Replacing management company

Why must the present MC be there? Disinvite them.

One of my pet peeves with HOA's is the inexperience of board members. That inexperience has led at least some of you to believe that bids must be in writing and sealed.

What statute requires that? You are not the government. You have no requirement to obtain sealed bids nor are you obligated to hire the low bidder. You should be interviewing management companies to find the one that best suits your needs. Once you have narrowed the list down then start getting prices, although they should not vary a whole lot.

BTW, I have been in a number of service businesses and found a pattern to what first-time callers will ask. They start off just trying to find out if they have reached someone in the type of business who can provide the services they are looking for. Then they try to narrow it down to their geographic area, as in, "Do you provide service in my area?" The third question normally involves whether you can provide service within the time frame they are looking for. Usually the question of, "How much do you charge?" comes up no sooner than the fourth question and seems to be asked more often than not to be sure that it fits within their budget rather than trying to find a low bidder.

I agree with NpS and wonder why you don't have a special meeting of the board? When our Board interviews vendors, we do it in executive session anyway (permitted in CA). We also discuss them in ES. We vote on our selection in an open meeting of the board.

We also don't use a sealed-bid method for any prospective vendors. The proposals comes to us directors about a week before thee relevant meeting so that w each have time to read and think about them. In your case, I assume the bids would be sent to your president or perhaps secretary to distribute to the rest of you.