Meeting locations

Our current President insists on holding HOA board meetings (bi-monthly open to the public) at his private residence. His response to being questioned about this is "show me where anything says I can't have the meeting at my home". The rest of the board doesn't seem to care one way or another.

This guy is a real piece of work but has been in "control" of the board on and off for 10+ years.

We're in Texas and I can't find anything that says he can't hold the meetings at his house. MANY will not attend a meeting at his house so it's a way to stem discussion.

And please, I've done my turn in the "serve the neighborhood" cleaning up the mess this same guy made a few years ago and want no more of the "thanks" such service yields.

Thanks in advance!

Unless someone makes a motion to have the meetings in another place, probably nothing would change. I suppose the issue of handicapped accessibility might come into consideration.

If he's got the space and business is being held as it should, I don't see the problem with this. I suppose one drawback would be if the president tried to kick someone out of the house if he/she said something he didn't like, but the rest of the board should step in at that point (as long as the person wasn't cussing or otherwise behaving inappropriately, he/she should get reasonable time to say whatever and then sit down and shut up.)

If others won't attend the meeting because they're afraid of speaking up in the man's house, it's on THEM to express their concerns to the rest of the board and then the rest of the board can vote to hold the meeting elsewhere. On the other hand, board meetings are business meetings, so I would hope your agenda has a space for a resident forum where people can speak up. You can set a time limit per speaker (e.g. two minutes) so everyone gets a chance to speak. You don't have to immediately address everything that comes up in a resident forum - some things will require some research and the homeowner should be contacted with an update. All of this should be stated to the attendees before the meeting starts.

When that ends, the business portion begins and the attendees should be encouraged to stay and listen to the proceedings, but shouldn't be allowed to ask questions or make comments so the board can get through the entire agenda. This would be the case even if the meeting was held in a clubhouse, public library, church, etc.

And that's why the rest of the board need to do their jobs and keep people like this in check! I have never understood why one of two people manage to terrorize a roomful of people, especially if they've the ones who can vote you out as easily as you were voted in. This is how bullies operate, and you know sooner or later someone has to stand up. It's not always pretty, but you have to start somewhere.

As for the people who aren't comfortable speaking up in a large group, that happens a lot and you don't always have to say something at that moment. If you want to sit quietly and observe and then talk to a few people, that's perfectly fine and it doesn't matter if you're in the guys house you hear people break off during a party and talk all the time

Since meeting rooms cost $ your president is saving you money.

If you have issues with his "control" that is a separate issue. Replace him in the next election if you wish. Expect that your first order of business will be to find a new meeting room.