Effective HOA Operations Require Member Particioation in Meetings

I am sharing from a group I belong to.

The business of operating a homeowners association involves ongoing interactions between association members and the association’s management personnel. Those interactions take place through different types of meetings where various aspects of the association’s business are conducted. The types of different meetings that should be taking place within a homeowners’ association, and the purposes of those meetings, are often misunderstood by association members, including those volunteer members that serve as officers and directors of their association.

There are basically three different types of meetings that should be taking place within homeowner’s associations: (1) Meetings of the associations board of directors; (2) Meetings of the association’s members; and (3) Meetings of association committee members.

Board of Directors Meetings

Board of director meetings are gatherings of an association’s directors at the same time and place to hear, discuss, or deliberate upon any item of business that is within the authority of the board and which has not been properly delegated to any other person or persons, a managing agent, officers of the association, or a committee of the board comprising less than a majority of the directors. Typically, unless an association’s governing documents provide otherwise, meetings of the association’s board of directors can be called by the association’s president, vice president, secretary, or any two directors.

The meetings of an association’s board of directors are either “open” meetings which can be attended by any member of the association, or “executive session” meetings that members do not have a right to attend, unless the meeting includes an item of business pertaining to a specific member that is invited to attend the portion of the meeting for that purpose.

Open Meetings. State statutes and homeowners’ association governing documents contain provisions that give all association members a right to attend all meetings of their association’s board of directors that are not executive session meetings. Such open board meetings enable association members to observe the directors conduct association business and provide an opportunity for the members to address their board of directors on matters of concern to the member during the open forum portion of the meeting.

Executive Session Meetings. State statutes and governing documents also provide for executive session meetings of the association’s board of directors to enable the directors to act on association business that involves confidential issues such as: (1) active and potential litigation involving the association; (2) matters relating to the formation of contracts with third parties; (3) to conduct disciplinary hearings pertaining to association members; (4) to address personnel matters such as hiring, firing, raises, disciplinary matters, employee policies, and performance reviews; (5) to discuss plans for the payment of delinquent dues and assessments with an owner; (6) to discuss and approve the initiation of foreclosure on a member’s separate interest; (7) to discuss and act upon member requests for accommodations due to a disability; (8) to discuss and act upon the censuring of a director. Due to the confidential nature of the business conducted at executive session board meetings, members do not have a right to attend such meetings and are not entitled to review the minutes of executive session meetings. Instead, the nature of the business addressed in executive session must be generally noted in the minutes of the next open meeting of the board.

The meetings of an association’s board of directors are classified as either “regular,” “special,” or “emergency.” Regular meetings of the board are regularly scheduled meetings that are set at specific dates and times which are established in the association’s bylaws, or if not provided for in the bylaws, as set by the association’s board. Special meetings of the board are meetings that are not regularly scheduled in the bylaws, or by the board, which can be called at any time upon providing the minimum required notice to members. Emergency board meetings are conducted to address emergency situations and do not require advance notification to association members. Emergency situations involve circumstances that could not have been reasonably foreseen, and which require immediate attention and possible action by the association’s board of directors, and where it is impracticable to provide notice to the association’s members.

Membership Meetings

Most meetings of the members of a homeowners’ association are conducted on an annual basis. Such “annual meetings” are required by state statutes and an association’s governing documents for the purpose of electing directors and reviewing other matters such as association finances, that members are to be informed about on an annual basis. The association must publish advance notice of the annual membership meeting and provide the members with an agenda describing the business that is to be conducted at the meeting. If an association fails to hold an annual membership meeting, a member may petition the court for an order compelling the association to conduct the meeting.

Association members can also conduct “special meetings” on an as needed basis. Special meetings of the members can be called for any lawful purpose by either the board of directors or others specified in state statutes or the association’s governing documents, including by petition of association members. Special membership meetings are typically conducted for purposes such as: (1) voting on an amendment to governing documents; (2) approving special assessments; (3) granting exclusive use of common area; and (4) conducting a recall of directors.

Association members can also conduct “town hall meetings” to discuss any matter of interest to association members. Such meetings are for members to informally gather to collectively express their feelings concerning association matters of common interest.

Committee Meetings

Homeowners’ association business operations are facilitated by the work of association members who participate on various committees. HOA committees assist the association’s board of directors by addressing specific issues and tasks. Committees gather information, assess matters relevant to their committee, and provide feedback to the board of directors. Most associations have provisions in their governing documents that require and/or allow for the formation of committees, and the qualification, selection, and removal of committee members. There are generally two types of committees that homeowner’s associations have – standing committees, and ad hoc committees. Standing committees are permanent committees that meet regularly and handle ongoing tasks, whereas ad hoc committees are generally temporary committees formed to handle specific tasks such as developing a new policy or proposed amendments for governing documents.

Frequently, association members express feelings of dissatisfaction with their homeowners association based on a perception that their board of directors is not transparent and they do not know what is going on in their association. In many instances, such feelings can be resolved by the members’ participation in the operations of the association by attending open board meetings and expressing concerns during open forum portions of the meetings, attending annual membership meetings, calling for special membership meetings when important issues need to be addressed by members, participating on committees, and communicating with other members through informal town hall meetings. Such involvement by association members keeps members informed and enables them to develop relationships with other members and become an active participant in their association’s operations, including becoming future directors and officers of the association. It is generally a lack of involvement by association members that enables the same individuals to control homeowners’ associations year-after-year and foster disfunction in the management of the association.

if only it was that easy. perhaps if the bylaws had mandatory meeting attendance that would help, but fining people for not participating in a group will make them unlikely to do so.

Me too, ND.

Wow ... that is quite the rant to what I thought were a few pretty mundane and non-controversial questions, but your response was not unexpected.

Those were my questions, but you can be mad at Kerry.

I feel that asking questions would allow us to further "discuss topics concerning ... association duties" as the posting rules indicate is allowable as well.

Really I think what you provided is mostly good info, but I do have some additional thoughts/input on it that I'll toss out later ... in the spirit of continuing to "share ideas and learn".