H.O.A. meetings & time factors.

Do either the Manager or Board respond to written complaints of specific violations of the governing documents?

Have you tried to get on the board?

Richard, can you run for the board and also try to get a few others to do so as well? If not, then your remaining recourse is to "get legal." Check your governing documents and state law to see what they say about arbitration/mediation. Send the board a letter of demand (google for info). Then you will either have to hire an attorney (preferred) or go pro se and seek either (a) arbitration/mediation; or (b) a court order that the HOA comply with the governing documents for xyz. If the directors and manager violate the order, then they will be in further trouble. The courts would prefer people get on the board, needless to say. Some here like to point out that this is like suing yourself. I think the cost may justify the reward (namely, getting a HOA that follows the gov docs all legally agreed to upon purchase). The time the legal actions may take may argue for running for the board with like-minded people.

My thanks, I will start with the info you gave. The state has rules set in place, but the fight with the Board and MC. is hard. So off I Go. :-)
R.L.

CCIOA states:

38-33.3-308. Meetings

(2.5) (a) Notwithstanding any provision in the declaration, bylaws, or other documents to the contrary, all meetings of the association and board of directors are open to every unit owner of the association, or to any person designated by a unit owner in writing as the unit owner's representative.

(b) At an appropriate time determined by the board, but before the board votes on an issue under discussion, unit owners or their designated representatives shall be permitted to speak regarding that issue. The board may place reasonable time restrictions on persons speaking during the meeting. If more than one person desires to address an issue and there are opposing views, the board shall provide for a reasonable number of persons to speak on each side of the issue.

The question would be ... what is considered "reasonable time restrictions". I would recommend looking at surrounding government entities such as your City or County government and what they allow for public comments during their meetings. That would potentially be what a court of law also would consider "reasonable". I have found most allow 5 minutes per citizen; however, other citizens in my city in attendance can give their time to one speaker which would allow one person extra time to cover all concerns of many. It sometimes is better instead of 3 people stating items for 5 minutes each and sometimes repeating for one person to spend 15 minutes stating all concerns in a manner which can make a better impact.

If this was a board decision, you may want to rally the owners together, vote these folks out and bring in people to do what you want. The management company works for the association, not the other way around, and the Board directs the overall actions of the property manager (which doesn't mean micromanage). If you get a new board, it should tell the management company how things will be done and if the company doesn't want to do it, find another one.

You said you don't necessarily have the stamina for this given your age, which is why getting more homeowners behind you is vital - someone else may be able to carry the message forward. However, you have to participate somehow - at least start talking to a few people and getting it started. You never know - you may find you have more stamina than you think! Just make sure everyone understands this is an all hands on deck situation - nothing will change unless and until everyone does their part.

As far as the homeowner forum during the meeting, I think 3 minutes should be adequate, depending on how many people show up. You have an average of 10-12 people on average (which is great for most associations - keep it up!) and even at 3 minutes, it's easy for the forum to run on and on and not get to the business portion of the meeting (which is the main purpose of the meeting.

A resident forum really isn't the place where most decisions should be made immediately. Ideally, you speak your piece and the board should then determine what sort of follow up should be done and when, and who should do it. At the next meeting, there should be a report on that follow up - for example, if there was an issue with an association vendor, the property manager should investigate and report to the board what was done. The board should probably set some rules as to what the forum is for and what homeowners should expect - and the homeowners should hold them to those rules.

As for "reasonable time frame", that depends on the problem - you may not have an issue that will be resolved that night or the next day, which is why you have to gather more information first and then address it. That could be done by sending a letter first and then perhaps providing a bit of follow up at the resident forum. If it's a maintenance issue, start with contacting the property manager first - keep track of when you made the call or sent the email (keep a copy for your records) and if it hasn't been addressed by the meeting, you can bring it up. And don't forget, there may be an issue with money - unfortunately when people don't pay assessments in full and on time, the board has to pick what will be done and what will have to wait. There's also the possibility the board is mismanaging the money, which is another issue (start with taking a good look at the budget and income/expense statements)

A sound idea.

The board probably won't know what you are talking about but the MC agent should. They agents are now required to be licensed and to know the law pertaining to HOAs.

They put their licenses at risk if they knowingly violate or knowingly direct others to violate CCIOA.