Motions from general member ship at annual meeting?

Hello,

Can a general member (non board member) make a motion from the floor at an annual meeting that is not on the agenda. For example, can a homeowner motion to have a candidate removed from the voting ballot due to the fact that the candidate has filed a lawsuit against the Association? who seconds it? Anyone at the meeting?

If so, Is that motion acted only by board members? Only the board votes?

Or

Can the members vote on the motion especially if they do not wish to have that potential board member making financial decisions related to his/her own lawsuit (which is what would happen if elected)??. There are potentially enough concerned voter, constituting more than 10% for Quorum, that would be present at the annual meeting to have this candidate removed from the ballot for his/her conflict of interest if a homeowner is allowed to make that motion and the membership able to vote.

I cannot find anything in our by-laws on this or in the POA ACT. What is the process essentially?

Appreciate any feedback. Thanks

Yes, the candidate is not suitable with a law suit against the board he wants to operate on.

One way could be campaigning, did you campaign and tell other homeowners that this potential candidate is risky for your HOA?

One way maybe proxies, does your HOA allow proxies, did you collect any?

But Tim wouldn’t it be more of a conflict for the person asking this question as that person, probably the meeting officer, woudnt want this person to be on the board?

I’m assuming this is kind of like GuyM’s situation, the OP is probably a board member who doesn’t want the potential candidate on the board, same thing happened in GuyM’s situation, where they attempted to keep him off the board. More details on who caused the lawsuit, the current board or is the lawsuit frivolous.

Actual legal actions are public record. Hence, from my perspective, there is no conflict.
In my opinion, the Association should have disclosed to it's membership that they are involved with any legal action.

Additionally, if the question is asked of everyone, I don't see it as an issue.

My first recommendation of collecting proxies addresses the main concern of not wanting the individual on the Board.

Your governing documents may say something different but, generally, members can make motions at an annual membership meeting. However, this particular motion would not be proper because it would circumvent the election process. Even if 100% of the membership thought suing the HOA was a valid reason to bar someone from running, they would have to change the bylaws (and possibly the CC&Rs if they address elections), they could not just vote to remove him from the ballot. It would also be illegal in some states where the state code dictates who may be on an HOA board.

Removing someone from the ballot at the annual meeting would also disenfranchise all those who voted for this person by absentee ballot.

Sorry, my last post was in response to this.

I don't know about that. What if a member wants something on the agenda (and a vote by the members at the annual meeting) that the board doesn't agree with? All they have to do is refuse to put it on the agenda, and by your logic, it can't be introduced by a member at the members meeting.

Assuming an item is within the scope of the governing documents, I wonder if a member would be in his legal rights to demand the item be added to the annual meeting's agenda. It is less expensive to do business at the annual meeting than it is to, say, petition for an additional Special Meeting. I do not think I have seen this topic here in the past. (Maybe because any major discussion items more typically result in the member wanting something simply running for the board?)

Looking at the other post by the OP about referendum’s, that the person who doesn’t want a person on the ballot also appears to not want to have referendum’s as requested by a member. It’s probably the same person requesting the referendum’s. I believe board members should not have all control in member meetings, if a member wants referendum’s on the agenda, the committee setting up the annual meeting should put it on the agenda, controversial or not.

This becomes an issue when lack of volunteers lets the board also control the annual meeting, especially if that board is trying to stay away from topics which conflict with their own interests.

As long as the referendum’s don’t violate bylaws and the CC&R’s, I don’t see anything that cannot be requested for a majority vote. It is very difficult for members to call a special meeting in times of trouble in the community, people are reluctant to sign things they have little knowledge of and even more reluctant when neighbors do know about such things as lawsuits. The annual meeting is a good opportunity to address issues that members have.

And if the boards are controlling the annual meeting then how is one suppose to bring change, it may take years for terms to expire and like Melissa always says change leadership but that’s almost impossible during times when people know about issues with the HOA.

Are you sure?

720.306(4)
CONTENT OF NOTICE.—Unless law or the governing documents require otherwise, notice of an annual meeting need not include a description of the purpose or purposes for which the meeting is called. Notice of a special meeting must include a description of the purpose or purposes for which the meeting is called.

Additionally, the text of 720.309 suggests that the members can make arbitrary motions not on the agenda.

"Any contract entered into by the board may be canceled by a majority of the voting interests present at the next regular or special meeting of the association, whichever occurs first. Any member may make a motion to cancel such contract, but if no motion is made or if such motion fails to obtain the required vote, the contract shall be deemed ratified for the term expressed therein."

No, now I'm not A special meeting clearly must state the purposes for it, but it doesn't appear the annual meeting needs an agenda at all. As for members making motions according to FS 720.309 I think that statutory power to make a motion to cancel a contract entered into by the board is very specific and probably doesn't apply to motions regarding anything else other than cancelling a contract.

But I agree with you that control of the Annual Meeting agenda when the statute says no agenda is needed does look problematic. What do the governing documents say, I wonder.

Our bylaws include a template for the order of business at the annual meeting followed by: "This order of business may be modified or changed at any meeting at the discretion of the President."

There's no provision in the agenda template about "agenda approval" such as exists her for regular board meetings. I think if someone is preparing an agenda for the annual meeting here it's probably the president even though the bylaws are silent on the issue. That same group of chimpanzees wrote both of our bylaws, I'm afraid.

We've got our own crisis-of-the-month brewing here regarding the agenda for the upcoming regular board meeting. The meeting to set the agenda for the regular board meeting is tomorrow night. Two board members want a specific item to be on the agenda but we're pretty sure the president will attempt to prevent it from going on. Will know for sure tomorrow night.