Do Owners present agenda items at your board meetings?

I don't believe your question was properly phrased.

With a properly functioning board, the president is the one who sets the agenda, hopefully with input from other fellow directors. Owners attending a properly noticed meeting have a legal standing to speak during a period of time specifically set aside for them to address the board/MC, or the audience for that matter. But, unless it is an emergency that no one could foresee, no action can be taken and the general rule is that no one on the board says anything, but will take it under advisement.

I have seen boards/MC's place the open forum portion at the end of the meeting, AFTER all business decisions have been made. I think that is BS. People should have the ability to speak about the issue prior to the board actually discussing and taking action on an agenda item.

If the owners want something they feel is needed to be placed on the agenda, like any corporation, it needs to go through the proper channels.

Actually, that is not true. Items that a owner brings up in Open Forum, CAN be discussed by the Board, or a Board member during open forum. This is one way directors in the minority get things brought up, that otherwise the majority won't allowed to be placed on agendas.

Now, action CANNOT be taken, unless deemed to be of an emergency.

An interesting topic - and, one that everyone deals with whether HOA or COA, etc.

My sense from the past three HOAs I've been part of is that this isn't a big deal in most neighborhoods that aren't in the middle of contentious issues - my two neighborhoods (one where I live and one rental) are relatively apathetic for a variety of reasons. In the rental neighborhood we would love to see more owners show up at BoD meetings (it has happened once in two years) :-). In the other neighborhood, a few show up each meeting, but mainly to listen to what is going on - there is the usual yelling when dues are increased per new Reserve Studies, but not much else is simple enough for most to care about, I guess.

There is some philosophy that can be applied - i.e. since the Board represents the owners, the Board should WELCOME the inputs of the owners - but the owners should NOT be abusive (ex: at our last post dues increase due to reserve study BoD meeting, an owner started yelling at the Board about the dues increase and the President thanked him for his input, then the owner got nasty and really angry, specifically noting that we worked for him ... being a new director, I had remained quiet, but thought it was time to stop the interaction - I asked the owner if he understood the Reserve Study process and relationship to the dues, he continued to yell the same things, I asked him if he had served on the Board of a committee in his 19 years in the neighborhood - he said no and said he didn't have to because we worked for him - so, I continued to note his lack of work and his complaining and he walked out) - so, there is a need for the Board to be open, but also a need to represent effectively, and govern the neighborhood effectively.

So, I strive to hear anyone at formal meetings, as long as they are not abusive or take up too much time - the three minute rule is written, but we don't adhere to it exactly as some topics are more complicated. We try to answer questions as they are presented and accept input from anyone who provides it in a thoughtful, fair and non-abusive manner.

I can imagine very large HOAs would need to have tighter meetings - simply to ensure order and to allow a larger number of residents to be heard effectively.

That is/was how things were done in YOUR HOA, but I think you have said, things are much more different with new leadership.

The rules say that for action to be taken, it must be on the agenda. It is thee for a reason, that being if on a posted agenda the owner is then given the opportunity to decide whether or not it is worth there time to attend and maybe speak on something he or she has an opinion on.

Every association is different, especially one's that are managed by a property manager. In 9 years, I have set the agenda. If I didn't, there wouldn't be a meeting. Only a couple of times in those years has anything ever been changed. Every association is different.

I realize there are differences among HOAs, Richard. That's exactly what I'm trying to learn. It sounds like in LetA's HOA, owners may put items on open board meeting agendas. Not clear to me if it's state law requirement.

Sounds like you're saying that in all the HOAs you manage, owners never have their ideas or initiatives on a board meeting agenda?? Is that correct?

I certainly know that agendas must be posted 4 days ahead of open meetings in CA and why. That's not my question.

Not what I am saying at all. You would be surprised at how little owners really care about what goes on in the community they chose to live in.

I'll give you an example of a recent issue in a HOA I managed (past tense). 5 Board member, 2 from the same household. President did absolutely nothing. Actually none did anything expect the person who was the VP. They would call meetings out of the blue, no notice, no agenda and not always invited the other board members. I was told by the one member they wanted a meeting and it the agenda would consist of certain topics, parking of cars and trucks, landscaping, emails to and from management and future events. I was instructed to mail the agenda to all owners. The VP went around the neighborhood and made people show up to discuss certain things, such as what am I going to do with rowdy kids running the neighborhood, cars being egged, electrical panels being opened, electrical being turned off at homes?

Should owners have the ability to get topics on an agenda, absolutely! I think, based on topics you listed after you decided to leave your board that things change once you become a private citizen. There are no laws that mandate a procedure for adopt topic items that allow owners more power.

We do not have to publish an agenda for BOD Meetings. We do discuss any Emails sent to our HOA Email address. We may choose to ignore such, but it will be discussed and acted on if we feel it needs action.

Emergency action motions CAN be made , and by 2/3s vote of the board an issue that needs “immediate attention” can be presented for a motion at a board meeting.

It's true, Sue, in CA, and some other states too, maybe AZ & FL. And appointing a committee isn't a emergency. I can't recall any emergency coming up in the 12 years I was on our board.

So...an owner would say in open forum, I think x & Y will improve our community. A director might say, write something about that to the GM and we'll put it on next month's agenda. Or the GM might be directed by the board to look into the matter and put it on the next month' agenda.

Sure certain directions to management can come at a meeting without an agenda item on it. A director might say:" How much doe it cost to maintain our fire extinguishers?" "A director, probably the prez would say, please look into that and let us know."

The ball get rolling because directors, but mainly the PM, place items on an agenda 4 day before an open meeting, when the agenda must be posted, & it's also at our web site.

I see Richard & I crossed posts. He wrote: "There are no laws that mandate a procedure for adopt topic items that allow owners more power." I know this. Our board did approve a policy to by which Owners can submit agenda items following a set protocol. Works out well!!

HaHA. JohnC is funny. what he calls "heavily regulated," he means board. I might call these states most protective of Owners' rights.

In the past and depending on the particular board, members have requested certain items to be on the agenda, such as solar on the clubhouse.
There is a capital improvement committee as well as the compliance committee, which have influence / input for agenda items related to their function. Our HOA president sets the agenda.

My HOA allows 2 opportunities during meetings for members to comment.

On the distributed agenda, the president invites members to address agenda items. The agenda is a list for items of business & reports. IF the subject is listed on the agenda, then members may and do share questions, comments, etc. It is important to make comments at this time since what is said may influence the discussion or decision.

Since the agenda notice is sent 4 days prior to the meeting, members have opportunity to prepare. This has had a positive effect and seems to be in the best interest of the association.

Members also have opportunity during owners forum which is at the end of the meeting and after any discussion or votes.

Trash cans, barking dogs, etc are referred to and handled by the compliance committee.
Those types of things are reserved for the owners forum and not the agenda.

Thanks, Barbara. I wish we did give owners an opportunity to comment on actual agenda items while the board discusses them. We don't, but I believe it's required in AZ.

The board policy to permit owners to submit agenda items had been in place for several years in our HOA. We never get complaints about the items, you mention, Barbara. I think it's because to be on the board's agenda, owners must submit a form with their topic, justification for the board discussing and and perhaps taking action on it. I'd say there only are a bout 10-12 submission a year. At meetings, no one including directors, are permitted to speak longer than two minutes.

Complaints are sometimes stated in open forum, e.g., "I called the security kiosk the other night and no one answered the phone," but maintenance issues (we're a high rise) are discouraged. We, too, have a 2nd open forum at the end of the open meeting.

Well, first, I guess I simply am not making this clear: We have no problems with too many owners speaking about too many issues. Our system has worked out well for years.

1. Agenda items that they submit 10 days ahead of the next open meeting are ON the agenda, and the Board may take action on them.

2. Owners make comments, ask question in Open Forums. In the 1st one, they may comment & remark about the agenda items but sometimes other things too. This has worked out very well for us for years. I don't know why we should limit the 1st open Forum remarks to agenda items?

3. At the 2nd Open Forum, owners sometimes want clarification about decisions the Board just made. About once a year, owners will ask the Board to reconsider a decision just made and the Board sometimes does.

>>>>I don't know why we should limit the 1st open Forum remarks to agenda items? <<<<

Limiting comments to *agenda items* in the 1st forum allows the meeting to proceed with the meat & potatoes (items of business).

It's pacing the flow of the meeting - time management for an effective meeting.

Since your current procedures work in your HOA, then there's no sense in changing things.