Alcohol at HOA board meetings?

I wouldn't just from the liability issue; if a BOD member gets stopped for DUI or has an accident on the way home the Association could come under fire. Even if they ultimately prevail it could be costly. Even in different social clubs I have been member to and regularly serve alcohol (have permit to serve) it was never served during a meeting.

I have to concur. While I'm sure you're all adults, (etcetera, etcetera), it just looks inappropriate.

Why take a chance? Meet at a local bar after the meeting, or at someone's house... Don't make the association liable.

I should add that board meetings are held at the private homes of the board members. I don't think that has any bearing though.

Although it is a bad idea, there have been meetings that I sure could have used a drink !!!!
Larry

That will be the main argument


Agreed


No "refreshments" are paid for with HOA funds - always by the host of the meeting.


Agreed

What are the main reasons that meetings should not be at private homes? To me it kind of has an element of covertness that I don't think an HOA board should have.

You hit the nail right on the head. In associations, there are always going to be "cliques". If the meeting is held at the home of one "clique" person, the other ones might not feel welcome.

Some questions for when a meeting would be held in a private home:
Is there appropriate, business-like seating?
Are there a lot of distractions (TV, kids, pets)?
Are there pets in the home (allergies)?
Would guests need to take off their shoes?
Is the home a smoker's home?
Will alcohol be served?

Any "yes" in the above (except for appropriate seating), for me, would make me NOT attend the meeting. Too informal...too much like an informal get-together.

Sounds like you've got a good head on your shoulders, Joel, and I think you're in the right to try and raise the level of professionalism currently exhibited by your BOD.

Also...as someone else on this board says...just because "we've been doing it that way for years" does NOT make it right (acceptable/legal/moral/etc).

When our association moved meetings from a private home (outside of our association no less!) to the library, attendance WENT UP! Move your meetings to the library, and the alcohol issue becomes moot.

Wow! Let me give you a background of MY association.

Our original board (after takeover from the developer) was comprised of ALL drunks. Low-class, scumb-bag people. It was the NORM for all the board members to conduct meetings after they'd gotten home from work and "had a few". That was before the "sober" people got on board and realized that a bunch of drunks were running the association.

It took YEARS to weed out those people. The last guy to be on the board was a low-life scum bag who missed 75% of the meetings because by the time the 7:00 meeting rolled around he was too "sick" to show up....because he'd gotten home from work at 3:00 in the afternoon and started popping beers as soon as he got home.

I (personally) have cocktails every day and being on the board has proven to me how important it is to NOT mix the two!!! There are times to "relax" and times to stay "focused"....and board meeting are not the time to intermix the two. The two things need to stay seperate.

Board meeting....socializing. NOT in the same time frame.

Please don't call me LUSH....I'm not. I just know how to relax...on my OWN time....and how to devote other time to this association.

Okay, then, I'll be the odd gal out.

A single glass of wine or even two is not that big a deal, and the fact that the meetings are held in director's homes is also no big deal. I hardly consider it rising to the level of cliques.

For many years we held the board meetings in directors' homes, rotating each month from one director to the next on the list.

Most of the meetings, no, I take that back, all of the meetings took place after work and after dinner.

They lasted for about an hour, and there's not a lot of wine slugging back in about an hour.

Depending on who was hosting for that month, wine might be available, soft drinks, crackers cheese, brownies, cookies, fresh fruit, cheesecakes. . .hmmmmm now I kinda miss those meetings! We hold them now in a local government center who provides the meeting room free of charge. We switched because of continuity between successive administrations, more than anything. And the government center does not allow any food or beverages in the rooms after 6:00 pm (because the facilities maintenance staff is gone and won't be able to clean up in case there is an accident).

We are all adults, wine is an adult beverage, and I recall a time when lunch meetings in the corporate world always included a martini or two. They were out of fashion for a decade or so, but I have seen them returning with wine at the lunch meetings.

I, personally, don't drink wine, so I would never partake. But I would hardly find offense or even unprofessionalism in my peers who do and did.

My only comment would be that I think it would be inappropriate for the HOA to pay for the wine.

With all due respect: Hogwash.

One or two glasses of wine will hardly make one incapable of making "huge" decisions with other people's money.

Implying that one is no longer of "sound mind" or "impaired" after a glass of wine is just, well, hyperbole, in my opinion.

And our meetings generally cover considerably more pedestrian things than juggling huge amounts of "other people's money."

But even when making budget decisions, one or two glasses of wine is not an impairment.

But, again, we each have our opinions. I just wanted to make sure that mine was registered as well.

Sorry, we are just going to have to agree to disagree on this one.

I can see you're pretty passionate about it by all the ridiculous scenarios you are dredging up.

How do we know that members aren't high on pot or even "prescription" drugs before they get to a meeting?

How do we know that a member isn't mentally ill?

I mean, there's only 5 of us sitting around the table. I think we would notice if someone were guzzling wine.

As I said, these are all adults. You can sit around and dream up all sorts of "what ifs," but for me it's not an issue if some of the members drink a glass or two of wine at the meeting.

You, it bothers.

Again, I don't drink wine so it doesn't matter to me one way or the other. I just don't see it as the scary looming disaster that you and others may.

I guess to me, and I tried to explain it in my last reply, the difference between alcohol impairment and all the other crazy hypothetical is that the question of alcohol impairment can be eliminated so easily - simply do not serve alcohol. All the other crazy hypotheticals...mental illness, drug impairment, sleep deprivation, etc. have no easy/feasible mechanism to eliminate them as questions.

Michelle,
A question? How did you get the authority to decree one or two glasses of wine is fine but anything over that isn't?

Are you saying you or anyone else can set a "drink standard" for association meetings.

Talk about hogwash!

I think the question we are trying to resolve is , Should alcohol be consumed at a business meeting of an association. There was no reference to setting a limit. So, your answer to the question is "yes", it should be allowed. Now if you want to settle how much should be allowed, isn't that a different question. It I am close to be correct, maybe you can suggest how you are going to set limitation, insure compliance and should it be included in the by-laws?

Ellen,

Funny, this is a discussion on whether alcohol should or should not be served at the Board meetings and see how quickly it turned into "how much can be consumed? Me, the tea toatler could have 1/2 glass of wine and be asleep at the wheel in a minute so how much should not be the issue but should it be allowed.

I cannot believe that anyone thinks that it is okay. Loss of professionalism is what I think it is. Wow!! Think of the Senate or House, openly having a mug on their desks. Not saying that they don't arrive there being already snockered but openly having booze? Na ah.

Donna,

WELL SAID IT. THANKS

O.P. here - the meetings are at a private residence, but by state law they must be open to all association members. However, the fact that it is held at a private residence certainly does not convey that association members are welcome - and there never are any - I hate that. The last meeting that ever had a non-board member at was over a year ago, and it was me, before elected to the board, because I insisted that I had the right to show up and appeal a violation notice (which I did successfully). That was when I first saw that there was alcohol and was really surprised. I have since been elected to the board, and have attended all the meetings.

I just want to make it clear, that I am 99% certain that there has never been consumption of alcohol at one of our meeting that had any impact in terms of our board's judgment. They do a good job, and are quite professional at the meetings. I just think any type of consumption sends the wrong message, it allows the question to be asked by those not present whether board members were impaired, and probably most importantly, it requires no cost or effort not to have alcohol.

Apples and oranges. HOAs aren't government institutions, or even quasi-government. They are corporations and the board meeting is just another business meeting.

I guess being from Bourbon Country I have a different perspective.

As I said, I've been to many business meetings where people drink alcohol. The meetings rarely last more than an hour and these are adults so there's no "guzzling."

We do not have "open meeting" laws here, so that's not an issue. And we always held our meetings, as I mentioned, at board members' homes, rotating it each month, several years ago.

Sometimes there would be other refreshments, whatever the host wanted to serve, which, on occasion included wine.

I know that there was a period where one of our board members always brought with him a can of beer. I think it was beer. Something called a "tall boy"? He was actually only on the board as long as it took to pass an amendment to allow sheds. But he would sip on his beer throughout the meeting. Usually the meeting was over before he was finished, so he sat on the porch and chatted til the beer was empty.

This question seems to have struck a chord LOL

I am all for having a drink, in fact I have a glass of wine next to me as we speak (well there goes my credibility on any other post I might make tonight, LOL)

The fact does remain, if alcohol is served, it opens questions that might be difficult to answer or defend. Why any member of a board would put that upon themselves is beyond me. Seriously, I don't care how much or how little you enjoy a glass of wine or any other alcoholic beverage. I don't care if you have a half glass of wine or 5 during a meeting. But, to have any alcohol during a meeting just opens up liability and questions that one does not need to open.

Robert,
You have stated exactly what I was trying to say...doesn't matter what the decision was that was made...it could be questioned...
I think I now go delete my last 4 posts...

Yikes Joe,
One more post before bed.
Don't even think about taking this other than a constructive remark. Your elected position is not to serve the Board but the members. You represent all the members, you and your board members must protect the association above all else, even above the majority vote. Having meetings as you do is putting the association in harms way. Maybe you can't change the Boards mind, but you do not owe the Board your vote, make your exception at a Board Meeting, make it as a motion and try to get a discussion and vote on the subject. Make sure your voice is in the record and the vote is recorded. Maybe there is a way to get around this with your board because of personalities and you should try that, but bottom line, you are under the gun to protect the association. I expect you think you have to try, I agree and if you lose, you lose, but you will still be on the Board, tomorrow is another day and there will be a new fight to fight. Change never stops happening in an association, some good, some not.

Sorry no, I think six pages is the current record.

I don't know...alcohol at a board meeting seems wrong to me. I will start a new thread to see what others think.

We need a new host. Our current host only offers water.

Seriously, we do meet in a home because that is what is available on a regular basis. (Well that and 9:00 am on Saturdays at the nearby library.) Trust me, I have looked and looked. A nearby golf course allows us to use their clubhouse but they close at sunset.

But back to the booze(wine), I would say that it would be better to not partake. But if the host does offer it, it should be offered to any non-members who do happen to show up.

By the way, nobody (other then the BOD) in our neighborhoods seem interested in attending our BOD meetings. In fact, with three positions open for election we had three candidates at our last meeting. And that was only after I pointed out that without a third candidate we were free to choose whom we wanted to fill the position.

I would love to not meet in a house. But we just don't have another place to meet that is close to the HOA itself.

This all started with alcohol at meetings which is a no brainer. Anyone who cannot do without alcohol at a meeting lasting one to two hours should not be on the board.

Anna, Ellen,

Add me to the list. Donna