Participation of homeowners in board meetings

I would like to live in your HOA, as I've found it rare for owners to be invited.

Typically they can just participate in a discussion before or after the official board meeting. They can't attend or participate in the actual board meeting.

Are you aware that Virginia has statutes that cover what the obligations of the Board are with regard to transparency. For example, regarding meetings, from https://law.lis.virginia.gov/vacodepopularnames/property-owners-association-act/

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§ 55.1-1816. Meetings of the board of directors.
A. All meetings of the board of directors, including any subcommittee or other committee of the board of directors, where the business of the association is discussed or transacted shall be open to all members of record. The board of directors shall not use work sessions or other informal gatherings of the board of directors to circumvent the open meeting requirements of this section. Minutes of the meetings of the board of directors shall be recorded and shall be available as provided in subsection B of § 55.1-1815.

B. Notice of the time, date, and place of each meeting of the board of directors or of any subcommittee or other committee of the board of directors shall be published where it is reasonably calculated to be available to a majority of the lot owners.

A lot owner may make a request to be notified on a continual basis of any such meetings. Such request shall be made at least once a year in writing and include the lot owner's name, address, zip code, and any email address as appropriate. Notice of the time, date, and place shall be sent to any lot owner requesting notice (i) by first-class mail or email in the case of meetings of the board of directors or (ii) by email in the case of meetings of any subcommittee or other committee of the board of directors.

Notice, reasonable under the circumstances, of special or emergency meetings shall be given contemporaneously with the notice provided to members of the association's board of directors or any subcommittee or other committee of the board of directors conducting the meeting.

Unless otherwise exempt as relating to an executive session pursuant to subsection C, at least one copy of all agenda packets and materials furnished to members of an association's board of directors or subcommittee or other committee of the board of directors for a meeting shall be made available for inspection by the membership of the association at the same time such documents are furnished to the members of the board of directors or any subcommittee or committee of the board of directors.

Any member may record any portion of a meeting that is required to be open. The board of directors or subcommittee or other committee of the board of directors conducting the meeting may adopt rules (a) governing the placement and use of equipment necessary for recording a meeting to prevent interference with the proceedings and (b) requiring the member recording the meeting to provide notice that the meeting is being recorded.

If a meeting is conducted by telephone conference or video conference or similar electronic means, at least two members of the board of directors shall be physically present at the meeting place included in the notice. The audio equipment shall be sufficient for any member in attendance to hear what is said by any member of the board of directors participating in the meeting who is not physically present.

Except for the election of officers, voting by secret or written ballot in an open meeting shall be a violation of this chapter.

C. The board of directors or any subcommittee or other committee of the board of directors may (i) convene in executive session to consider personnel matters; (ii) consult with legal counsel; (iii) discuss and consider contracts, pending or probable litigation, and matters involving violations of the declaration or rules and regulations adopted pursuant to such declaration for which a member or his family members, tenants, guests, or other invitees are responsible; or (iv) discuss and consider the personal liability of members to the association, upon the affirmative vote in an open meeting to assemble in executive session. The motion shall state specifically the purpose for the executive session. Reference to the motion and the stated purpose for the executive session shall be included in the minutes. The board of directors shall restrict the consideration of matters during such portions of meetings to only those purposes specifically exempted and stated in the motion. No contract, motion, or other action adopted, passed, or agreed to in executive session shall become effective unless the board of directors or subcommittee or other committee of the board of directors, following the executive session, reconvenes in open meeting and takes a vote on such contract, motion, or other action, which shall have its substance reasonably identified in the open meeting. The requirements of this section shall not require the disclosure of information in violation of law.

D. Subject to reasonable rules adopted by the board of directors, the board of directors shall provide a designated period of time during a meeting to allow members an opportunity to comment on any matter relating to the association. During a meeting at which the agenda is limited to specific topics or at a special meeting, the board of directors may limit the comments of members to the topics listed on the meeting agenda.

1999, c. 1029, § 55-510.1; 2000, c. 905; 2001, c. 715; 2003, c. 404; 2004, c. 333; 2005, c. 353; 2019, c. 712.
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As for Owner participation at board meetings, the consensus here seems to be to provide at least one "open forum" period either before or after meetings, and preferably both. The open forum period is not a part of the board meeting. But it is a chance for Owners to give input that the Board may want to consider at a future meeting. Or a competent property manager will take notes and address, where appropriate, concerns that may be raised.

A lot of new directors think they can just make up, off the top of their heads, what obligations they have. Not so. I think the best directors are grounded in what the governing documents and statutes say, and maybe a little bit in what case law says as described by the HOA attorney. To me, the best directors will always politely ask Owners and other directors to cite what part of the governing documents (or maybe state law) justifies their suggestion or complaint. This encourages people to get on the same page of the /contract/ (the covenants) to which all agreed when buying a property in the HOA.

Note: Prior posts of JeffS31 suggest this is a non-condo HOA.

Our meetings were open. Not all states require that. Basically it was a BOARD meeting the members could come in and attend. However, that meant they could listen in and observe our decision making process. It did not mean they had a vote. We just listened to their feedback. Which would/could happen at the end or if we had a question.

The board is to represent what the general membership wants/needs as a whole. So I believe having members in a meeting helps with making that happen. Many times I would have gone off the rails with an idea if I didn't hear back from others.

Mind your board is having a conversation amongst itself. It doesn't mean you can interrupt or are invisible. It means HOA business is being conducted and fellow members are allowed to be there.

I am very well aware of it and have read the entirety of Chapter 26 multiple times over the last several years. However, Virginia law does not answer my question.


This is a single-family home HOA with 56 lots.

If you allow homeowner attendance, that's fair transparency.

Board meetings have form but I always act w/ flexibility in regard to seeking community input for items on the business agenda. If it's a tense meeting, I'll transparently notify the audience that they are passive observers. If it's a loose meeting and someone in the audience has expertise we didn't know, we'll hear it. It's a judgement call and an experienced president should be able to navigate.

However, only the board of directors can cast a vote.

If we go by the letter of the law, then all we are required to do is let them in the room and make them sit quietly in the back without saying a word. My question is more about norms and standard practice than what is the bare minimum required by law. For example, I have seen various posts here about following Robert's Rules of Order but that is not mentioned in state law our by-laws. It just is a widely accepted standard way to manage meetings.

Thank you, GeorgeS21. So Virginia HOAs must indeed provide time for members to speak.

I have always felt members should be allowed to point out things during Board meetings - however, depending on the size of the community, this can become distracting to the business of the Board.

So, playing this a bit by ear is probably reasonable - especially if you have a few folks who are aggressively outspoken and their outspokenness becomes distracting.

I've been in even small communities where a couple of folks attended Board meetings to be distracting and destructive - the Board needs to shut these down quickly.

A neighboring community to one of mine had such aggressive members the President called the sheriff's department and had them evicted.

I agree but they must be asked to speak by the BOD.

Our HOA has a homeowner forum where homeowners can come and make grievances etc about community conditions, interact with vendors like security and landscaping. The board even allows owners to ask questions if there is a vendor that will possibly provide a service to the community like payment resealing. One meeting we had a surveillance camera vendor come to pitch a bid to the board. the camera vendor was adamant that each bank of camera locations needed its own internet line at $75 per month for both gates. An owner asked if a network bridge could be installed and save the community $75 per month. The vendor was gruff and shot that idea down. It's participation like this that saved our community the grief of dealing with some shyster that was about to rip us off.

So yes, you should have homeowner input. perhaps have your vendors attend meetings and meet with owners.

Kerryl1, I would love to see your rules of behavior. Thanks!

KerryL1,

Although there is no requirement for open board meetings we do have them. There are only two entrances to our neighborhood and we post Board Meeting signs two days prior to the meeting in these locations. We have a total of 165 residents and our average attendance is somewhere around 15-20 people but its been as high as 35. (We are currently closed because of COVID.)

I realize this depends on the attitude of your owners, and the preparedness of the board members, but I personally like having open board meetings and believe that it has helped us greatly. We had some serious finance and maintenance issues and for the last 2 1/2 years we have been putting in an extraordinary effort to clean things up. Having these open meetings have helped with raising awareness of what is going on and over time it has increased the trust that our homeowners have for the board. I'm not saying we don't have some 'special' owners who come to the meetings looking for a fight but these are few and far between. I have found that if you know your governing documents and state statutes well it is often quite easy to make an idiot look like a fool and after you do it a couple of times he or she will stop coming or stay silent. I'm not suggesting that any other communities do what we are doing but for us it's working. I've also found that these meetings have reduced the amount of false information that circulates in the neighborhood and creates silent animosity that boils up later.

Thanks for your notice. I was thinking about hanging a poster on the clubhouse wall with something that states the rules of conduct. What you provided looks great!