Fiduciary Duty to not open community pool

Hello,
In a HOA in Florida. Some of the board feel it is there "Fiduciary Duty" to not open the community pool, for fear the community could be sued if someone would become infected with COVID19 from someone else using the pool.
Others are pushing that the board is not responsible for medical infection prevention.
The community attorney is advising to maintain the lockdown on the side of caution.

Tim,
Would "Fiduciary Duty" cover medical risk? Normally I have seen this referred to dealing with financial and a burden of proof based on ill-gotten gain.

If your HOA opens the pool, then I think the board has a fiduciary duty to have the area cleaned by COVID-19 trained professionals once a day. Just as many corporations and municipalities are doing with their work areas and other facilities.

If on the board of a HOA with a pool, I would vote to keep the pool shut down as a matter of local, state and national emergency. If members did not like my vote, they are welcome to recall me.

Fiduciary duty simply means to act in the best interest of those you represent. I think the question of whether they are responsible for preventing infections is overthinking it. Public health is not generally the board's responsibility but if a board member believes keeping the pool closed, for any reason, is in the best interest of the association, they have a duty to vote to keep it closed.

I agree with Ben and Paul. It's not a question of fiduciary duty; those questions almost always revolve around financial wrongdoing.

Local governments and the state Dept. of Health never ordered the shutdown of swimming pools in HOAs. If such guidance had been given, then I would be actively opposed to our HOA board here. They have steadfastly refused to close the pool. As a matter of fact, the question was never even considered (and we've only had one board meeting since February). There has been minimal effort made to clean or disinfect the clubhouse or the pool deck since February. The Vice President says she did clean the clubhouse and the clubhouse restrooms a couple of weeks ago.

Even though I disagree with their inaction, they haven't violated any guidelines and I don't believe they have violated any fiduciary duty. If called on the carpet, they'd ask to see the exact wording of whatever it is they're supposed to have violated. Such a thing doesn't exist and some nicey-nice words about keeping the amenities open for the benefit of the residents during a difficult time yada yada yada would shield them if they, in good faith, believed they were doing the right thing (regardless of whether or not they were).

Geno,
It's been over a year and although the pool has been opened to the homeowners, there is still a limit on the number of homeowners can use the pool at the same time. The clubhouse, gym, billiards, and library are still closed.
The community has petitioned the HOA Board to allow guests/visitors to the pool, as most of the homeowners have had family, friends, grandchildren come to their home. Below is the notice made last fall and repeated in March 2021.

"Our current policy, which has been revisited at every monthly Board meeting and in place since June of 2020, is that the clubhouse is closed and the pool is open for use by residents only (no visitors or guests).

In keeping with: 1) current CDC Guidance for Public Pools, which was shared with the community yesterday and which states “Limit any nonessential visitors…”, 2) the advice of our legal counsel, 3) and the commitment to our fiduciary responsibilities during this pandemic, the current policy will remain in force for the foreseeable future; the clubhouse will remain closed and the pool will remain open for use by residents only (no visitors or guests). It is the Board’s plan to follow CDC guidelines and remove use restrictions when the country achieves herd immunity."

The recent Florida legislation SB 72 that protects corporations from Covid liability has been brought to the Board's attention but they are still holding on to the need for "herd immunity".

Henry

What John said. The residents may squawk, but if they've been watching the news, they may have noticed the numbers have started to creep up. Hasn't Florida learned yet from the last time they opened up everything prematurely?

There may be something addressing COVID liability now, but unless homeowners are willing to pay extra for monitors to keep track of everyone and have users (everyone) sign a waiver, memo or understanding or whatever, I say keep the pool limited to residents only. If people would be patient, they may be in a better position to open things up wider in a month or two.

Related to another recent thread: if the board wants to keep the pool open, at the very least they should require a signed waiver of liability from anyone who wants access to the pool (and the clubhouse or other amenities). These waivers are very common: anyone who owns facilities in which people can be hurt through normal use of said facilities requires such waivers. HOAs should be doing this anyway, but covid makes it more important.