Majority of Members Voting

We are a 350 single family HOA in South Carolina. We have a standing Resolution regarding Capital Expenditures which requires any Capital Expenditure in excess of $X be approved by the majority of the total votes in the Association. In our case that would be 176 approval votes, the majority of the total 350 votes in the Association.

We also have the typical homeowner apathy where about 30%, or about 100, of our membership do not bother to vote on any issues. That means that instead of requiring 176 votes out of 350, we really need 176 votes out of the 250 members that do vote. This can make it difficult to pass anything, even though it is in the best interest of the community, since not voting has the effect of a no vote.

Question - Would it be appropriate to change the pass/fail requirements to read a majority of the members voting. I cannot find anything in Roberts Rules or SC Law that would prohibit doing so.

Any comments are appreciated.

On this point, what exactly do the covenants for your HOA/condominium say? The "covenants" are typically found in the "Declaration."

A "standing resolution" is very different from a covenant.

Is your community a HOA or a condominium?

Bill, if there is nothing in the Declaration or Bylaws that contradicts overturning this resolution and creating a different one, in the vein of what your current Board would prefer, then I see no problem in doing so.

I'm in agreement with AugustinD. A board resolution by any other name can be overturned by a subsequent board decision that they simply do not like the old resolution. All in keeping with the necessity to respect the hierarchy of governing documents, of course.