Proper site for annual meetings

Our HOA, like many, has a very poor turnout. The meetings are scheduled at a municipal building about 5 miles away. I suggested we might get a better turnout if we had it somewhere on the property. Note: we don't have a common building here. Anyway, our Property Manager said no dice as PA law requires meetings be conducted in a "business atmosphere." My question: What's wrong with a member's house or patio? Thanks.

Hi John:

I used to manage a community that used a nearby church's facilities for their meetings. The church allowed them free use of the space. Other communities I managed used schools or churches nearby, usually paying a nominal rent for the convenience of meeting close by the association. Sometimes, library spaces are available, or a restaurant may have a meeting room available.

If you can arrange a space so that the board is at a table, facing each other, to make it clear that they are the ones doing business, that can be helpful, inasmuch as it becomes more clear to the residents who come to the meeting that they are there to watch the board do its business, rather than it being an open meeting of the residents. Rearranging the same space for annual meetings can result in the opposite, where it's clear that the board is there to run a meeting of the residents.

I believe that it's best to not have a meeting at a board member's house, since it's that person's "territory." An exception might be to set up some tables and folding chairs in a garage space, rather than using the living space. The tables and chairs do need to be set up so that it's clear that the people attending are watching a board meeting, rather than being the main participants.

JPM

A "business atmosphere" is the way you conduct the meeting, i.e. agenda, Robert's Rules, motions, etc. You could have a "business atmosphere" anywhere. A long time ago I took over management of a site that had failed 4 times to get a quorum for their annual meeting at the nearby public library. So we changed it to an ""Annual Meeting/Barbecue Social" - had a 95% turnout first try. Made sure we were cooking upwind so the delighful aroma wafted over the meeting. Annual meeting took 20 minutes from gavel to gavel. They've been doing it successfully ever since.

Joe