Board of Director Meetings

Started by KristineJ • 5 replies • 1825 views

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KristineJ (Florida)
Posts: 1

Posted:

I am President of my association in South East Florida, and there is a lot of controversy in our city as to whether or not the Board of Director meetings for the HOA's are allowed to be closed meetings. It is my understanding, that if the by-laws do not specify open/closed that it is up to the individual Board. Is this correct? A member of one of the other HOA's within the community informed the City Commission that there would be a law suit against one of the HOA's for having a closed board meeting and violating her civil liberties - can this happen? I cannot find any state statute or other regulation stating that Board of Director meetings need to be open - does anyone know the answer to this? We have 4 different HOA's within the city, and we all pretty much conduct our business in similar ways - My board meetings are always closed, and I would like to know if I am in violation of any specific laws. Any and all assistance/information is greatly appreciated.

Kristine

JoeS4 (Kentucky)
Posts: 77

Posted:

Your on a board of directors and president for homeowners to which all own an equal share of the H.O.A. and are usually encouraged to get involved. Your are looking out for everyones best interest, why would you ever close a meeting except for executive session and why wouldn't you encourage as many as possible to attend? There are no secrets .........you are representing each and every homeowner to your best ability and if your not as well as enforcing each and every rule then there is the lawsuit as well as most states have an open meeting policy, check your states corporate policies. But never think that the board is to do anything but fair and honest dealings with everyone.

HaroldS (Arizona)
Posts: 906

Posted:

Kristine - you didn't search very hard.
"The fact that the Sunshine Law is inapplicable to community associations does not mean that unit owners are without remedy. The Condominium Act (Section 718.112(2)(c)), and the Cooperative Act (Section 719.106(1)(c)) provide that meetings of the board at which a quorum is present shall be open to all unit owners. In addition, it provides that the right to attend such meetings includes the right to speak at the meetings, and to tape record or videotape the meetings. The right of access also applies to meetings of committees given the authority to take final action on behalf of the board or those charged with making recommendations to the board regarding the association budget. Meetings of a committee that does not take final action or make recommendations regarding the budget also must be accessible unless the members, through an amendment of the bylaws, exempt said committee from being open to the members."
Irregardless, I have to wonder why you prefer to meet in secret to conduct business that your homeowners are paying for. They are stockholders in your corporation so why aren't they entitled to know what you are doing with their money? It has to make your homeowners wonder what is going on. Harold

BrianB (California)
Posts: 2,820

Posted:

State Open meetings laws DO NOT APPLY to HOA's. they apply to governmental agencies, not private corporations.

The woman from ANOTHER HOA has no more right to be in a meeting of YOUR HOA than I do to attend the board of directors meeting of Dial Soap, Apple computers, or Xerox. Those are business meetings, and unless i am invited, i have no business attending them.

However, as an owner in your OWN HOA, you have an absolute right to attend, tape, see, etc. most meetings of your own board. the only meetings that a board can "close" to their own members are those that deal with personnel issues, meetings with attorneys that invoke privilege, and such things.

JosephW (Michigan)
Posts: 882

Posted:

Here is a link to an article by a Florida attorney that explains it better than we can:

http://www.becker-poliakoff.com/publications/article_archive/jadams2005_pdf/012005_time_to_let.pdf

Joe

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StanK (Florida)
Posts: 2

Posted:

The law (as it relates to personnel matters) actually says that open meetings " is inapplicable to meetings between the Board or a committee and the association's attorney, with respect to meetings of the Board held for the purpose of discussing personnel matters." This is section 720.303B

I am not an attorney and would welcome the opportunity to have executive session for personnel matters without having an attorney present. However that doesn't appear to me to be the case.

This position appears to be buttressed in the Florida attorney newsletter referenced above.

Stan

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