Effective HOA Operations Require Member Participation in Meetings

The business of operating a homeowners association involves ongoing interactions between association members and the association’s management personnel. Those interactions take place through different types of meetings where various aspects of the association’s business are conducted. The types of different meetings that should be taking place within a homeowners’ association, and the purposes of those meetings, are often misunderstood by association members, including those volunteer members that serve as officers and directors of their association.

There are basically three different types of meetings that should be taking place within homeowner’s associations: (1) Meetings of the associations board of directors; (2) Meetings of the association’s members; and (3) Meetings of association committee members.

Board of Directors Meetings

Board of director meetings are gatherings of an association’s directors at the same time and place to hear, discuss, or deliberate upon any item of business that is within the authority of the board and which has not been properly delegated to any other person or persons, a managing agent, officers of the association, or a committee of the board comprising less than a majority of the directors. Typically, unless an association’s governing documents provide otherwise, meetings of the association’s board of directors can be called by the association’s president, vice president, secretary, or any two directors.

The meetings of an association’s board of directors are either “open” meetings which can be attended by any member of the association, or “executive session” meetings that members do not have a right to attend, unless the meeting includes an item of business pertaining to a specific member that is invited to attend the portion of the meeting for that purpose.

Open Meetings. State statutes and homeowners’ association governing documents contain provisions that give all association members a right to attend all meetings of their association’s board of directors that are not executive session meetings. Such open board meetings enable association members to observe the directors conduct association business and provide an opportunity for the members to address their board of directors on matters of concern to the member during the open forum portion of the meeting.

Executive Session Meetings. State statutes and governing documents also provide for executive session meetings of the association’s board of directors to enable the directors to act on association business that involves confidential issues such as: