum

(b) The board shall permit any member to speak at any meeting of the association or the board, except for meetings of the board held in executive session. A reasonable time limit for all members of the association to speak to the board or before a meeting of the association shall be established by the board.

Read more: Civil Code §4925 http://www.davis-stirling.com/MainIndex/Statutes/CivilCode4925/tabid/3777/Default.aspx#ixzz3XULvBZjL


That may be the statute, but what's the remedy for failure to comply? If you don't have a solution in mind, no one is going to listen.

Some random thoughts:

Have you tried to call your own Special meeting yet? Did you get enough signatures? Did you make demands that someone other than the board or MC runs the Special Meeting? What exactly did your petition say?

But without more detail, ....

Sikubali jukumu. Read all posts at your own risk.
RichardP13 (California)
Posts: 163
Posted:
Betty

It isn't clear whether the meeting held was a Board or Member meeting in response to the petition. Once a petition is officially received, the Board has 20 days in which to set a date for a meeting, which can be as far as 90 days out.Another thing to consider is how the petition itself was worded.

If the project in question, say a roof replacement, where monies had already been set aside for it's replacement, the membership generally wouldn't vote on such a matter. If they were unhappy with a decision the Board was making, they could petition the Board for a meeting, BUT, in order for an action to be taken, quorum of members must first be met.

If this project wasn't reserve related, then, if the project cost more than 5% of the 2015 annual expenses, then the project MUST be approved by the members via a secret ballot election. Generally, and the specifics would be in either the CCRs or Bylaws, an affirmative vote of 51% of the members would be required to approve, once quorum has been met.

And yes, the Open Meeting Act requirements were not met if a time allotted for member comments was not given.
LarryB13 (Arizona)
Posts: 4,099
Posted:
Quote:
Posted By DonA2 on 04/16/2015 8:55 AM
The fact that they called a meeting in the first place means they didn't violate the open meeting act. Can't speak about California, but I know it's not a requirement that homeowners speak at any meeting our BOD's hold. We always allow it though, but it's not required.

Don,

This is not correct for Arizona, where ARS 33-1804 governs open meetings in HOA's.

In part, the statute requires that:
"all members or designated representatives so desiring shall be permitted to attend and speak at an appropriate time during the deliberations and proceedings. The board may place reasonable time restrictions on those persons speaking during the meeting but shall permit a member or member's designated representative to speak once after the board has discussed a specific agenda item but before the board takes formal action on that item in addition to any other opportunities to speak. The board shall provide for a reasonable number of persons to speak on each side of an issue."

The BOD is required to allow members to speak.
DonA2 (Arizona)
Posts: 170
Posted:
I actually thought that's what ARS 33-1804 said, but wasn't sure. I stand corrected.

Like I said, we do give homeowners the chance to speak at every meeting. We had one member on the BOD that wanted to do away with it, but that didn't get very far. I should have remembered ARS 33-1804 because of that incident....
CharlesB20 (Colorado)
Posts: 15
Posted:
For what it's worth... Colorado law specifies that homeowners be afforded an opportunity to speak on any matter under consideration prior to the taking of a vote on the question.

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