Special Owners meeting Called for

Started by ArtN • 7 replies • 1784 views

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ArtN (Massachusetts)
Posts: 48

Posted:

Hi, Our Owners Group Petitioned the Board of Trustees as per our By Laws requesting the Board of Trustees hold a Speical Owners Meeting, 62 percent of the owners signed, where only 31% was required. Here is the problem, By Laws do not state any amount of time required for the Board to hold this Special Meeting, allowing them (Board) to take as long as they see fit to do so. Why they would want to drag their feet beats me, but if you all knew this Board you would understand. So now everyone is concerned as to just what do they have to hide!

The Speical Meeting was Petitioned to ask the Board members questions and issues they are not able to but at an Annual Meeting..Yes, no Open Meetings......Communication Breakdown.....

The Question is: How or is there any way we as Owners can forced them to perform, without hiring an Attorney?

Stuck in Massachusetts.

Thanks,

ArtN

GlenL (Ohio)
Posts: 5,491

Posted:

Art are you sure there is no timeline anywhere in your documents because it seem that that would defeat the whole purpose. Our documents state that if the president doesn't call the meeting then the members themselves can:

Special meetings of the members of the Association may be held on any business day when called by the President of the Association or by the Board of Trustees of the Association or by members entitled to cast at least forty percent (40%) of the votes of the Association. Upon request in writing delivered either in person or by certified mail to the President or the Secretary of the Association by any persons entitled to call a meeting of members, such officer shall forthwith cause to be given to the members entitled thereto notice of a meeting to be held on a date not less than ten (10), nor more than thirty (30) days after receipt of such request as such officer may fix. If such notice is not given within twenty (20) days after delivery or mailing of such request, the persons calling the meeting may fix the time of the meeting and give notice thereof. Each special meeting shall be called to convene at 8:00 p.m. and shall be held at the office of the Association or at such other place upon the Condominium Property as shall be specified in the notice of meeting.

Studies show that 5 out of 4 people have problems with fractions

BruceF1 (Connecticut)
Posts: 2,535

Posted:

Art,

It's possible that your state law may have a time limit.

Our bylaws don't specify a time limit either If the homeowners decide to call a special meeting, they should state, in their petition, when the meeting is to take place. It should not have been left openended and up to the board to set a date.

In other words, your petion should have said something like:
"We, the undersigned homeowners of xxxxx, in accordance with Article xxx of the bylaws of xxxxxxx, hereby demand that a special meeting of the homeowners be held on Tuesday, May 20, 2008 at 7:00 pm for the purpose of xxxxxxx."

or something like,
"We, the undersigned homeowners of xxxxx, in accordance with Article xxx of the bylaws of xxxxxxx, hereby demand that a special meeting of the homeowners be held on a date and time to be established by the Board of Directors, but in no case later than Tuesday, May 20, 2008 at 7:00 pm for the purpose of xxxxxxx."

I prefer the first option, and in our state, the secretary is required to issue a notice of the meeting in accordance with state law.

Unfortunately, if the only purpose of having the meeting is to ask your board questions, nothing compels them to show up, so it kind of defeats the purpose.

But, you can always hold a special meeting to recall your board and conduct the meeting yourselves. All you need to do is elect a president pro tem and a secretary pro tem to conduct the meeting and record the minutes.

SteveN (South Carolina)
Posts: 3

Posted:

Art,
Try looking past your By-Laws, I assume you HOA is incorporated as a non-profit enterprise governed by State non-profit corp. law. Our By-Laws have the same provision to call a members meeting yet specifies no timetable.

Yet the governing State law mandates that the board has 30 days, to send notification to the membership, of the date and singular purpose (agenda) of the meeting. The date must also allow sufficient time to provide for proper notice (normally 5-10 days) of the meeting.

In this case, If the By-laws of a corporation don’t cover it, it defaults to the Laws governing the type of Corporation in your State.

BruceF1 (Connecticut)
Posts: 2,535

Posted:

It's in our state laws governing nonstock corporations too. In our case the call for the meeting needs to be issused by the board within 15 days from the date on the petition. The petition should be dated and signed and state the purpose of the meeting.

GeraldT4
Posts: 1,022

Posted:

ArtN - What a coincidence, same thing here happening in my New Jersey HOA. What do your by-laws state about the notice requirements for a special meeting of owners. Mine require no less than 30 days notice. If your Board refuses to call the meeting, a new petition calling for their removal and for the meeting to be held on a specific date with adequate notice to all owners will be required. Inform the Board in that letter (mailed certified return receipt) that all decisions rendered by the Board between now and the special meeting for recall will be re-voted upon by the replacement Board. So that's the procedural recommendation. However, removal is upheaval, and your group must have a game plan other than just 31% of those needed for signature. Meaning, who is going to step up, how knowledgeable are they in finances, running a BOD meeting, reserve fund planning strategies, insurance requirements the association must provide, and all that good stuff. Just playing devil's advocate because what looks fishy on the outside perspective takes on an entirely different perspective once you volunteer to be a fiduciary for your neighbors.

Good luck!!

MagdaS (Florida)
Posts: 32

Posted:

What do you do if the HOA Board is still controlled by the developers employees?

We are a gated community of 974 planned units with 550+ finished and occupied. In spite of frequent requests over the past 4 years by our Residents Group we still doe not haven even ONE resident representative on the HOA Board.

With a majority of votes, 3.6 per unsold unit versus 1 per resident there is no chance that the current 3 board members could be outvoted by residents.

Any suggestions?

Thank you. Magda

BruceF1 (Connecticut)
Posts: 2,535

Posted:

Magda,

Check the florida laws. Here, in Connecticut, the developer is required by law to have at least one homeowner representative on the board once 1/3 of the units to be completed have been sold and the sale completed (closed).

Donna, can you help here?

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