Deck Replacement Project

You have only the rights given in the bylaws and state statutes. You should study intensely the bylaws; identify each bylaw being violated here; and send a demand letter. If you want an example of a demand letter, then quote verbatim a bylaw that is being violated, and I will draft a demand letter for you.

I see the Mass Nonprofit Corp Act //requires// the bylaws to provide for a way to remove the directors.
See https://malegislature.gov/Laws/GeneralLaws/PartI/TitleXXII/Chapter180/Section17 ? Do you see a section on removing directors in your bylaws?

Can you quote verbatim what your bylaws say about owners calling a Special Meeting?

Based on what you said in your first post, in my opinion the responses you receive here will only help prepare you for a meeting with an attorney.

Huge hurdles, in my rather extensive experience:

-- A contract has been signed. It was more likely than not lawfully signed. Getting out of the contract will be difficult and may result in legal action by the vendor.

-- Identifying how much deck must be replaced for each unit, under the law, will be difficult. Owners and the Board must recognize that the enemy here will likely be the legal process itself. The cost of attorneys; the long time it takes to get a ruling from a judge; the uncertainty; and the pyrrhic nature of a victory argue for compromising and settling this among yourselves.

-- Getting owners to quit whining because they feel 'wronged' and instead getting these owners to sit down, study the bylaws and state statutes, and identify exactly what bylaws and statutes have been violated.

Please answer all questions that people here ask you. When responding, please identify the person to whom you are responding.

Nancy

When I lived in a townhome association in MA the decks, do to shoddy construction and cheap materials, needed to be replaced. The association had the reserves to pay for existing deck replacement but an option was offered. Expand the present deck at a cost of $X per square foot which the owner would pay for. I dealt with the builder doing the deck replacements and was able to negotiate a good price to expand my deck.

Nancy, your tag says Massachusetts, but Kerry refers to MS, not MA. I'm answering assuming you are in MA.

I think if you have concerns, you should talk to a lawyer who knows about condo law in MA. No one here can give legal advice, and law in MA is a bit convoluted, consisting both of multiple pieces of legislation and a fair bit of case law. Be wary of using someone who doesn't actively do condo law in MA. Here is a starting point - https://www.mass.gov/info-details/condominiums

I am assuming you're talking about a condo, not a co-op, since co-ops are uncommon here, and condos have unit owners and co-ops have share holders. It can matter, since the laws vary. Co-ops are regulated by corporate code, condos are 183A. There are also HOAs for single family homes, which, I think, are only corporations. If you are in a condo, then most requirements for meetings are in your condo docs because 183A's requirements are limited, and minutes are also quite limited, being only "to the extent such minutes are kept" (183A §10 c(3)). There is no requirement that there be recordings. So whether you can get minutes or recordings depends entirely on how open your board wishes to be. They likely weren't required to have any open meetings unless your condo docs say so, so probably the 1/24 meeting was not required to be open.

Anything you have a right to have is spelled out in 183A or in your condo docs. So as ElleN and Kerry have both pointed out, you need to carefully read your condo docs (Trust/corporate bylaws/other organizing doc, and Deed). These are registered in your county registrar of deeds. There may be other documents registered there too - pay attention to those. The definitions given in your condo docs will likely specify the terms under which the decks are replaced and who pays for what.

I doubt the owners get much choice about what work is done on their individual decks when the work happens - otherwise you can have 100 owners all arguing about whether it needs to be done at a particular moment. That's what you get a board to do.

I would also be really surprised if they shared the bids. Bids are often submitted in confidence. That assumes they were actually able to get multiple bids, which in the Boston area, at least, has turned into a real problem.

Last point - if I were on your board I would not vote for financing. That passes an individual owner liability onto the association as a whole, since the association becomes the owner's lender (the note is in the association's name, so everyone is liable for it even if they pay up front). As long as the board has acted legally and within the confines of the condo docs, there can be assessments, which owners should realize. It's painful, but that is a part of condos.

Ah, of course, my MA for Mass is wrong!