Informal Board Meetings - South Florida

I am new Board Member of an HOA in South Florida. I am being bombarded by x++ emails and texts everyday day regarding mundane day-to-day operational decisions that are probably best handled and quickly resolved with routine bi-weekly or weekly informal meetings of the Board members. This is what I was used for the last 20+ years as head of large organizations and even a Board member. But I have been told this is illegal in the S/FL HOA environment, unless we invite all home-owners. But we are de-facto achieving our objective by communicating to each other "interactively and in real time by text-messaging". And, I have been told this OK!!!

Having spent most of my career in technology and telecom sectors, I see no no distinction between having a "group phone call" versus a "group chat" with all Board members - it is "interactive real-time talking" versus "interactive real-time writing" to each other - unless we are required to include all the home-owners on the group-chat!! Furthermore, even a simple smartphone can now enable anyone to have an "interactive real-time voice-activated group chat" that will read the messages (in any voice and in any language) and then also "covert the speakers responses into a textual message, again, in any language"!

* How is the above "group chat" different from a group of people having a "teleconference"?
* By extension, to make a farcical example, is it be legal to have an informal Board meeting by sitting around the table and text each other conversations or write the "conversations" on a piece of paper and pass it around?
* Something doesn't make sense here to me. This appears to be all about "form versus substance"?

Please educate me. Thank you.

Welcome to HOA management. It isn't like your "real life work" environment. So I do get where you are coming from. It takes some adjustment to realize that it "takes a village" to make a decision.

The best advice I ever was given was "The HOA money is NOT your money. It is EVERY member's money". Get into that mindset and things will become a clear "murky". LOL! The reason official decisions are not made is because they have to be made at OFFICIAL HOA meetings in the OPEN if you have open meetings. Those OFFICIAL meetings have OFFICIAL HOA meeting notes. Which is a official record of the HOA. Side meetings are NOT official meetings and their meeting notes would not be viewed as official records. They wouldn't stand up in court etc...

I personally don't see anything wrong with discussing items prior to meetings. However, many people will view this as the board being "secretive" and making decisions behind closed doors. It leaves a bad taste in mouths. Even if nothing is going on wrong. It just best to make any decisions in an official meeting but also be on the SAME page when that happens,

Also READ your documents backwards and forwards. Many of your questions and procedures will be answered there. Good luck!

In California, it's illegal for board members to use emails to discuss any item of business, or telephone, or to take any action outside a meeting. From what I've read on this forum, Florida's laws are similar.

Why did this even have to be a board meeting if it's only a presentation? It could have been billed as a town hall meeting so others could come and listen to the presentation, and ask questions. All you have to do is tell people this is information only and the board is not yet considering taking specific action at this time. Depending on the dialogue, that could help the board make a decision later on whether to pursue a business relationship with the company, do something else, or do nothing.

Generally, Florida has "Sunshine" laws that require meetings (in theory) of local and state governing bodies and HOA boards to be properly noticed and open to stakeholders. Here is part of FS 720-303 (FS 720 governs HOA, FS 718 for condos)

(a) Members of the board of administration may use e-mail as a means of communication but may not cast a vote on an association matter via e-mail. A meeting of the board of directors of an association occurs whenever a quorum of the board gathers to conduct association business. Meetings of the board must be open to all members, except for meetings between the board and its attorney with respect to proposed or pending litigation where the contents of the discussion would otherwise be governed by the attorney-client privilege. A meeting of the board must be held at a location that is accessible to a physically handicapped person if requested by a physically handicapped person who has a right to attend the meeting. The provisions of this subsection shall also apply to the meetings of any committee or other similar body when a final decision will be made regarding the expenditure of association funds and to meetings of any body vested with the power to approve or disapprove architectural decisions with respect to a specific parcel of residential property owned by a member of the community.
(b) Members have the right to attend all meetings of the board. The right to attend such meetings includes the right to speak at such meetings with reference to all designated items. The association may adopt written reasonable rules expanding the right of members to speak and governing the frequency, duration, and other manner of member statements, which rules must be consistent with this paragraph and may include a sign-up sheet for members wishing to speak. Notwithstanding any other law, meetings between the board or a committee and the association’s attorney to discuss proposed or pending litigation or meetings of the board held for the purpose of discussing personnel matters are not required to be open to the members other than directors.
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Thank you KerryL1 - for your observations, comments and advice, appreciate it.

Thank you.

Florida statute FS 720 says that owners must have access to "official records" for at least seven years. Per the statute, "official records" include:

All other written records of the association not specifically included in this subsection which are related to the operation of the association.

Someone posted at hoatalk.com that her attorney had recently obtained a court ruling that a recording qualifies as a "written record." This was a mere trial court ruling. The trial court's ruling is binding solely on the HOA in this specific lawsuit.

Who knows what the next court might say?

I would not bother preserving these recordings until someone made a request to preserve a specific one. They could have a copy, but then the HOA had better keep its own copy, in case someone tries to alter the video.

We come under FL Statute 720. Thank you ElleN

There are NO "Sunshine Laws" for HOA's. It doesn't apply...ever.

Many sites talk about associations having their own "sunshine laws." For example:

https://www.sewardlawoffice.com/do-sunshine-laws-apply-to-community-associations/

https://hf-files-oregon.s3.amazonaws.com/hdpalliancecas_kb_attachments/2017/12-05/01884bb1-a5ab-46cd-802c-9534d80cec06/11%20Florida%20Sunshine%20Law.pdf

https://beckerlawyers.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/02/11167_2015-Sunshine-Law.pdf

I knew what the posters above meant. So should you.