Associations Should Have Rules For Dealing With Disruptive Members At Open Board Meetings

A common issue that homeowners and condominium association management personnel address is how to deal with disruptive association members that attend open meetings of the association’s board of directors. Unfortunately, there are times when association members who are unhappy about a particular matter attend board meetings to express their feelings and topics of discussion between the members and the directors, or between different members and/or managers, get out of control and turn into shouting matches, the use of profanity, and sometimes physical altercations. As such conduct interferes with the conducting of association business at board meetings, associations should have rules governing member conduct at board meetings and procedures in place for dealing with disruptive members that attend board meetings.

Procedures for dealing with disruptive attendees at board meetings begin with the adoption of rules of conduct at board meetings by the association’s board of directors. Such rules typically cover topics such as: