Is the ideal of a "annual members meeting" dead?

It appears as if many contentious issues revolve around some aspect of the required annual meeting of members. In an ideal, Utopian world the notion of an annual meeting is a great concept. But, in execution it seems to fall short of even what is minimally desirable.

Would it be more appropriate to provide an option to eliminate an annual meeting of members altogether in favor of a voting process for both board members and issues that can be conducted via mail, the Internet, or in a fashion similar to local government elections (e.g. a polling place open for a set time--day or longer--for in-person voting)?

With open board of directors meetings throughout the year, and with rules established for the conduct of annual elections, it may make some sense. Has any association been successful in eliminating the annual meeting of members?

George-
The law of our Commonwealth states that we must hold an Annual Meeting of the Members, and I would imagine it is the same for your state.

We hold our annual meeting in conjunction with an annual picnic. The Association provides the drinks, hamburgers, hotdogs and condiments, and the members bring a side dish. Having some social aspect associated with the “meeting” portion of it does seem to draw more people, and we have been growing each year.

We see the same faces every year, hear the same issues over and over again, but still,it is their time to bring forth the issues that they have a passion for. Good always come out of an Annual Meeting of the members if the board is open to hear them and respond in a proactive way that meets the goals of the community.

What gets me at annuals, is that members come with a "Wish List" ..."I wish we had a social committee," "I wish we had nieghborhood watch," "I wish we had a children's program," I find it interesting that they think the board has the power to make these things happen. What they fail to realize is that the power lies within the people, not the nine members who have been elected. We support those issues on thier wish list, but we can't magically pull a committee of members together if they don't want to be involved.

HI RobertR1- Your posting has inspired me! Community involvement has been a long time concern for the members of the board. We are planning our annual now which is slated for late spring. I think what I would like to do is put up a white board prior to the meeting, and have it labeled "Member Wish List". At some time during the meeting, we could then address each of the wishes and ask, "Who is willing to make this wish come true? " That would give the community an idea of just how many people are willing to work to make their nighborhood the most desirable it can be, and who is just blowing off steam. It is always the 20/80/80 rule here, 20% of the people, doing 80% of the work, with 80% complaining that nothing is getting done. We have an election review committee that started up in the fall of 2008. It was our desire to have community involvement so the committee would not be top heavy with board members. We have two board members acting as liaisons, and started out with three community members. One member had to resign before the first meeting due to family obligations. We have posted the need several times in several different venues, with no response. So, here we have a community that has been displeased with the election process for the past four years, and no one wants to bring their suggestions to the table. They are quick to criticise, but slow to finding proactive solutions. If the community doesn't take risks, doesn't take action, they can safely blame poor results on the board members that are trying hard to make changes in the best interest of the community. That is much more comfortable for a majority of members. Personally, I am glad to be a risk taker, as I ALWAYS succeed. I either succeed when there is a successful solution, or I succeed because I have learned by a solution that wasn't as desireable. Success comes in cans..failure comes in can'ts.

I don't know if it's dead, but annual meetings are definately on life support.

To wit, we had out annual meeting a week ago. The good news: we got 17 proxies sent in ON TIME, so we were able to hold elections. We need a quorum of 15 and last year, we had to postpone elections until March because we were one proxy shy. Despite mailing the proxies out in January and telling everyone they had to be in on or before the meeting, a small bunch showed up in early March (reading really is fundemental!)

The not so great news? only three homeowners showed up (including a former board member who I think is still ticked off about being removed because of delinquencies, but that's another story).

I realize people are busy with work, school, kids, etc. (as if they think we board members don't have anything else to do - I sure as hell do!) and I don't object to internet elections, since it would save printing and postage in sending out proxies. However, the annual meetings is once a year and most times, ours run 45 or less. If people can't even be bothered to show up for 45 minutes once a year, will they take 2 minutes to complete and return an email ballot?

No board member is a psychic or mind reader - it's up to homeowners to get off their ass and let them know what they think - if they can't show up at a board meeting once in awhile, what are we supposed to do?

Hi Shelia, Maybe the response to your annual meetings is because of the time of year in which it happens. I know in January, I am still trying to get my feet under me from the holidays, (that plus five family birthdays,) so the last thing I would want to do is look at a stuffy ol' ballot and have to think and make a decision. That is probably one of those pieces of mail that would go in the "do it later pile," which lately seems to be the entire surface of my kitchen table!
We have our Annual in the late spring when there is rejuvenation, people are out and about, and want to be more social, so we throw a picnic into the mix. We are hoping to have more come out this year as we are revamping the election process, which will include selection of holders of elections right at the meeting, and the ballots are being opened and counted in front of EVERYONE. We are taking ballots up until two days before the election results since they will not be handled by outside holders of elections or processed prior to the Annual. I think this appeals to our Property Owners, as there has always been speculation as to whether ballots were recieved, and poor handling of election materials prior to the results. For example, last year all the envelopes were thrown away in a truck stop trash can by holders of elections from the outside, and therefore there was no way of verifying that they were post marked by the deadline.

Annual meetings will not go away, so we have to think of inovative ways to get the members to come out to them. I am envious that your mmetings only last 45 minutes... ours run 2- 2 1/2 hours long, then there is a board meeting to elect officers, so before it is all said and done, we have spent from 12 noon (for prep and picnic, annual meeting and board meeting) to 5:30 - 6:00 in the evening. Isn't volunteering liberating! NOT!

I bought the white board today! Circuit City headquarter is cleaning out anything that isn't nailed down and I got it for $10! Took it to a board meeting tonight and everyone is on board with the Wish List! Now if we can just gets some Fairy God Mothers to grant the wishes we'll be heading in the right direction!