HOA BOARD ANONYMOUS?

Gretchen,

Under the Colorado Common Interest Ownership Act, you are entitled to attend board meetings. See section 38-33.3-308(2.5)(a):

"(2.5) (a) Notwithstanding any provision in the declaration, bylaws, or other documents to the contrary, all meetings of the association and board of directors are open to every unit owner of the association, or to any person designated by a unit owner in writing as the unit owner's representative."

The complete act is at http://www.michie.com/colorado/lpext.dll/cocode/2/5feb1/61aaa/61aac/6208e?f=templates&fn=document-frame.htm&2.0#JD_t38art333.

How were the board members elected if not at an open meeting in compliance with the law?

The law does allow certain matters to be discuss in executive session (see section 4) butt hose should be the exception, not the rule.

Hard to see how a board can remain anonymous and have open meetings and open elections.

Yes, they have to make records available on reasonable request and within no more than 30 days of written request (see subsection 4), and those records have to include the names and business or home addresses of each director and officer. See section 317 of the Colorado Common Interest Ownership Act, which reads in part:

"(2) (a) Except as otherwise provided in paragraph (b) of this subsection (2), all financial and other records shall be made reasonably available for examination and copying by any unit owner and such owner's authorized agents.

(b) (I) Notwithstanding paragraph (a) of this subsection (2), a membership list or any part thereof may not be obtained or used by any person for any purpose unrelated to a unit owner's interest as a unit owner without consent of the executive board....", and

"(5) In addition to the records specified in subsection (1) of this section, the association shall keep a copy of each of the following records at its principal office:

(a) Its articles of incorporation, if it is a corporation, or the corresponding organizational documents if it is another form of entity;

(b) The declaration;

(c) The covenants;

(d) Its bylaws;

(e) Resolutions adopted by its executive board relating to the characteristics, qualifications, rights, limitations, and obligations of unit owners or any class or category of unit owners;

(f) The minutes of all unit owners' meetings, and records of all action taken by unit owners without a meeting, for the past three years;

(g) All written communications within the past three years to unit owners generally as unit owners;

(h) A list of the names and business or home addresses of its current directors and officers;

(i) Its most recent annual report, if any; and

(j) All financial audits or reviews conducted pursuant to section 38-33.3-303 (4) (b) during the immediately preceding three years."

Thus,, while public disclosure of the names of the directors is not directly required, the names of the directors must be provided in response to a request under the law, so long as the request is made in good faith and for a proper purpose. There may be other laws that require filing of directors names, and perhaps someone from Colorado can point to these, if applicable. (In Virginia, for example, filing of a report with the Virginia Common Interest Community Board is required, which names each of the directors, but I don't know if Colorado has a similar requirement).

It sounds like their election can be challenged, if no one on your street received notice of the annual meeting at which the directors were elected. A review of the minutes should show whether notice was sent to the members.

I suggest that the first step is to request a copy of all records covered by subsections (f), (g), (h), and (j).

Gretchen,

In Florida associations must file an annual report with the state showing board officers, etc. You may be able to check this out on line. If not, call and order a copy of this. It looks like it would be money well spent to have an attorney send a letter. The board is spending your money and you have every right to know about the financials. I would go with other owners to every board meeting you learn about.

Whoa, whoa, whoa...

First, Gretchen, as a fellow Coloradoan...let me weigh in.

1. Is your association registered with the state as a non-profit corporation? If so, then they need to follow Colorado Non-Profit laws... This would include posting of BOD meetings, allowing owners/members to come to BOD meetings (but perhaps as viewers only).

2. Is your association even covered by CCIOA (Colorado Common Interest...)? Mine is NOT. Our association can opt to be covered by CCIOA, but I doubt we'll do that.

3. What do your DOCUMENTS say? When you bought your home, you should have been given the Bylaws and the CC&Rs (Possibly the Articles of Incorporation, if your association is incorporated, non-profit or otherwise). The docs should detail EXACTLY how to notice owners/members of a meeting. The docs should detail EXACTLY how to elect Board members, and then how the officers are elected/appointed.

Do a tiny bit of research, get back to us with answers, and we'll see.

My OPINION is that your BOD is WAY OUT OF LINE, but without much more detail, that's all it is...my opinion.

Finally, what does the Secretary of State's Business Services website say about your organization? Who's your REGISTERED AGENT? This is all online, and it's completely open for the public.

With respect to the "private" mail box for HOA correspondence, a public HOA post office mail box may not be a bad idea. Private? Oh no!!! I say this because we found that constantly changing the mail address with the change of board officers became an effort and led to problems. Once we established an HOA post office box and PUBLISHED it for everyone to know (residents, vendors, contractors, insurance agent, etc), much confusion was cleared up.

I sure hope you and your neighbors can straighten out this mess. I cannot imagine anything more ridiculous than an anonymous board.