stopped from having meeting

Last night we had annual meeting,with a board meeting to follow.When the Membership meeting ended manager said we will now have the organizational meeting. Meeting notice stated:

Notice is hereby given, in accordance with the Florida Statutes and the association documents that the xxx association Inc BOARD OF DIRECTORS MEETING will be held immediately following the annual meeting in the same room.
The agenda for the BOARD OF DIRECTORS MEETING is as follows:
1 call to order
2 establish a quorum
3 elect officers
4 set date for next meeting
5 adjournment
By order of the board of directors

The board wanted to add to the agenda. The manager said we couldn't,we can only do what is on the agenda. Weren't we allowed to add to the agenda since we are supposed to adopt the agenda?
Barbara

Hi Mary,
This wasn't even our manager it was his boss.
We did question her. We showed her bylaws,Roberts Rules,and asked her what florida statute.She said she couldn't state which one but stated, she has been doing this 20yrs. We thought we were going to have a "regular" board meeting,that's why I feel we were stopped from having a meeting.
Barbara

Barbara,

Even so, she is only the manager; she isn't the boss. If the board members wanted to discuss an issue that was not on the agenda they were free to do so. Bottom line: the manager isn't the boss; when in doubt of her opinion, as the BOD and the real gov. authority of the assn, do what you think best.

Hi!

Au contraire. Here is our perspective and practice. Our two IL HOAs (condo and master) hold the owners annual meeting; then follow it with a regular Board meeting. There is nothing in our governing docs prohibiting this. And, since we do not always make a quorum for the annual members meeting, at least the time & $$ is not wasted.

And, yes, we notify the members of both meetings as required.

Bonnie

Donna,

I know you're the expert on FL statutes, but here's an excerpt from 720.303(2)(c) and the only mention of an agenda is if it is a broadcast notice. My opinion was based upon what I read in this statute. Am I looking at the wrong statute?

(c) The bylaws shall provide for giving notice to parcel owners and members of all board meetings and, if they do not do so, shall be deemed to provide the following:

1. Notices of all board meetings must be posted in a conspicuous place in the community at least 48 hours in advance of a meeting, except in an emergency. In the alternative, if notice is not posted in a conspicuous place in the community, notice of each board meeting must be mailed or delivered to each member at least 7 days before the meeting, except in an emergency. Notwithstanding this general notice requirement, for communities with more than 100 members, the bylaws may provide for a reasonable alternative to posting or mailing of notice for each board meeting, including publication of notice, provision of a schedule of board meetings, or the conspicuous posting and repeated broadcasting of the notice on a closed-circuit cable television system serving the homeowners' association. However, if broadcast notice is used in lieu of a notice posted physically in the community, the notice must be broadcast at least four times every broadcast hour of each day that a posted notice is otherwise required. When broadcast notice is provided, the notice and agenda must be broadcast in a manner and for a sufficient continuous length of time so as to allow an average reader to observe the notice and read and comprehend the entire content of the notice and the agenda. The bylaws or amended bylaws may provide for giving notice by electronic transmission in a manner authorized by law for meetings of the board of directors, committee meetings requiring notice under this section, and annual and special meetings of the members; however, a member must consent in writing to receiving notice by electronic transmission.

I don't think the the Florida statutes are involved here. The governing documents probably say that the annual meeting will be followed by an 'organizational' meeting. This is exactly what mine say (Florida).

This information is usually contained in the announcement of the Annual Meeting. Your manager said "we will now have the organizational meeting." From that, I would assume that he/she was following the agenda previously published to the community via that meeting notice.

The norm in our community is to announce a Board meeting 10-14 days later and publish a full agenda.

I have tried to follow this discussion and I am having a hard time finding anyplace that anyone has stated that the agenda that is posted must be followed. I can see that an agenda must be clearly posted. I am not saying it should or shouldn't, but I just don't see why it should based upon the information given. If there was a statement that Florida statues says that only agenda items can be discussed, then I would go with that. Or if the HOA documents say that only the items on the agenda may be discussed, I would also be convinced. As has been posted in other recent topics, what law, rule or whatever requires the BOD only do what is posted on the agenda? I must have missed something.

Robert,

Thanks for saying what I was just going to say. You've hit the nail on the head. Unless the statutes or gov docs say only the agenda items may be discussed, then anything can be brought up and discussed whether on the agenda or not. And I still don't even see anything in the statutes even mentioning agenda except that one must be posted if the notice is broadcast. BTW, who broadcasts HOA board meeting notices?

Barbara,

As I said earlier, the board doesn't have to listen to the manager if they think she may be wrong about something and cannot justify her opinion. Next time the board should do what they think is right. The meeting was properly noticed and, IMO, the board was free to discuss anything they so wished.

Hi Barbara,
As another Floridian, I am posting in agreement with Donna's opinion.

Yes, your manager is correct. Your BOD meeting was noticed for the specific purpose of the election of officers and setting the time, place and date for the next "regular" BOD meeting.

You might check your docs to see if they stipulate an "organizational" BOD meeting shall immediately follow the annual membership meeting. Ours state that the organizational meeting must be held within 10 days of the election of officers. Traditionally, we hold it 10 "minutes" following the annual meeting and in the same room.

Furthermore, according to the Florida statutes for condo associations, proper 48 hour advance notice is mandated in order to discuss business which homeowners may wish to attend to hear the board's deliberations.
Chapter 718 (c) Board of administration meetings reads: "Adequate notice of all meetings, which notice shall specifically incorporate an identification of agenda items, shall be posted conspicuously on the condominium property at least 48 continuous hours preceding the meeting except in an emergency".

"Any item not included on the notice may be taken up on an emergency basis by at least a majority plus one of the members of the board. Such emergency action shall be noticed and ratified at the next regular meeting of the board. However, written notice of any meeting at which nonemergency special assessments, or at which amendment to rules regarding unit use, will be considered shall be mailed, delivered, or electronically transmitted to the unit owners and posted conspicuously on the condominium property not less than 14 days prior to the meeting"

I certainly understand that there may be a pressing matter which may need BOD action. During the discussion as to "setting the time and date" for the next meeting, a board member could easily have brought this urgency to the attention of the board and move to move-up the next regular board meeting, allowing for the 48 hour notification/agenda process if he/she felt the normal meeting dates were too far off. Or he/she could have sought majority plus one approval to add it to the agenda as an emergency.

Ann
PS... Hope I didn't further complicate this thread.

Anna D,

What statutes are you quoting from?

Mary and Ann,
We follow florida statute 720 for our townhouses.
I have found this in the by-laws

3.7 Organizational meetings
Each board shall hold its first meeting promptly after the annual membership meeting,at such time and place as the board shall fix.

I guess for me if it was stated this was only an organizational meeting ,I would have understood.
Issues not listed on the agenda have brought up under "new business" in our meetings.
thanks again to all
Barbara

Mary,
There is no right or wrong. I owned a total of 6 properties in Florida, all were HOAs except 1 condo. All of them had Articles of Inc which said that after the annual election, there is to be an orginizational meeting for the purpose of the Board to elect their officers. I have never seen a Board meeting to follow immediately after.

Now that doesn't mean that they cannot have a Board meeting but the 720 requirement on posting prior to 48 hours is specific. Anyone wishing to speak must have a written request in prior to the meeting and it is added to the agenda.