President calling Town hall

What do your bylaws say about who can call a meeting?

Are the other board members objecting? Why? Are they pressed for time? Do they think the questions have already been answered and that another meeting just wastes everyone's time? Does the HOA have to pay for meeting space, and they don't want to spend the extra money? Are there dysfunction power dynamics in play?

Too many unanswered questions.

I'll just comment that the board president often is the person who can call a meeting, although there may be others. Town halls are generally informal unless they're specifically mentioned in the bylaws - unlike board, special, or annual meetings - so there may be a lower bar on this. It's pretty unusual for homeowners to object to the board providing more information. What we usually hear around here is that homeowners can't pry any info out of their boards, even info that the owners are legally entitled to see.

let me get this straight.
your BOD already passed the budget, right?
I'm also assuming your Bylaws state some astronomical hard-to-achieve percentage for the budget to be overturned, so it is virtually guaranteed to be passed at the next membership meeting.

Your president wants to help answer questions and called a meeting not because it was needed to pass the budget, but because he wanted to help, but the rest of the BOD doesn't want this?
This doesn't add up, why do the remaining BOD's not want to have this meeting?

By the way in our bylaws, it says the president can call special meetings any time they want.

good luck.

The Nevada Common Interest Statute says yes:

 An association shall hold a special meeting of the units’ owners to address any matter affecting the common-interest community or the association if its president, a majority of the executive board or units’ owners constituting at least 10 percent, or any lower percentage specified in the bylaws, of the total number of votes in the association request that the secretary call such a meeting.

See https://www.leg.state.nv.us/nrs/nrs-116.html

Too bad your board does not read the applicable Nevada statutes.

I would say it's up to the President to remind the board of what the statutes say, regarding the President's lawful right to call a Special Meeting.

By my reading, it really is quite common, whether this be in the bylaws or state statute. See for example:

Texas, BO 22.155
Florida, FS 617.0701
California, Corporations Code § 7510(e)

Yes, the board can remove the president and cancel the special meeting. But so far, I do not see that this is justified here.

Yes, but Corporate code is not really written with HOA/COAs in mind.

I'll also repeat what I posted in a different thread: What is allowed isn't always what is the right thing to do.

Does it make the President calling the meeting without input or approval from the board right or simply allowed?

Would it have been better to have, at the very least, informed the board of the plans to call a meeting prior to announcing it to the membership?

But why hold it just a week before the another general membership meeting?

An expense for notices, etc. that isn't really needed as it could be handled at the meeting on the 30th (a week away).

It appears the HOA would not be able to meet notice requirements anyway. From the statute:

Not less than 15 days or more than 60 days in advance of any meeting of the units’ owners, the secretary or other officer specified in the bylaws shall cause notice of the meeting to be given to the units’ owners in the manner set forth in NRS 116.31068. The notice of the meeting must state the time and place of the meeting and include a copy of the agenda for the meeting. The notice must include notification of the right of a unit’s owner to...

So maybe, if this board actually reads the statute, it would realize the matter is moot, as long as the general meeting must be held on Nov 30.

I agree we do not have all the facts. But I can imagine a town hall where owners, having more questions answered, point out xyz and want the budget changed. Meaning the owners may not approve the budget (or whatever Nevada law allows when it comes to budget approval/rejection).

Assessments are generally going up. No, I do not have all the facts. But I think from the sample at this forum it's clear owners are pretty upset about increases.

Please provide a citation for how these differ in Nevada.
Any owner can hold a meeting in common areas as long as the owner is abiding by the rules for the common area.

If a quorum of the board intends to be present, this may raise notice problems in Nevada.
In California, town hall meetings called by the board have notice requirements.

The Nevada HOA statute is silent about "town halls." Of course.

Be glad. Our board never lets members comment on the budget at all. Neither do the board members ask any questions about it. They increase assessments with no budget prepared then send out a budget later.

Kerry: "... Cathy (in her earliest) & I note the distinction between a Town Hall Meeting and a Special Meeting of the Board." "... I assume [Kevin] know[s] what that means and how it's very different from special meetings of the members (owners) or special meetings of the Board"
.
Elle: "Please provide a citation for how these differ in Nevada."

Since you're the one, Elle, who treats them as the same kind of meeting in all of your above, you need to show us that a TH Mtg. & a special board or Members meeting are the same kind of meeting with the same requirements.

But bylaws provide the names of various kinds of meetings AND the requirements to call them. If ANY kind of a Board meeting, quorum must be met, minutes written, notice and agenda (often) is required. In ANY kind of a meeting members(owners), aka, meeting of the association, there are notice & agenda requirements, minutes must be kept, and often a quorum is required. What they share is that the body may take action, that is VOTE on something.

Yes, of course, any resident can hold any kind of meeting. Any resident may give such a meeting a name so long as it doesn't imply it's a meeting named in the Bylaws.* If Kevin’s Bylaws and state law are silent about THs., the president or any resident may call a meeting and name it whatever they wish.

And to be accurate, in most HOAs, any residents, including renters may hold a meeting in a common area by following procedure &. Rules. Absentee owners usually lose amenity privileges and may not. So, not any owner may all a meeting.

* There are more types of meetings named in all Bylaws I've seen listed on the forum than what Terri lists. As noted way above, my HOA's Bylaws DO discuss THs.

I make no universal assumptions about "Town Hall" meetings whatsoever, Elle. We've seen the phrase a few time herein and Cathy's familiar with them, Kevin's familiar with them. They're common when boards are trying to educate Owners about certain projects that they want to undertake, or in this case, sort of a Q&A about the '24 budget. My HOA seems to have a couple a year.

Perhaps the plainest way to put it : Town Halls are educational or informational and occur when no member or board action needs to be taken.

I felt the misleading material was your & Tim's on-&-on-&-on discussion re: "Special Meetings" when the OP never used that term. I think it's a mistake if you assumed the OP doesn't know what he's asking about and used the "wrong words," even if possibly correct.

if we think a OP isn't using the correct HOA lingo, It saves readers from wandering into the weeds if we try to ask the OP their definition of the word or phase they're trying to convey.

Yet another blunder by you. Civil Code 4090 says a gathering of a quorum at the same time and place to discuss anything within the board's purview is a board meeting.

Hijacking a thread is the long-winded debate between Elle & Tim about "special meetings of the board" when that was not the OP's topic. But, AGAIN, in her most recent, Elle attempts to pretend that a" special meeting of the Board" and a TH are the same thing even though she's the one who supplied NV definition of Special Meetings. Certain requirements must be followed and NO voting may occur at a TH/info mtg. unlike a special meeting as also defined in Kevin's Bylaws as we shall eventually see when he provides that verbiage..

More, it does not matter whether CA or NV statutes refer to THs. Any resident in an HOA may hold a meeting and invite all residents. If they want to call it a Town Hall, there's no restriction against it. If it happens to be the board prez who calls this meeting, then, sure, notice is required IF a quorum of the Board will attend (in CA--in NV?) Why would any assoc. NOT publicize a TH given its purpose???

Elle uses an incorrect definition of "force": KL: "Perhaps the plainest way to put it: Town Halls are educational or informational and occur when no member or board action needs to be taken."
Elle: "There you go again, forcing your definition on others." But, as is clear, my use of "Perhaps" is to show that my suggestion is ONE way not THE way. All of the literature online about HOA THs, btw, do go into detail supporting my summary. Since Elle cites none of it, we can be sure none agree with her assertion that THs & Special Meetings are the same animal.

Maybe this will help the OP: "Unlike other association meetings, whose purpose is to carry out association business by voting and making decisions, the purpose of a town hall meeting is to share information between the board and homeowners. Homeowners and board members are not allowed to make decisions at a town hall meeting, but the information shared at the town hall can help board members and homeowners make good decisions at properly noticed board and membership meetings." https://boardlineacademy.com/the-hoa-town-hall-meeting/

I don't use CA as a guideline, but as ONE way our Bylaws discuss THs. It's impossible to imagine that one example or approach can be considered "narcissistic." Although our Bylaws were restated in 2022, our very experienced HOA attorney/and staff wrote them. Early on I asked Kevin what HIS Bylaws say to show the they may be different than my Bylaws.

The attorneys at a huge CA HOA law firm clearly acknowledge the reality of THs:"Board Notice of Meeting. If the board were to call a town hall meeting, proper notice must be given. If a quorum of directors will be in attendance then at least four-day's notice must be given. If the board intends to vote on business at the meeting then it's a town hall meeting coupled with a board meeting and appropriate notice must be given." https://www.davis-stirling.com/HOME/T/Town-Hall-Meetings.

My HOA's Bylaws (ca. 2022) Section 2.14."Conduct of Informational Meetings. Nothing herein shall preclude the Association from also conducting informational or 'Town Hall' meetings of the members in order to discuss any Association business, conduct a straw poll or to address other matters where it is considered beneficial to the membership to meet concerning any item of business or matter reasonably related to the Association or project. No formal notice or other formalities shall be required in relation to such informational meetings nor need any minutes be created or approved. The chair of the meeting, as designated by the Board, shall have the sole discretion as to how such meeting shall be conducted."

Btw, for our THs the PM & secretary write a summary that's e-blasted to all owners. This correspondence, often in Q&A style, was crucial in helping owners grasp the nuances of our rewritten CC&Rs about which we held two THs to encourage Owners' votes. Our attorney attended one and fielded many questions.

To return to the OP's question -- I still agree with Tim that a wise president would have sought agreement from the Board about holding such a meeting. In CA, scheduling any kinds of meetings by board members need not be done at an open Board meetings, but I don't know about NV.

And while members are required to have open forum to express whatever they wish, nothing precludes a board from having extended discussions with members of items on the agenda in addition to open forum.

Perhaps Terri can tell us why she thinks our HOA's very experienced law firm wrote a section of our Bylaws that is weak? Or whatever sh thing the flaw is. Terri have never served on an HOA Board, refuses to serve on hers, her Board meets infrequently, so far as I know they've never held a Town Hall, and their only common area is their streets. Her only source of info is CA statutes & opinions about them, not real life.

She has learned a great deal online, to her credit, but is nowhere near qualified to charge that any HOA attorney is "skating on thin ice." Her "quack like a duck" remark has no meaning that I can see. Please examine, Terry, but ONLY if it has to do with Town Halls.

Any board in CA, of course, can hold open forum for as long as they wish and do a lot of back-and-forth with Owners, but the topic here is not board meetings but a TH (unless Kevin MEANT "Special meeting of the board or members) Btw, unless theBoard directs Owners to only discuss agenda items during I open forum, thy can bring up any topic they chose. Terri's incorrect to state that owners may ONLY bring up agenda items in open forum in CA b hard meetings. This is NOT the OP's topi, however.

My PARTICULAR QUOTATION above is RELEVANT to the topic of THs: https://boardlineacademy.com/the-hoa-town-hall-meeting/". BOARD MEETINGS ARE NOT THE TOPIC OF THIS THREAD.

I'm shuddering, but will still ask: What the heck do you have against Town Hall meeting in HOAs, Terri? For me, if owners attend and ask questions, owners benefit. For our THs, owner are even encouraged in the notice a New Items to email questions to the PM for the presider to review before the meeting. All questions still are handed AT th meeting.

Here we go again with misquoting posters.

1. I never said owners may only bring up agenda items in open forum. I said the board can allow discussions on agenda items in addition to open forum which achieves the concept of a Town Hall without violating the Open Meeting Act. Please don't attribute false statements of fact to me. I know all about open forum so please don't lecture. And, no, the board cannot do a lot of back-and-forth with owners at Open Forum.

2. You said My only source of info "is statutes and opinions about them." By opinion about them, do you mean case law? Wow, you have been a director for a long time and you don't value those things or consider them real life? We live our HOA lives by statutes and case law. That's how we settle real life problems. That's how we hold each other accountable in real life. That's how a lot of people find answers to their problems on this forum.

3. I know you have read many times the definition of a board meeting at 4090. When you compare this to the linked description of a town hall, what you have is a board meeting. Board meetings ARE the topic of this thread if what someone is calling a Town Hall is actually a board meeting. I have nothing against an informal meeting; only a board meeting masquerading as something else.

4. HOA lawyers are not infallible.

Oh, I do see the seeming contradiction, of course, but unlike you two, I am not soooooo convinced that a Town Hall qualifies as a "board meeting" in CA. I'm not so sure it's a "fact."

In my HOA, most Board members attend as observers and always sit in the audience. There is no deliberation, discussion or debate among the directors. There often is NOT a quorum of directors in attendance. One or two directors are up front to introduce the topic and provide information. Usually there is an expert guest or 2 or 3 to supply info, e.g., our HOA attorney, a reserves specialist, a project manager,'s team, lobby rehab designers, etc.

As is only logical, the meeting is well-noticed, and a summary of its comments, etc. is composed and emailed to all Owners once finished. I cannot conceive of any downside to Owners of my HOA's use of THs. Doesn't our approach, which I doubt is rare, benefit owners and the HOA as a whole???

The situation is like a committee meeting that Board members may attend but only as observers IF the committee already comprises just one less than a quorum. See Davis-stirling.com on the point & the Brown Act. HOA biz IS discussed by the Committee. A quorum of directors also attend seminars as observers put on by attorneys or management companies and obviously general HOA business comes up. Again, check D-S.com on this point

Elle and I have long disagreed on the topic with her definition of a Board meeting in CA much stricter than mine. She has insisted in the past that attendance of a quorum of a board at an educational seminar with maybe 100 other directors from many HOAs, say, put on by CAI, IS a board meeting.

But Elle & Terri's opinions of my Bylaws have ZERO to do with the OP's question????

Any discussion about CA does not assist the OP who happens to be in NV

Any discussion about board meetings does not help the OP either. Other posters went there.

Town Halls is the topic and the president's role in calling them. But a couple of posters insist that Town Halls are identical with Board Meetings as always carefully defined in any HOA's Bylaws. Since we do have readers for CA, it seemed OK to show some citations about Town Halls in CA in order to ask Kevin, as a point of comparison: what do your Bylaws say, if anything about them?

I also point out accessible literature online for HOA leaders in any state to refer to if the topic of Town Halls interests them. IMO they are excellent ways for Boards to be open with Owners about a variety of topics, some of which might be contentious. They benefit the entire corporation.

My last words on the topic in CA is to repeat that Town Halls in my HOA and perhaps in many in the US, include NO discussion, deliberation or debate among directors. A majority of directors, assuming a quorum even attends, are observers seated in the audience.

They, then fall in the category of directors attending a committee mtg. where their presence creates a quorum of directors. So long as the attendees only observe, it's NOT a Board meeting, according to D-S.com's discussion of the Brown Act . The latter basically writes the same thing about a quorum of the Board attending offsite seminars with dozens of board members from other HOAs. All are observers even though the topics all are aspects of the Board's roles in HOAs (or there'd be no attendance). Does anyone seriously think that all of these disparate groups of quorums of director are violating the Open Meeting Act?

I disagree. Legal principals are often common between states. We acknowledge we are in CA and the poster can take it from there. Even one point or one argument might help.

And I disagree with this position. In my opinion Terri's and Kerry's positions rest on the assumption that newbies know that certain statutes in their state apply and know how to look them up. That assumption is almost always without foundation. Consequently a Californian gives newbies nothing constructive when he/she goes on and on about what California statutes say or what their California bylaws say.

But --

Kerry and you are going to keep posting your California junk for non-California newbies, no question. Why? Because you are not interested in being helpful. Instead you are interested in talking about yourselves.

The moderator allows it. It is what it is. But do expect to be corrected, early and often, when you get California law wrong, as Kerry is doing as we speak.

I used to live in Nevada and even though I didn't live in an HOA there, whenever I had to look up statutes, I thought Nevada laws were easy to read.

All of my HOA's THs are given lotsa notice & publicity. Flyers in the elevators! Pastries & coffee offered paid for by the HOA (in our case)! WHY would any individual or Board hold such a meeting without notice???

I don't get it, Aidyl--I suspect that neither Terri nor Elle have ever attended TH meetings in an HOA. Finally someone lists this post who has experience with THs.

And both Teri & Elle suppose that since "Town Hall" is not found in CA statutes, that an HOA is forbidden to use that name. What? If they have attended meetings where directors sit around a table, etc., and hear, discuss & deliberate & debate posted agenda items and take action on them, i.e., vote, it's a board mtg. in and in many other states.

Thus, there should be for efficiency alone, a Board vote on every actionable agenda item even when it's postponed, tabled or not approved. This way the meeting minutes show that the item was indeed discussed by the Board and not ignored. If there is NO actionable agent item, why should the Board bother to hold a Board meeting? To merely approve the minutes of the last open board meeting?

In this post, Elle, I was the first to show true interest in the OP's question by replying way above that THs are NOT board meetings, but you're the one who bolted off topic by giving the state's definition of statutorily-defined Special Meetings, blah, blah., blah. This was absolutely no help to the OP.

If interest only in talking about one's self is measured by the number of words posted in all posts here, Elle would certainly rank as #1.

Last June I sued our association for violations of the open meeting act. Their defense was "it was a town hall meeting." I said it was a board meeting. They even changed the notice to say town hall. And they wrote on the minutes town hall. We got to court. Judge says what's the definition of a board meeting. I quoted 4090. Board loses, member wins, board is fined for violating the open meeting act.