Board Member Opinions on Discussion

I would home in on realpolitik: Could you get a majority of the board to agree to a time limit?

Try talking for 30 seconds, then 1 minutes up to 5 minutes. See how long that truly is. If you can not make a point in 2 minutes or less, your rambling or have no point.

I recently was requested to do a 2 minute presentation based on a script was given. It was only 3 very small paragraphs that read took less than 30 seconds. I refused to do it and quit. The person was a former 2nd grade teacher whom wrote boring facts down. Me and the others had already developed a story with each other that took about 3 minutes for all 4 people.

Point to be made should not take that long or not as long as you think.

Gregory wrote: "...on this forum I have heard pointers on limiting folks comments to about two minutes. That works when you have the community member meeting."

Please note, that the most recent discussion , which included my HOA's list of Owners Conduct was for the open forum section of Board meetings, not members meetings. In many states, Board meeting must be open to owners. And in many of those states, there must be period of time when Owners may ask question, make comments etc. In addition, there should be no "conversations" during Board meetings. There should be just intro to motions, motions, discussions, debate and votes.

In my opinion based on many years of HOA Board service, the biggest key to an effective meeting is a clear agenda, known well in advance, to which the Board president makes sure the board adheres. The president also can ask the Board is it's ready to vote when s/he believe enough has been deliberated, discussed and debated. In my HOA, directors even sometimes "call the question." Which basically is saying, "Enough! Let's vote."

So, The Board also can make policies about director conduct & talk during meetings. First, in Calif.and in many other states, ONLY matters listed on the board meeting agenda, and posted xx days in advance for owners to see, may be discussed. So, no directors can just start blabbing about something.

Very brief announcements are OK.

On PM keeps a "Board Policy Log." These aren't "Rules" that need owner feedback, but various internal policies.

If a director has placed an item of business on the agenda, they must follow Board policy: "...any and all written and/or photographic materials that will or may be referred to in any fashion by a Board member, or a committee member presenting a committee report, must be included in the information supplied to management..." prior to every Board meeting so that mgmt. can place it in the directors report (aka board packet) that's distributed to directors about a week before board meetings. This way, no director can blindside other directors with a bunch of handouts AT the meeting and demand some kind of action/vote.

Here's another meeting policy at my HOA: "that Board Members be limited to five (5)minutes at any time for presentation of ideas, discussion of proposals, suggestions, comments, etc. Board Members would also have a one (1) minute time limit on responses to directors, follow-up comments, and the Board president may extend these time limits at their discretion. Board Members can be ruled out-of-order if the Board President believes that these rules are being circumvented."

There's no need to adhere to Robert's Rules. The above are only suggestions, Gregory. 5 minutes actually is too long in my experience. I think that there are probably many articles about "effective meetings" on line that aren't even about HOA Board meetings.

Carry n!

Good board meeting policy agreed upon by board members can be of great help to board presidents. Having been on HOA boards with a dozen presidents, I've seen their quality vary considerably. Often no one or maybe only one directors is willing to be president, so gentle education and support are important. Makes for smoother more productive meetings, which benefit everyone.

I would just make a motion to vote on the matter, get a second and move on.