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June 25, 2009
HOA and CONDO Board Meetings-May Members Participate?
Ctd. from an earlier blog ... Pt II
Alot of people have questions about HOA and Condo meetings, what is required, how can owners participate, is an agenda a requirement, how much power should management have, etc. I am tackling some of the questions I have received recently about meetings in this and some companion blogs. Given the facts and background, a lot of feedback is needed and the topics are wide-ranging, so look for the companion blogs based on the following background including more on the management's role and responsibilities.
Background Information Provided: Our Management Company interprets the new Agenda Law, as to when and how members can approach the board, to mean that Members can only address the Board during the homeowner forum. The problems we are experiencing are as follows: Even after informing the Board about the new Agenda Law, it continues to mail Agendas with unclear topics as well as the use of the generic language "Old Business" and "New Business"." [See the companion blog response on Agendas.] Hence, when attempting to ask for clarifications when the topic is being discussed by the Board, the inquiring Member(s) is/are told by the Board's President, with the support of the Management Company, to wait to speak/ask questions/clarifications until the "Open Forum" period of the Board Meeting. The problem with that is that by then the Board has already made their decision(s) about (a) certain topic(s). The "Open Forum" portion is at the end of the Board Meeting....not at the beginning. Not that it matters in our situation as our Board refused to submit clear Agenda Topics."
Comment: I agree wholeheartedly that this situation could frustrate inquiring homeowners no end. Boards have many "motives" for setting a specific time for homeowner forum. Some are very reasonable reasons and others are not. And sometimes a board does things to minimize time spent with what they consider "difficult owners". Although, the "difficult owner" may also have very good motives, or very bad ones. In any case, I think it fair to acknowledge that most owners that are considered "difficult" earned that badge by expressing frustration with the association and board. Now, we could go on for hours about where that frustration came from (and have in other blogs), but the purpose of this blog is to cover why boards limit forum time at meetings and why they choose a particular time for the forum. This is a common practice that owners would not generally fully understand, unless they asked. As such, it commonly becomes a source of frustration for certain owners who want to comment about association business and feel stifled.
One acceptable reason for seeking "containment" of the time for the homeowner forum is that it helps move the board business meetings along and the board members are volunteers who commonly (1) do not like interruptions at every subject brought up and (2) want to get home at a decent hour as most board meetings take place in the evenings and people are already tired and spent. One "bad motive" is that the board wants to discourage members from participating either because the forum is held early enough that computer owners are not home in time to attend during the forum time, or that owners in attendance will lose interest by the end of the meeting and leave before the forum time. A plausible reason for having the forum at the beginning or end of the meeting is that it can save the HOA or Condo money if the manager does not have to be there, and minutes do not have to include the homeowner comment ("forum") period. Most management contracts have some limitations on meeting time without going into "extra compensation time", which answers the next question/statement posed by the owner who wrote in to me which is addressed in the third companion blog - asking about the manager's role.
All that said, there are many boards that allow comment upon topics discussed in the board meeting, because they feel that if owners are willing to come to the meetings, they ought to be able to "weigh in". Likewise, there are many situations where owners come to the board meetings and try to direct the board to their way of thinking by disrupting the process of doing business. Some of these owners are not willing to serve, but are certainly willing to tell the board how to do its job, and some get belligerent and abusive.
So, the important thing is to strike a balance, and that balance could be found by publishing a realistic informative Agenda which lists the topics that are going to be discussed, and thus allow owners who are interested in coming the opportunity to "weigh in" on the topic, whether before it is discussed or during. Making them wait to "weigh in" after the action is taken does not make a lot of sense. However, the law on homeowner participation was enacted to give owners the opportunity to address the board directly, not to usurp the business portion of the meeting, so keep that in mind too.
For much much more on meetings issues, visit www.californiacondoguru.com and look through the publications. Look specifically for the Primers on Operations (I and II) and the Operations Forms primer which sets forth forms related to meetings, including a sample agenda and discussion about it.
Posted by Beth Grimm at June 25, 2009 9:39 AM