vOTING

cAN AN ELECTED BOARD MEMBER HAVE AN APPOINTED POWER OF ATTORNEY IN HIS ABSENCE?

yES jOE. iT GIVES THE POWER OF ATTORNEY TO ANOTHER HOMEOWNER TO VOTE MY VOTE ONLY AT bOARD mEETINGS IN MY ABSENCE.

ARE BOARD OF DIRECTORS CONSISTS OF 9 MEMBERS. THREE FROM EACH SECTION OF THE JOINT ASSOCIATION. THREE MEMBERS PER SECTION. THE PERSON THAT I GAVE MY POWER OF ATTORNEY TO WAS A PAST BOARD MEMBER THAT WAS RESPECTED FOR HER KNOWLEDGE AND JUDGEMENT. BUT DO TO WORK LOAD AND OTHER THINGS SHE RESINDED. WHEN I WAS ELECTED ALL THE HOMEOWNERS IN MY GROUP KNEW THAT SHE WOULD BE MY POWER OF ATTORNEY IN MY ABSENCE AND THE PRESIDENT OF THE HOA EVEN SIGNED(WITNESSED) THE DOCUMENT GIVING THIS POWER TO HER IN MY ABSENCE.

JOE, I WOULD ALSO LIKE TO ADD THAT MY APA INCLUDES THE SITTING IN AT BOARD MEETINGS AND ALL DISCUSSIONS AND VOTING. SHE WOULD NOT VOTE IN MY ABSENCE IF SHE WAS NOT INVOLVED IN THE DISCUSSION TAKING PLACE THAT IS REQUIRING THE VOTE.

The by-laws do not state whether they can or can not be used for a Board Member that is not present at the Monthly or Special Meetings.. Only at The Annual Meeting does it state that proxy votes are allowed by Homeowners voting for the Board Members

RODGER, ARE YOU SAYING THAT IF I, AS THE BOARD MEMBER CAN NOT ATTEND A MONTHLY MEETING, THAT MY PERSON HOLDING MY POWER OF ATTORNEY AND FIMILAR WITH WHAT IS TO BE VOTED ON SHOULD NOT BE ALLOWED TO VOTE FOR ME.

I CAN HONESTLY SAY THAT I DO ALOT OF TRAVLEING WITH MY JOB BUT I DO ATTEND WHENEVER I CAN. I AM NOT THE ONLY BOARD MEMBER NOT ATTENDING ALL MEETINGS. THE PERSON THAT HOLDS MY POA WAS A PAST MEMBER WHO WAS FORCED TO RESIGN DUE TO HEALTH AND WORK PROBLEMS. WE COULD NOT FIND ANOTHER BOARD MEMBER WHO WAS NOT PART OF THE OLD BOARD OF DIRECTORS THAT EITHER QUIT OR WERE NOT REELECTED, AND THE OLD BOARD WAS NOT UP FRONT FINANCIALLY AND BILLS WERE PAID LATE. I AM KEPT INFORMED OF ALL THE GOING ON'S IN THE COMMUNITY AND MY POA KEEPS IN CONSTANT TOUCH WE ME ON ALL MATTERS.

THANK YOU FOR YOUR ADVISE. I WILL TAKE THIS UNDER CONSIDERATION.

That is often the case for members meetings but not Board meetings. I am a strong supporter of using proxies for member meetings in the states where they are allowed. Without proxies many HOAs can not achieve a quorum in order to hold an annual meeting, elect directors, and ratify budgets. In other words they find it very difficult to be able to conduct the business of the HOA.

Thomas, do your By-laws require a Board member to be a member of the POA? Often By-laws do not require Board members to be property owners. The Developer writes them in this manner so they can put their cronies on the Board. Also, there has been considerable discussion on this board that two owners of the same property may serve on the Board and vote because voting at Board meetins is entirely separate than voting at members meetings.

Seems like you are trying hard to do what you want, try looking at what the rules require if you want to be a responsible representative of your community. Why do you feel your vote is important when you are not present at a Board meeting?

I am not trying to be negative about being on the Board and only being able to attend meetings when my job allows this. We have a few Board members that live right here and don't attend. I was approached by several homeowners to run for the Board as noboby would go on the Board because of a few trouble makers who only seem concerned about their section of the community and the homeowners did not want one of the past members back on the Board because under the old Board monies seemed to be unexplained and we were always late in paying bills. Now that I am a Board member along we several new ones we have turned the finances around and things are looking so much better. When I ran for election it was stated that I could not make all the meetings but that a well respected former Board member would fill in for me on these occasions and I gave a limited power of attornay to this person for just that purpose. I would also like to state that all of the HOA Board meetings are open to all homeowners but only Board members may vote. Without someone to at least try to keep the other two problem Board members from destroying what we have here because they are keeping others from running for the Board who won't agree with them. This is a beautiful community with 170 townhouses a pool and tennis courts. The person that sits in for me and holds my power of attornay has lived here 16+ years but due to health issues had to step down but was willing to act as my proxy. So as you can see I am not trying to just have things my way but want to see this community flurish and more homeowners to become active both on the Board and committees. By my stepping down the two afore mentioned Board members would once again drive out someone who has the whole community in mind and not just select sections. No our By-laws do not have a section stating if a Board member misses so many meetings they are no longer on the Board. My original question was did anybody know if the person holding my power of attornay for meetings and voting purposes had the right to cast my vote. And yes, all Board members must be homeowners also.

Nancy,
Good input and reasonable solution. We have all our Board Meetings by teleconference. Since it is not addressed specifically in our Docs. our board figured that gave them the right to do it. Our board will at times decree because it is not specific to our documents then they don't have the right to address the issue.
Also, the Board is all absentee owners or was when the practice began, as near as I can tell.
But, the question I would like answered is: Is it necessary to have a provision in the Master deed that allows for election of teleconference meetings? Sign of the times and I believe all meeting should allow for owner input by teleconference. Would an amendment be necessary or could a resolution suffice?

Roger,
As noted before, we had a board of five, until April all were absentee owners. We now have 1 member that lives her about 8 months a year and four absent. Ou board has refused to entertain any attempt to hold open Board meetings, and have stated the annual meeting and their manager letters, plus any info they choose to send separately is enough.
I have objected for 15 years.

Right now I am awaiting a reply from our State's Attorney General about if open meetings are required in HOA's and Condo's. I got this far in my quest to find this answer because I was persistant. WhenI first posed the question, I was told the Board's lawyer approved. I asked for a written response. They would not agree and told me to hire a lawyer for an opinion. I said bull, I have enough opinions I want to know the law. One step at a time I go through our board, then writing letters to state and county officials always getting the, we can not give you legal advice. Months pass and on my second letter to the State Attorney off I hear the same old story, plus a new twist. He writes that since he can not give legal advice to me, if I get an elected official to champion my case, he can reply to that official and the information will be passed to me. So I start at bottom of council office and work my way up to my Councilman for my district, all the while hearing they can not give me info. Months more and finally I got a letter from the Public Relations office of the county council and my council member stating they are sending a letter to Attorney General as he directed and they will inform me when he answers. A funny thing in their letter, the request I have about open meeting was in there, also some other questions having to do with State laws about Condo and HOA's. I am hoping that someone took the time to do a ittle research on this and found out what a mess it was. But, that's a dream, what will probably happen is some kind of an opinion that will not address or correct the problems.