New President and new Board meeting format? :-)

There's nothing wrong with a town hall meeting, but it really should be different from a formal business meeting where the board is supposed to be addressing agenda items and voting on them accordingly. This is assuming there IS a business portion because the town hall-like portion may go on and on till the break of dawn (as the song goes).

And if a town hall opens the meeting, what's the point of the open forum at the end? What happens if this turns into a bitch session about whatever the board voted on during the business portion and they're pressured into changing their position because some people cussed up a storm and would.not.shut.the.hell.up?

I always thought townhall meetings were designed for people to discuss an issue and brainstorm ideas on how to address it, and then those ideas could be researched and developed for later consideration by the board. Sometimes, they're used to provide detailed information on an issue (e.g. explaining the findings of a reserve study).

Hope there's nothing too controversial going on in your community because this format may turn the entire board meeting (or whatever this is) into a hot mess and when stuff isn't done, people will get angrier and sack the rest of the board and beg the former president to return.

She may have been aggressive, but life shows that people (mostly men) have a really hard time dealing with confident women who get to the point, aren't afraid to express themselves, and don't fall for BS. Even worse if she had the nerve to - follow the rules and run the board meeting like the professional setting it's supposed to be.

George

In a time of upheaval at your association, I think the Town Hall Meeting is a great idea. Kind of let us clear the air and set a proper course. I would be all for it.

Yep - concur with the thoughts, thanks.

I don't have a problem with inviting 659 property owners to each board meeting and allowing an hour in advance of the board meeting ... just kidding ... I think combining the two is fraught with misplaced expectations :-). I like the idea of an open town hall get together, but combining with Board meeting where business must be conducted? No.

Not really upheaval, but a lot of ankle biters :-)

Shelia - your comments right on. Previous president was very effective and handled things much like I do - try and listen politely, restate adding facts, note the controlling rules, docs, and law - and proceed appropriately. From HOAs to national level politics, it is much the same - few issues with strong leadership as long as it is male, but you know this.

And, to be clear, I did not and do not believe there is a violation of any of our governing docs, or FS 720. Violation of common sense? Yes.

Sound advice. In order to be sure any open discussion is not a shouting match limit each speaker to 2 minutes, do not allow interrupting or speaking over a speaker, designate a person(s) to oversee the meeting/rules.

So the first hour is a general bitch session. I think they should define how a "town hall" meeting works. Seems a little to vague to just say "town hall style" where 100 people will have 100 different ideas about what that means. If I was going to do that, I'd put the "town hall" part of the meeting at the end. Otherwise, the first hour will get everyone whipped up into a frenzy and then expecting everyone to simmer down so that the Board may have a regular business meeting might be asking too much.

Agree with Geno & JohnC.