HOA/Board Meeting Notices to Community

Given what you have said, it sounds like any type of meeting held on June 12th would be in violation of either your By-laws or the state laws. However, do either of those two references state what type of meeting those notices are being given for? In our By-Laws, there is a difference between a notice for an annual meeting or a regular board meeting or a special meeting. I believe it can't be a special meeting as most HOAs require some type of notice given saying it is special and what the purpose is. Since there is no notice, then that doesn't apply. It sounds like that if there has been no proper notice, then there should not be any type of meeting.

Is it a big deal? Technically yes. Even if there is only one decision made at an illegal meeting, then there is a risk the HOA that someone could sue or take to court in some way over the outcome. It is not a good idea to work this way. However, if no one complains, who is going to challenge the outcome?

I would really check and see if there is some other method that was used that you may not have seen.

Is it possible that a previous notice (newsletter, posting, whatever) stated that board meetings are held every other month on the second Tuesday of the month? Once you give notice for a continuing regular meeting schedule, then there probably is no further requirement to notify for each individual meeting.

Hi Roger,

Our newsletter states: "The community will be electing the Treasurer at our next HOA/Board meeting. Our next Boarding meetings will be on June 12th and August 14th."

Isn't the June 12th considered a "special" meeting? I'm confused on what an actual special meeting is.

A friend of mine said in their opinion that although a board meeting may be regular, a board meeting does not require a quorum. If new agenda is added to the meeting, that would require a quorum it would now become a special meeting, correct?

Also, if we are voting on a Treasurer on June 12th, aren't we supposed to have proxies, etc. sent out to us as well?

Also, if you read my reply to RobertG you can see how our previous meetings have been held.

Thanks for your help.

Actually, I think the confusion was caused by statement in the newsletter. If it states that "The COMMUNITY will be electing...", then that sounds like the individual homeowners are expected to be voting. But then it continues with "at our next HOA/Board meeting". So this is a Board meeting where only the Board will be voting. I can see why Cathy and anybody else would be confused.

There is probably also the typical confusion as to what homeowners vote for vs what the Board votes for. Usually the homeowners elect individuals to serve on the Board of Directors, but the homeowners do not vote for the specific office that those individuals will hold. At the first Board meeting after the homeowners election, the Board members vote to elect individuals to the office. In this particular case, this meeting sounds like a regular Board meeting where the Board will be selecting one of their members to fill the office of Treasurer (possibly due to the old Treasurer stepping down?).

As to quorum, I think your friend is wrong. Board meetings do require a quorum of Board members present in order for a Board vote to be valid. If you have 5 Board members and your governing docs state that quorum is 3, then any votes at a meeting with only 2 Board members present would not be valid.

I'm in a Washington State condo HOA. I'd check your CC&R's about meeting requirements. Our HOA is required to have 2 meetings per year within 30 days of each other. Any other meetings added are up the Board Of Directors. We do not have to allow owners to attend. We do keep minutes and post them. We are close to banning owners from attending the meetings because the Board Of Directors have not been able to deal with HOA business. All our last 4 meetings have been is a yelling match with the owners doing the yelling.

When I point out that being a board member is a volunteer position. Owners just turn around and say "Ya'all suc at it." So we've given owners the chance to step up to the plate. And every single time they bail out.

It's gotten really ugly at our meetings. And all I ever hear is how bad our board is, how bad our property looks, how they want to spend every penny no matter what it is for, and that the board is wasting money on things that could wait to be repaired or replaced because there are no kids in their building (even though there are 20 kids on the property).

The last board spent every single penny and we had to wait another 4 years to even have money to start repairs without doing large special assessments.

Hopefully you won't suffer the same problems we're having.

CathyT1: Since the purpose of the 6/12 meeting is to "elect a new Treasurer", I am wondering if this is a formality for the Board (only/no membership) to 'appoint' a person to finish out the term of the 'current Treasurer' due to his resignation.

I could be wrong, and I've been wrong before! But, it does not sound like a regular election whereby members 'elect' and the Board, among themselves, decides who fills what position.

To answer your(2) it sounds like members did not receive a 'notice' of the meeting, but were informed, via newsletter, that a Board meeting was going to be held .

I would suggest you investigate further with the PM on the meeting's purpose and who is invited.

I don't see how you can appoint anyone without a quorum, since it would require a majority vote.

Are you saying that the homeowners say (hypothetical) that Joe, Mary, Fred and Tom will be officers (out of 9 board members) and then the 9 board members decide that Mary is President, Joe is VP, Fred is Sec and Tom is Treas?

I find this hard to believe this is the process.

I just made up a number of total board members to be 9. I just wanted to differentiate between the homeowners electing all 9 board members and the homeowners electing the 4 officers. Every association I have heard about has the homeowners just electing the 9 board members and then the board deciding which person of that 9 then becomes the various officers. (Again, you substitute whatever number of board members you have for the 9 in my example).

We have a Nominating committee actually ours is starting now because 2 of our officers seats will be up this November. At the next meeting, we have proxy and secret ballots. Then we have a counting committee at the meeting who announce the winning votes. After candidates are elected the Board goes into a meeting ( which is now not allowed by FL statues) and decides who will hold what office with the remaining officers. Because you were president doesn't mean that you will stay in that position. If I am elected and I want to be Treasure, I can ask for that position, if agreeable with all officers. Hope that is clear to you.