minutes

BarbaraD6 (Florida)
Posts: 347

Posted:

I was voted on the board in July. Immediately it was crazy,all these "emergency' issues needed to be voted on.It continued like that for months(I wasn't an experienced board member)Then in Dec one of my fellow board members said the president has minutes from the last meeting. I said I forgot about minutes,why haven't we received any. I don't know what the president had but since minutes were never approved,officially we have no minutes. I brought this matter up to the secretary and received no response. At this point what would you do ?
Barbara

SusanW1 (Michigan)
Posts: 5,202

Posted:

Your board needs to produce minutes of the meetings. They are the legal documents of the HOA and they are proof of motions and the history of the organization.

Minutes can be approved at any time, in the order that they happened. So get the minutes written up and approve them.

DonnaS (Tennessee)
Posts: 5,671

Posted:

Barbara,
You have a Secretary.? Start keeping minutes asap. These are the records of Board activity and need to be kept for 7 years.

MaryA1 (Arizona)
Posts: 7,043

Posted:

Barbara,

There's no time like the present to get organized! The Pres. should instruct the Sec. to take minutes of every meeting (board meetings and members meetings). At the following meeting the minutes are read, corrected as needed and approved. These minutes serve as a record of the business conducted by the board and are crucial to the assn. You can't go back and correct a wrong from the past, but you can go forward in the proper modus operandi.

BevM (Virginia)
Posts: 34

Posted:

Hi Barbara D6- Check out your by-laws.
Ours specifically state the duties of each of the officers.
SECTION 7. SECRETARY. The Secretary shall keep the minutes of the meetings of the members and the Board of Directors; see that all notices are duly given in accordance with the provisions of these By-Laws; be custodian and see that the seal of the Corporation is affixed to all documents, the execution of which on behalf of the Association under its seal is duly authorized in accordance with the provisions of these By-Laws; keep a register of the post office address of each member which shall be furnished to the Secretary by such members; and in general perform all duties incident to the office of Secretary and such other duties as from time to time may be assigned to him by the President or by the Board of Directors.

Also, here in Virginia we have the Property Owners Act of Virginia, and in it it has a list of all the things needed in a disclosure packet to be presented to the new property owner at closing. One of the things is: A copy of any approved minutes of the board of directors and association meetings for the six calendar months preceding the request for the disclosure packet;
Also, here in Virginia, we have the Non-stock Corporation act and it states:
13.1-873. Duties of officers.
Each officer has the authority and shall perform the duties set forth in the bylaws or, to the extent consistent with the bylaws, the duties prescribed by the board of directors or by direction of an officer authorized by the board of directors to prescribe the duties of other officers.
(1985, c. 522.)
So, as you can see there are laws that determine what the responsibilities are of the secretary. Hopefully you have been given a copy of your by-laws and any laws of your state that govern HOA's. f not, ask your more seasoned board members what they are using as their governing documents. Do a little research on the web and see what you can come up with in your state statutes, and then down load them and get to reading...before you know it you will be come well versed in the laws and you will be eithr loved or hated because of it! I remember those days of being new kid on the block, and it isn't easy. Now 4 years into this, I feel like I am finally getting my game on!

BarbaraD6 (Florida)
Posts: 347

Posted:

Bev,
Yes,I see in our docs what you wrote. The problem is when the sec and president never respond when you ask about it.Thank you sooo much for all your advice. I have been reading our governing docs,florida statutes and vendor contracts,I have learned alot. You are right now I'm hated by some board members and manager.
Barbara

JuanB (Florida)
Posts: 38

Posted:

Quote:

Posted By BarbaraD6 on 02/23/2009 9:25 AM
I was voted on the board in July. Immediately it was crazy,all these "emergency' issues needed to be voted on.It continued like that for months(I wasn't an experienced board member)Then in Dec one of my fellow board members said the president has minutes from the last meeting. I said I forgot about minutes,why haven't we received any. I don't know what the president had but since minutes were never approved,officially we have no minutes. I brought this matter up to the secretary and received no response. At this point what would you do ?
Barbara

Hello Barbara
You can not fix the past but for the future Keep small tape recorder with you( under $30 or more sophisticated you MP3 the meeting and save it in a computer). No matter if secretary keep the records or not you always will have you live copy. If the secretary doesn't do her job you can talk to him/her about the situation af if there is not changes you can bring the situation to the Members Owners and make a decision with the support of the Owners.

It is nice to see a BOD working for his fellows neighbors. I wish you the best in your new position and a free advice:
1. “listen to the owners” they select you because they believe in you, do not let them down.
2. a free website for you association to post and download documents that all the owners need and you will provide documents to the owners 24/7 with only a few click of the member owners mouse, saving to the association in paper, ink, mailing, etc.

JuanB (Florida)
Posts: 38

Posted:

Quote:

Posted By BarbaraD6 on 02/23/2009 9:25 AM
I was voted on the board in July. Immediately it was crazy,all these "emergency' issues needed to be voted on.It continued like that for months(I wasn't an experienced board member)Then in Dec one of my fellow board members said the president has minutes from the last meeting. I said I forgot about minutes,why haven't we received any. I don't know what the president had but since minutes were never approved,officially we have no minutes. I brought this matter up to the secretary and received no response. At this point what would you do ?
Barbara

Hello Barbara
You can not fix the past but for the future Keep small tape recorder with you( under $30 or more sophisticated you MP3 the meeting and save it in a computer). No matter if secretary keep the records or not you always will have you live copy. If the secretary doesn't do her job you can talk to him/her about the situation af if there is not changes you can bring the situation to the Members Owners and make a decision with the support of the Owners.

It is nice to see a BOD working for his fellows neighbors. I wish you the best in your new position and a free advice:
1. “listen to the owners” they select you because they believe in you, do not let them down.
2. a free website for you association to post and download documents that all the owners need and you will provide documents to the owners 24/7 with only a few click of the member owners mouse, saving to the association in paper, ink, mailing, etc.

BarbaraD6 (Florida)
Posts: 347

Posted:

Juan,
That is great advice, thank you. One of my fellow board members and I are strongly fighting for our neighbors. Where would we find a free website?
I saw earlier that you are in Quail hollow, is that off of Old Pasco rd?
I appreciate all the info I receive from everyone.
Barbara

BevM (Virginia)
Posts: 34

Posted:

Hi Barbara D6- When I was new to the board, I didn't know that such governing documents existed...and I don't think the seasoned board members knew either! It was a group of concerned members that brought them to a meeting so they could beat us over the head with them. It gave them sound proof that they were smarter than we were! Well, as time passed, we learned that those documents are there to protect us, and to keep us from repeating past mistakes. The "good ol' boy" way of doing business has taken some time to change, but we are finaly making it a good practice to never show up at a meeting without them; that includes by-laws, Property Owners Act of Virgina and the state statutes. It keeps your fellow board members honest when they try to sneak one in on you. For whatever reason, there is always one board member that assumes the mind set of "ultimate power," over all things, and having those governing docs, can put them in their place.
Get your most trusted, proactive members to rally round you. Show them what the board should be doing, and have them show up at meetings and start questioning the board about those minutes, and any other procedural things that are out of whack. That is what it took for our board to start playing by the rules 4 years ago. Up 'til then, we were just flying by the seat of our pants. As members, they are entitled to view a copy of everything in an agenda packet that is presented to each director at every board meeting, which should include minutes from the past meetings, at the very least, in DRAFT form.
Don't let those officers bully you! You may even want to go as far as making a motion to form a committee to gather these documents together, and have them placed in each board members hands. At least property owners will hear you and know that there is more than what meets the eye in preparing and carrying out the work of the board.

BarbaraD6 (Florida)
Posts: 347

Posted:

Bev,
Thank you,I appreciate you sharing your wisdom.
Barbara

JohnK3 (Pennsylvania)
Posts: 967

Posted:

Barbara,

The sponsors here at HOATalk offer set-up and a few months of service gratis for web sites, followed by very reasonable maintainance fees if you find a site is valuable to your HOA.

They do excellent work as I and others will attest.

BarbaraD6 (Florida)
Posts: 347

Posted:

Thank you John, where would I go to find out about it?
Barbara

JohnK3 (Pennsylvania)
Posts: 967

Posted:

Watch the top of the home page or the discussion page or over on the left, 3rd advert.

SusanW1 (Michigan)
Posts: 5,202

Posted:

Barbara, I don't know if you get an audit or audit review, but that SHOULD include a look at all paperwork and see that it is in order i.e. annual report filed, minutes of meeetings, bylaws, CCRs filed with whomever, list of all board members, minutes of Annual Meeting and all financial reports.

It seems your secretary would not pass her/his "review"!

SusanW1 (Michigan)
Posts: 5,202

Posted:

Barbara, I don't know if you get an audit or audit review, but that SHOULD include a look at all paperwork and see that it is in order i.e. annual report filed, minutes of meeetings, bylaws, CCRs filed with whomever, list of all board members, minutes of Annual Meeting and all financial reports.

It seems your secretary would not pass her/his "review"!

AnneH2 (Florida)
Posts: 82

Posted:

I know of a condo where the board recorded the meetings and excluded the PM from the meetings. I researched it and saw that if minutes are not available, but the board taped the meeting, that the tape would have to be provided in lieu of minutes until the minutes were available.

BarbaraD6 (Florida)
Posts: 347

Posted:

Anne,
Does your association have the minutes signed?
Barbara