AdamL1 (UnitedStates)
Posts: 559
Posts: 559
Posted:
Curious your thoughts on this and a few follow up ideas.
Some background:
- our HOA has refused to hold any and all meetings since spring 2019, claiming COVID concern to gathering.
- Our HOA has refused to provide financials, budget, annual statement, etc in 2+ years.
- our HOA has refused to identify who is on the board, committees, etc. They are claiming its a privacy concern and must be kept private.
- I and several other neighbors began pushing for meetings and financials, but the HOA board continued to refuse meetings, making up rules that did not agree with CCR's and State Code.
- I and several other neighbors knocked doors and gathered signatures to petition a special meeting.
- suddenly, the HOA board announced they will hold an annual meeting in 2 weeks.
So there's the background. It seems to me they are trying to do damage control. Anyway, the annual meeting they've scheduled is outside at a park pavilion at TBD time, in the heat. Understandably, I and many other neighbors have requested remote (ZOOM) access for the meeting, citing COVID concern and summer travel and being outdoors in the heat. The Board president very quickly responded saying that there are technical limitations, zoom can't handle the quantity of people (only 140 homes), they "do not want a recording of the meeting", and that the CCR's state that meetings must be at "a place" and that zoom is not a place.
Seriously.....wtf. So my question here is:
- clearly, the HOA boards response is unacceptable and not even in line with state law and CCR's. They don't want a recording of the meeting, and are trying to claim that virtual doesn't count.
- Can I just show up with a hotspot and a webcam/conference phone and say that I am connecting to the many many neighbors that want a remote option?
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Read the HOA's statement quoted here:
Please note that the CC&Rs and ByLaws anticipate an in-person meeting, and all of our annual meetings have always been held in person. Our ByLaws require us to mail out meeting notices that describe a “place.” I suppose you could try to argue that a zoom or Facebook Live link can be a “virtual place,” but even fudging that issue, there would be many logistical problems in holding a virtual meeting of that size (we have 145 homes in Wood Duck). When we have our annual meetings, we ask each homeowner to sign in at the meeting, and all proxies are collected and counted as well. This creates a written record of all homeowners who are in attendance or represented via proxy and establishes a quorum so that the meeting can go forward.
It just seems more practical in this case to do it the old-fashioned way. This will also eliminate any questions of whether the meeting was properly held or whether the election of the new Board was valid. If there is a movement to hold virtual annual meetings of this size in the future, then I think the best way to go about it would be to revise the By-Laws to allow for this and set forth the special procedures that would be needed to carry this out properly. I for one would not want our annual meeting to be recorded on Facebook.
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Some background:
- our HOA has refused to hold any and all meetings since spring 2019, claiming COVID concern to gathering.
- Our HOA has refused to provide financials, budget, annual statement, etc in 2+ years.
- our HOA has refused to identify who is on the board, committees, etc. They are claiming its a privacy concern and must be kept private.
- I and several other neighbors began pushing for meetings and financials, but the HOA board continued to refuse meetings, making up rules that did not agree with CCR's and State Code.
- I and several other neighbors knocked doors and gathered signatures to petition a special meeting.
- suddenly, the HOA board announced they will hold an annual meeting in 2 weeks.
So there's the background. It seems to me they are trying to do damage control. Anyway, the annual meeting they've scheduled is outside at a park pavilion at TBD time, in the heat. Understandably, I and many other neighbors have requested remote (ZOOM) access for the meeting, citing COVID concern and summer travel and being outdoors in the heat. The Board president very quickly responded saying that there are technical limitations, zoom can't handle the quantity of people (only 140 homes), they "do not want a recording of the meeting", and that the CCR's state that meetings must be at "a place" and that zoom is not a place.
Seriously.....wtf. So my question here is:
- clearly, the HOA boards response is unacceptable and not even in line with state law and CCR's. They don't want a recording of the meeting, and are trying to claim that virtual doesn't count.
- Can I just show up with a hotspot and a webcam/conference phone and say that I am connecting to the many many neighbors that want a remote option?
---------------------------------------
Read the HOA's statement quoted here:
Please note that the CC&Rs and ByLaws anticipate an in-person meeting, and all of our annual meetings have always been held in person. Our ByLaws require us to mail out meeting notices that describe a “place.” I suppose you could try to argue that a zoom or Facebook Live link can be a “virtual place,” but even fudging that issue, there would be many logistical problems in holding a virtual meeting of that size (we have 145 homes in Wood Duck). When we have our annual meetings, we ask each homeowner to sign in at the meeting, and all proxies are collected and counted as well. This creates a written record of all homeowners who are in attendance or represented via proxy and establishes a quorum so that the meeting can go forward.
It just seems more practical in this case to do it the old-fashioned way. This will also eliminate any questions of whether the meeting was properly held or whether the election of the new Board was valid. If there is a movement to hold virtual annual meetings of this size in the future, then I think the best way to go about it would be to revise the By-Laws to allow for this and set forth the special procedures that would be needed to carry this out properly. I for one would not want our annual meeting to be recorded on Facebook.
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