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I am the current sitting (and outgoing) Chairperson of the 3 person board of directors for our HOA. Our annual meeting is in approximately one month. I have been presented an opportunity to attend a seminar that is Con-Ed for my employment. What steps should I take to turn my meeting responsibilities over to the Secretary and Treasurer of the board? Does the meeting need to be postponed? There will be a vote for a new Chairperson, which I will not be seeking reelection, so I feel that the other current members are more than capable of directing the meeting.

Can the Board Secretary sign the minutes if he was not present at the meeting the minutes are about? Note: our Board secretary does not prepare the minutes, he just signs them.

When is someone considered to have attended a meeting? Our bylaws state that someone becomes an active member upon attending 3 consecutive meetings. Active members may vote in elections. The question has come up as to whether the third meeting can be the one at which the vote is taken. Stated differently, would someone be considered to have attended a meeting upon arrival at the meeting, and thereby be considered an active member at the time of arrival or would they be considered to have attended a meeting upon the completion of the meeting?

My college's student government has in its bylaws an attendance policy for its members, with the penalty of automatic expulsion for being absent too often. I think it may contradict our constitution's minimum vote threshold for expelling a member, though. Can someone look at this language and tell me whether our attendance policy violates our constitution? (We have adopted Robert's Rules of Order as our parliamentary authority for meetings.) Our constitution says that the Federation can "[d]iscipline and/or remove officers or representatives with justified cause. This shall require a 2/3 vote of the Student Federation representatives and the consent of the President..." Elsewhere it says, "The Federation shall be empowered to enact its own bylaws, which must be coded and added accordingly as official governing authority of the Federation...." Our bylaws say, "After two unexcused absences or a combination of four excused and unexcused absences in the year, a member shall be removed from the Federation. A member may be reinstated by a two-thirds vote." The types of absences are defined, but that's not important here. In my opinion, the attendance policy is unconstitutional because a mere one-third of the members can successfully vote to have someone expelled (after the specified number of absences). On the other hand, the bylaws have been created ahead of time, and a deliberative body can create its own rules for its members. Is it legal here to have an automatically enforced attendance policy?