Absentism among Board Members

How many meetings are you willing to let them miss? If there are no rules that specifically address this issue, then the community should consider what to do about the issue.

As a point of Fiduciary Duty responsibility, board members are supposed to:

"Duty of Care can be defined as the amount of care that an ordinarily prudent person would exercise in a like position and under similar circumstances. This means that a board member must exercise reasonable care when he or she makes a decision for the nonprofit.
In order to meet the reasonable care standard the board members must take an active and informed role in decision-making. They should be sure to attend board meetings on a regular basis and be actively involved in those meetings. They must ask questions about matters that are unclear or if they feel they need more information. While they can rely, in part, on recommendations and information provided by others (including committees, outside professionals and knowledgeable staff members), they must make independent decisions based on that information."

If they are not exercising their responsibilities, then the homeowners can always remove them from office.

Linda:

Most documents state 3 consecutive meetings missed the rest of the board could vote to remove the one member. If your documents do not have clarity on this subject, I would suggest this being a good standard to follow.

Linda, the solution is to amend the By-laws. You can not prevent any owner in good standing from running for the Board so you need a means to remove them if absent. I suggest "Any Board member who is absent for any 3 Board meetings within 12 consecutive months is automatically dismissed from the Board; and at the third meeting in which the Board member is absent the Board members present may appoint a member to fill the vacancy.

Another option, though the board members still may not particpate is to have them participate via a conference call during the board meeting. Obviously, you need to check bylaws to be sure it is legal. Just an idea.

Roger & Linda:
I agree the solution is to amend the Bylaws. However, if you state a B-member cannot be absent for 3 meetings within 12 consecutive months, that will not solve the problem with these members who will be absent 'consecutively' due to their being away from the community for a considerable time within the 12 months.

The phrase to capture these Board members may be 'seasonal members', meaning they are absent from the community based on the season of the year. Whether the community wants to elect or
now retain seasonal B-members may be the question.

Good Luck Linda.