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HOA or Condo Board Election information.

Started by FredW5 • 16 replies • 477 views

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FredW5 (Florida)
Posts: 177
Posted:
Last question: Our new management company sent out letters regarding a forthcoming annual meeting and election of the board, however, they did not provide any information or Bios as in the past years.as to who is running, due to, as they say, HOA's are not required to advise anyone as to who the candidates are, and it would only be divulged at the meeting to those attending. Is this correct?
Thanks!
MichaelS56 (Minnesota)
Posts: 859
Posted:
Very unprofessional of the Management company. Our candidates fill out a simple questionnaire that generates some of the information that the voters should know.
JohnT38 (South Carolina)
Posts: 1,631
Posted:
Quote:
Posted By MichaelS56 on 05/07/2021 4:30 PM
Very unprofessional of the Management company. Our candidates fill out a simple questionnaire that generates some of the information that the voters should know.

If you or anyone else have an example you'd be willing to share I would love to see one!
KerryL1 (California)
Posts: 14,550
Posted:
What d your Bylaws say, Fred? What about FL statutes? What your MC says doesn't sound right.

I do have a sample form JohnT & will get to it the weekend.
JohnT38 (South Carolina)
Posts: 1,631
Posted:
Quote:
Posted By KerryL1 on 05/07/2021 5:18 PM
What d your Bylaws say, Fred? What about FL statutes? What your MC says doesn't sound right.

I do have a sample form JohnT & will get to it the weekend.

Thank you! We are about to have an election and I'm interested to see what other people are using. Thanks again.
FredW5 (Florida)
Posts: 177
Posted:
Quote:
Posted By KerryL1 on 05/07/2021 5:18 PM
What d your Bylaws say, Fred? What about FL statutes? What your MC says doesn't sound right.

I do have a sample form JohnT & will get to it the weekend.

Thanks...The by-laws do not specify that those running must provide bios, however, it does specify that election -annual meetings must be in February or March at 8PM. So management and HOA changing it to a morning meeting seems to go against By-laws.
AugustinD
Posts: 3,698
Posted:
Quote:
Posted By FredW5 on 05/07/2021 2:40 PM
Our new management company sent out letters regarding a forthcoming annual meeting and election of the board, however, they did not provide any information or Bios as in the past years as to who is running, due to, as they say, HOA's are not required to advise anyone as to who the candidates are, and it would only be divulged at the meeting to those attending. Is this correct?
-- Is this a condominium or non-condominium?

-- I looked at the relevant Florida statutes (FS 718 for condos and FS 720 for non-condos; FS 617 for nonprofit corporations). So far, and unfortunately, I have seen nothing regarding a requirement to share candidate statements, bios or similar. I think the law is on the side of what management claims here.

-- But to me, it's lousy, cheapshot management. In my opinion, the Board should override the management. The HOA/condo could require candidate statements to be due say eight weeks before the election, then distribute the statements to all members, with caveats like nominations from the floor will be allowed et cetera.
KerryL1 (California)
Posts: 14,550
Posted:
Might be useful.

XXX XXX OWNERS ASSOCIATION Board of Directors Candidate Statement
Please return this form no later than
OCTOBER 3, 2020 by 5:00 P.M.
Name: ___________________________________________________________________ Address: ____________________________________________________________________ Phone: ________________________ Email Address: ________________________________ Employer: __________________________________________________________________ Occupation: _________________________________________________________________
I believe that all my statements herein and in my attached Candidate Statement are true. I attest that I am a member of the xxx Owners Association. My name appears on title and is properly registered with the Association as such.
The three (3) elected candidates will serve a (2) two-year term of office. Attendance is required at monthly regular Board meetings and at occasional special meetings. I agree to adhere to and enforce the governing documents of the Association as set forth in the CC&Rs, Bylaws, and Rules and Regulations.
________________________________________ ______________________________
Candidate’s Signature _______________________________ Date ____________________
The information you provide on the form below must be typed and will be copied for use on all election materials and Owner mailings. You may also include a photo not to exceed 1” x 1” on your statement. Your candidate statement may be emailed to the Manager Assistant ...
Only your Candidate Statement will be sent to Owners. It must not exceed 300 words.

DEADLINE TO RETURN: 5:00 P.M. – SATURDAY, OCTOBER 3, 2020 ANNUAL MEETING DATE: 6:00 P.M. – TUESDAY, DECEMBER 8, 2020
MAIL, FAX, OR EMAIL TO: PM

(OVER - COMPLETE REVERSE SIDE)

CANDIDATE STATEMENT
Name:____________________ Address:_____________
A. Your goals and objectives as a member of the Board of Directors:
___________________________________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________________________________
B. Community Association Experience: ___________________________________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________________________________
C. Relevant Work Experience:
___________________________________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________________________________
D. Civic/Volunteer Organizations and Positions Held:
___________________________________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________________________________
E. Why should you be (re)elected to the Horizons Board of Directors?
___________________________________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________________________________
Should you have any questions about completing this Statement, please contact General Manager ...
JohnC46 (South Carolina)
Posts: 14,265
Posted:
As we can accept nominations from the floor we do not ask for nor require candidate statements. That said, only once in 6 years have we had more people running then open BOD positions. 4 for 3 spots one year. Usually we go begging for people to run at the Annual Meeting.
KerryL1 (California)
Posts: 14,550
Posted:
We can accept nominations from the floor too, JohnC, but haven't had any in at least a dozen years because Owners may vote by mail in CA and the votes count towards quorum. In addition, we always have more candidates than openings.
KerryL1 (California)
Posts: 14,550
Posted:
We can accept nominations from the floor too, JohnC, but haven't had any in at least a dozen years because Owners may vote by mail in CA and the votes count towards quorum. In addition, we always have more candidates than openings.
CathyA3 (Ohio)
Posts: 6,299
Posted:
Even if an HOA isn't required to send out information about candidates, I've never heard of any case of it being forbidden - and many/most HOAs send out a packet of election materials, including proxy forms, along with the announcement of the annual meeting.

It's in everybody's best interest to make good decisions when choosing directors. Making this harder serves no good purpose.

You may want to start looking for a new management company...

(Our annual meeting takes place in March. We start to talk it up in January and do a call for board candidates in early February. We also accept nominations from the floor.)

KerryL1 (California)
Posts: 14,550
Posted:
I agree with Cathy. I also think that by "making it harder" to get good candidates and encourage voter participation too often serves only one purpose: to keep those on the Board in power
JohnT38 (South Carolina)
Posts: 1,631
Posted:
Kerry, thank you for sharing this. I'll be showing it to the rest of the board as a good example of what we can use.
FredW5 (Florida)
Posts: 177
Posted:
Thanks, everyone, for sharing your ideas,and info the and Kerry for the form.

Ive asked management and the HOA Board to discuss the situation on Monday, after many residents complained in the manner this has been handled, including the fact that the By-Laws call for an evening meeting in February or march, and now its being held end of May.
JohnC46 (South Carolina)
Posts: 14,265
Posted:
Fred
Many associations have been putting off the Annual Meeting for Covid safety reasons. We put ours off from April to November and no one has bitten our ankles yet.
JohnC46 (South Carolina)
Posts: 14,265
Posted:
Quote:
Posted By KerryL1 on 05/08/2021 10:26 AM
We can accept nominations from the floor too, JohnC, but haven't had any in at least a dozen years because Owners may vote by mail in CA and the votes count towards quorum. In addition, we always have more candidates than openings.

When we send out our Annual Meeting Notice (30 to 45 days prior and via US Mail) we include a Proxy and information about BOD Elections. The BOD election info is how many open spots there are and we invite any member in good standing to stand for election at the meeting. Without Proxies we would not achieve a Quorum.

In SC we can vote via mail or electronically but as we have never been asked to do so, we have never discussed it. Keep in mind that only once in 6 years have we had more people run for the BOD then there were open positions. Some call that apathy. I call it happy owners.

I suppose if we ever fail to make Quorum (20% of 112) then we will discuss different voting methods. Other than elections, we have never had anything else for Members to vote on. At one time we did discuss a Covenant Amendment and our attorney said he could put together a vote by mail or via petition document for the change but we never did.

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