HOA Minutes "draft"

Meeting minutes reflect the official actions of the association, which is why they should be reviewed at the next board meeting. Usually, the secretary prepares a draft of the minutes, which are read during the meeting. If any corrections or clarifications are needed, such as correct spelling of someone's name, or clarifying that the board decided to refer something to the property manager for follow up, it should come up at that time.

Once those corrections are noted (if necessary), someone makes a motion to accept the minutes as read (or with corrections), someone else seconds it, and then everyone votes. If that vote was affirmative, the minutes become official and a permanent part of the association's records. After minutes are approved, our board members sign the minutes and that copy (corrections and all) are given to the property manager for filing.

In your case, you should already know if you can ask for meeting minutes by reading your documents (usually homeowners do have a right to request copies and they should be the official ones). Go back to the board and note your copy says draft and what you want are copies of the APPROVED minutes. If you're told "well, it's the exact same thing," tell them your copy says draft and that's not the same as official - if they're the same, THAT's what you expect to receive. If necessary, also note if subsequent minutes indicate whether the previous meeting minutes were ever approved - if not, tell the board, they need to fix that immediately.

From now on, the secretary needs to ensure the official minutes have been saved and that those minutes are complete and accurate (not who said what, but who was there, times the meeting started and ended, what was done on each agenda item, etc.). If he or she doesn't know how to do that, there are templates around the internet and in WORD he/she can copy. minute templates around the Internet and in Word note if the minutes at the next meeting contained a statement that the minutes were actually read and approved - if not, how do you know what you received is official?

Yes, that's the story of many an HOA - and them people wonder why their neighborhood looks the way it does and no one seems to give a damn.

From a legal standpoint, I don't know if this board realizes what a pile of horse dooky they're creating by simply leaving minutes as a draft. If stuff goes down, you end up with people saying things like "that's not what happened at that meeting last January," but no one remembers for certain because the minutes were never approved properly.

The other homeowners may be too intimidated by this bunch (in which case, they get what they allow), but for giggles, you could bring it up and see what they have to say. Some may look dumbfounded and the others may give you the stink eye, in which case you can smile sweetly and suggest they consult the association attorney for the proper procedure - if you're wrong, you stand corrected.

The problem is that there are serious mistakes and omissions that are EXTREMELY IMPORTANT so how does a resident fix this? A huge blow up occurred at a meeting and was totally ignored. I rue the day I purchased in an HOA, it's gotten so bad that people just do not want to be involved for fear of being targeted.

"Blow ups should not be recorded in the minutes nor any other "discussions." Only motions and votes. So....Marni, what else was allegedly delete? As Austine point out, only the board can amend the approved minutes.

You could bring up the errors at an open forum and ask the Board to amend. Give the date, agenda item # and what is missing or incorrect in the minutes. If only Draft" minutes, you should be able to add your opinion in one forum at the meting where those minutes will be up for approval.

The "blow ups" are recorded along with BOD statements or resident statements that in my opinion have no place in the minutes. Personality conflicts, or dislike of BOD or residents should not have a place in an official document. Our meetings are so contentious that it's painful to go, mics cut off and lectures from the board are pretty common and back and forth bickering. I really don't get why these thing have to be so hard.

You are correct about minutes. Yours might be so contentious they cannot get approved.

I agree that minutes often reflect the opinions of the person taking them and not what actually happened.

Motions can also be written in a way that doesn't ensure the outcome the board originally intended will occur. Later on down the road, when the decision is carried out, and it's not what the board intended, everyone points fingers and no one takes accountability. Instead the close ranks and try and avoid the mistakes being discovered.