perceived Management interference

I think a member who has something important to say most certainly should be able to condense this to three minutes. Any member interested in change should get a copy of the membership list and start her or his campaign to get on the board.

Your HOA President is violating no law of which I know. Furthermore, Washington HOA and condo statutes do not appear to require the President to allow owner commentary during board meeting sessions.

As long as the manager is not actually casting a vote at board meetings, it's pretty common for managers to weigh in. After all, managers oversee the day-to-day operations and have a lot of information at their fingertips that directors do not have. I grant I personally would be annoyed if I felt a manager was less than honest in her or his statements; self-promoting her- or himself through lies (so as to get a renewed contract or good annual evaluation). But I doubt anything unlawful is going on here. As I note above, I think the remedy for your and your group's concerns is to get on the board with a like-minded majority.

This response is 100% correct. You must become acquainted with what your HOA's Declaration says about converting any common area to a use not designated in the governing documents.

I see your all-caps emphasis of "little" and "free" and "library." The unstudied might think, "Oh what a grand idea for our little non-profit corporation!" But said little non-profit corporation absolutely does not have as its legal mission the literacy of its members.

I think too many HOA/condo members think a board's job is to be "wise" and otherwise, do whatever they think is wise. Not so. Boards are highly constrained by the HOA's/Condo's governing documents, state law, case law and sometimes, federal law. Directors must be wise within these constraints.I do not think the Board is breaking the law, with one caveat: The President and MC should pretty much agree to put on the agenda any item which a director requests. In my experience it would be best to use one of the many free online web services and start your own site. You are entitled to have a copy of the membership list, including mailing addresses and in some states, email addresses. After putting your web site together, you can mail all owners once with a few bullet-pointed concerns and then suggest they check out the web site.

The board may only meet four times a year, but that doesn't mean you or any homely with an issue can't write a letter or send an email. Resident forums are great, but as AugustinE said, homeowners should be able to speak their piece within three minutes, especially if you have several homeowners who also have something to say.

It's ok for property managers to give an opinion- in fact, I like to hear what they have say because they manage the association's daily operations and may have insights the board should be aware of. Beyond that, it's up to the BOARD to do its job - deliberate and make decisions. A good property manager can make a suggeztion, but then keep quiet and let the board game over. If it turns out to be the wrong one, it's up to the board to fix it, learn from it and move on.

There are some boards, however who tend to let the property manager do all of their thinking for them and if that's what yours seems to be doing, your beef is with them and you need to speak up. Perhaps encourage your neighbors to do the same.

I agree with Sheila, Augustin & Kelly. The BEST way to find out, Roberta, is to request a copy of the contract between the MC & your HOA and see what you're paying for. I promise you that if the MC' prop. mgr. didn't write the minutes, prepare thee agenda (with or prez), etc. no one owl serve on our Board.

Your write "4 HOA meetings" a year. Are you speaking of Board meetings? Or of members (Owners) meetings? There is a lost of confusion between the two. Read your Bylaws to see the difference.

We only allow 2 minute & 11 topic per owner at the open forum portions of our board meetings ( we hold at the beginning and at the end.) Owners do have another chance to speak at open forum after all others have had a turn. Wee discourage maintenance complaints as they should go to the Prop. Mgr. If not handled in a reasonable amount of time, an owners could bring up the delay at a board meeting.

What size is your HOA, Roberta?

Always find it funny when someone doesn't like a 3 minute rule of speaking. Ever try to speak for 3 minutes and make a point? Had to make 5 - 10 minute speeches in Speech class in college. It took a week to write a compressive speech with a beginning, end, and making a point. Doing it on the fly? Please your just rambling after 2 minutes...

Our MC contract does not call for our MC to attend BOD Meetings. Unless a BOD is inept, I see no reason for the MC to be at all BOD Meetings.

It depends, JohnC, on what the Board wants from an MC. I'm guessing the more complex an HOA is, the more likely the Board will want and need full-time onsite service from an MC. Complexity isn't just amenities, but also mechanical equipment, elevators, boilers, generators, pressurization fans, fire pumps etc. So we, for instance, have over 80 comments on our reserves study.

I think you've described yours as having few if any amenities with maybe 100 or fewer homes. The major "issue" and contract is landscaping.