Homeowner discussion during board meeting

ArtT5, We begin every Board meeting with an open session for homeowner/members' input. At annual meetings the last item on the agenda allows members an open floor for whatever.

Here's how our Board does it:

The resident forum is held in the beginning of the meeting, no more than 15 minutes

Members are allowed 2 minutes to say whatever's on their mind (perhaps a minute or two more if there aren't many people there)

Once the forum is completed, the president announces the business portion of the meeting has begun and from that point on, members are encouraged to stay, but won't be allowed to comment or ask questions until after the meeting adjourns.

There was a time when we'd have a resident forum after the business portion had concluded so people could comment on whatever went on, but most folks would speak their piece during the resident forum and then leave, so we stopped.

I've always felt the forum should be used to provide general comments, suggestions and criticisms on Association issues, not "I'd like the property manager to do X to my home." For that, you could pass around some request forms and tell people if they have a specific maintenance issue for their home, write it down and it'll be given to the property manager (who attends the meeting) for review and action. That's very useful for condos and townhouse communities like mine and the forum can be used to address more broader issues.

People may think the board must address a specific issue right then and there - that really isn't necessary. You can remind people some issues may already be on the agenda and will be addressed at that time, but he/she can still say something that can be considered during the deliberation. Otherwise, the board will review everything else and have a formal response by the next meeting. If it's something the property manager can address after the meeting, he/she should do it and notify the board and the member accordingly.

Bottom line, your board needs to set some ground rules and then follow them - you can distribute the agenda at the beginning of the meeting and make sure the resident forum rules are listed, and the president should announce them again when the forum begins. You might also encourage people to write letters to the board that could be read during the meeting. Our board never responds to anonymous letters and the letter is attached to the minutes, thus ensuring people are fairly professional.

It's a community of about 300 single-family homes, and folks attend board meetings because they're engaged, not angry. We're a relatively upscale 55+ community of single-family homes that only recently was turned over by the developer, all of which contribute to having time available for and interest in attending board meetings.

With Larry, Art: How large is your HOA? Condos, detached homes, or?? How often do you have open meetings? I, too, am curious about your large attendance!

We in CA also must set aside an "Open Forum" time for Owners (members) to ask questions, make comments, etc. We may set a time limit, and the 2 minutes Sheila suggests should be plenty.

We allow two Open Forums, one a the beginning and one at the end. The one at the end has, in fact, led to 2-3 reversals of our Board decisions per year, which I think is positive! (I'm on the board.)

With Sheila: Make a good list of Meeting Rules to place on the reverse side of the agenda. We have such a list and one is that maintenance items (high rise condo) must go to management during their business hours.

We occasionally invite comments from owners during the business portion of the meeting if the matter is especially relevant to their daily lives.

We're 200+ units with 11% part-time residents and about 30% landlords. About 20-25 owners attend each month. Our bylaws only require quarterly meetings, but we have too much business to meet so infrequently.

I was aware we had better than average community participation in our board meetings but had no idea we were so far outside the norm. Something like 50 people might show up for a typical board meeting. That's roughly 10% of owners (counting co-owners). Most are there to observe, not to participate. There's a little socializing before and after, but people are there for the board meeting. No egg nog, good or bad.

During the general comment period, the issues homeowners raise are typically of general interest, such as what can we do about construction traffic where it doesn't belong, or why hasn't a burned out streetlight been replaced. But people may want to comment also on agenda items. We're getting bids on a pool maintenance contract but no one on the board uses the pool so they may not realize our existing guy is doing such a great job we should keep him even if he isn't the low bidder. Or we're considering landscaping options and some homeowners think high quality is essential but others think we're spending too much, so we could have some discussion there. These discussions rarely get out of hand, and when they do, the chair has a gavel.

Anyway, what I'm getting from these responses is that communities differ quite a lot in this area. There are some where it isn't much of an issue because so few people show up at board meetings. There are some where homeowner discussion is limited to a session before or after the business part of the meeting. And there are some where the board permits or even invites homeowners to weigh in on agenda items while they are under consideration. And apparently, the level of participation we see from people who show up out of a desire to be knowledgeable about the community, rather than to complain or push an agenda, is something about which we should be pleased.

I'm with Kelly. Sounds like all is going well and that the Meetings are positive. I've seen the minutes of the first couple of years in my HOA ('01-'02) and the was a lot of participation by Owners then too. One very nice thing about it was the newish Board was able to form committees quite easily that became feeders for future Boards.

(while I agreed above that contributions CAN be limited to, say, two minutes, we don't seem to need that as written rule of the back of our agendas)

Keep up the good work!

Unfortunate I feel your pain. Our HOA is no where as large as yours. There was a couple of meetings that we ran over because our casual meeting methods were failing us. Open session was clear for homeowners to speak.. But during motions, presentations of bids ect. A few owners became the peanut gallery and interrupted every single subject, gave advice etc. It was OUT of hand. We had to and we now enforce the open session only.. 3 minutes ( although wer are lax on that part) WE presented the new approach to our meetings in two ways.. The blurb stating owners are allowed to speak at open forum, 3 minutes and not to intreerupt the business or flow of meeting or they will be asked to leave after a warning. It worked..

Our over time stopped and the buttenski.. Slowed down interruptions were not entertained and it's helped a lot. Try it

Well, I may have exaggerated a hair, JohnC, it's probably more like 1-2. Following Robert's Rules (RONR) the Board must first to agree "to reconsider a decision previously made." In a could of cases over the 11 hers I've served, we've postponed making a new decision until the next mtg. due to needing more info.

In a complicated HOA like ours, with 3 op. budgets, & three reserves accounts comprising 170 components, etc., ect., our agendas probably are longer than those of Boards with smaller HOAs with few amenities.

My point is that our monthly agendas might be longer than other HOAs. So the meeting we just has was 11 action items under new biz, and 1 under unfinished biz. Along with 12 open meetings/ann., we also usually have a couple of special meetings on major issues.

Our directors, from what I've read on this board, are no more or less diligent than most HOAs. We get all meeting materials a week ahead of the meetings, but I can tell that some directors only read items of their own concern/interests.

I don't think changing 1-2 decisions a year out of perhaps 120-130 action items is a problem and I'm thrilled that our board is willing to listen & respond to h'ownrs concerns!