Special Meeting

Jackie, I think they have the right to call another special meeting. The Board apparently feels there is a strong need for a special assessment so as an owner I would be more concerned about the consequences of approving and not approving.

Jacqueline,

Do your governing documents say that ANY special assessment must be approved by a vote of the membership? I am going to stick my neck out here and say that THEY DO NOT. ONLY if the special assessment is higher than 10% of the annual budget must it go to a vote of the members.

I know many people will get on this one but from going thru several special assessments myself, I can vouch that no vote was ever taken from the members. We had a $330.00 hurricane damage special--no vote. We had a failure in the irrigation system in another place and it was a Board vote only. Neither one was over the 10% of the budget. But we paid the money due because it was needed to fix damage.

The Boards had notified the members that there would be a special meeting in regards to a special assessment. Lots of irrate folks came. They bitched(oops) they made fists at the Board and when all was over, the broken stuff was working again and everyone was okay. Oh Yeah, then we had the $250.00 legal bill for the Escallade escapade. That one was a hard sell but everyone paid.

I see the reason for what Jacqueline is going thru. Members don't show up for the meeting, members don't want to shell out any additional money, members don't understand that IF you fail to repair and maintain that it will cost more down the road. Such is the way it goes. Boards MUST maintain the property, like it or not so getting a membership vote to okay the special??? Not on your life so that is why Board approval is the normal proceedure down in Fl. After hurricane Jeannie, one of my rentals had to redo all of the roofs and insurance covered most of it but there were specials there too. No Member vote, just the Board saying the roofs must be reroofed and that's that.

Ditto here. That's why I've recommended that our board presents the issue of a Reserve fund to membership before year end. At Sept. board meeting Treasurer wanted to approve a fence for park and park pond, and to my dismay Treasurer said yes, we can afford it because we'll be collecting 2009 dues soon. That's the type of Treasurer we have.

Right Susan,

I did not see where the request was for the Reserve funding. When a Board or association gets to needing a special assessment, this is not a request to the members just to store away some extra money. It almost always involves the need for funds to pay a bill or to at least have the funds available for a particular upcoming expense.

Like I posted earlier, what if a major unforseen occurance happens and the membership won't pass a special assess? Then what. Who takes the responsibility for the mess? The Board does. I have been involved twice where the Board did the right thing and did assess even tho the membership would never have passed it. That's what members do.

Gosh, most of us can't get people to show up for any kind of meetings and this is no exception. So tell me Mary and some of the others, how do you get the membership to vote by at least 2/3rds to pay a special assess? The O.P is an example of what I am talking about, how do you do it?

I try to look at this logically and do not understand where the members would ever pass a special assessment just because there is a request for it. That is why IMHO, the Board should have the ability to inform the members why this is needed, let the members gripe and have their say, then do what is needed, and that is to pass the special assessment.