Guest Martha Posted March 1, 2015 at 09:27 PM Report Share Posted March 1, 2015 at 09:27 PM First, I wish to thank this forum for excellent information the last couple of weeks. My motion did not make it off the floor but I learned some things. Before the Annual Owners Meeting of a home owners association last week, I spoke to the President and our AOAO representative for Roberts Rules. I was asked to change my motion to include the words "I move that the Association recommend to the Board in a non-binding way......" Blah-blah. The reason given was our By Laws will not permit owners to give direction tomthe Board. The disadvange that this forum has is you do not have a copy of our 34 pages of By Laws from 1985. However, I did a search of the documents and I can find so such limitation. Basically, what I found is each owner is a member of the Association and has a vote. Can you give me some help with the position? I wish to continue with this effort. Thank you. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Richard Brown Posted March 1, 2015 at 10:03 PM Report Share Posted March 1, 2015 at 10:03 PM Whether your owners can give "direction" to the Board depends on your bylaws and state law. Unless state law or your bylaws provide otherwise, the general membership (which I presume is the owners' association) can indeed give instructions to the Board, as the board is subordinate to the general membership. An example of wording in your bylaws that might take away the power of the membership to issue instructions to the board would be language that very clearly says, in effect, that the board has sole and exclusive authority over the affairs of the society except for the election of board members, etc. (or whatever rights are reserved to the members, such as elections and amendment of the bylaws). It is my opinion that if the board only has such power between meetings of the membership or between annual meetings of the membership, then at such meetings the membership may indeed give direction and instructions to the board. It is beyond the scope of this forum for us to try to interpret either your bylaws or state laws. For that, you need to consult an attorney. Stay tuned for other opinions. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Edgar Guest Posted March 1, 2015 at 10:09 PM Report Share Posted March 1, 2015 at 10:09 PM The reason given was our By Laws will not permit owners to give direction to the Board. . . . However, I did a search of the documents and I can find no such limitation. You might want to ask the person who told you of the limitation to show it to you. It's a lot easier to find what's there than it is to find what isn't there. See also Official Interpretations 2006-12 and 2006-13. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Martha Posted March 1, 2015 at 10:22 PM Report Share Posted March 1, 2015 at 10:22 PM Sweet. Thank you. I will do both. There is a lawyer who is an owner but the statement of asking "show me" cuts to the chase. There is definitely two different agendas at work here (Board telling owners. Owners telling the Board.). We need to understand the role of each and work with..... each other. Still learning. Thank you. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Richard Brown Posted March 1, 2015 at 10:29 PM Report Share Posted March 1, 2015 at 10:29 PM In addition to the two official interpretations which Edgar Guest gave you (and which I was about to give you, too), you might find the following discussion threads in this forum enlightening: http://robertsrules.forumflash.com/index.php?/topic/16904-membership-wants-to-rescind-board-decision/ http://robertsrules.forumflash.com/index.php?/topic/10768-powerful-board-and-rescission/ http://robertsrules.forumflash.com/index.php?/topic/15927-exclusive-powers-of-a-board-p-578/ http://robertsrules.forumflash.com/index.php?/topic/15923-all-powers-given-to-the-board-why-attend-annual-meeting/ By the way, I absolutely agree with Edgar's "show me where it says that in the bylaws" suggestion. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Richard Brown Posted March 1, 2015 at 10:37 PM Report Share Posted March 1, 2015 at 10:37 PM There is definitely two different agendas at work here (Board telling owners. Owners telling the Board.). We need to understand the role of each and work with..... each other. Still learning. Thank you.Unless your bylaws or state law clearly say otherwise, it is the owners who can tell the board what to do. By the way, do you have a copy of the 11th edition of RONR? If not, you definitely need it. It's only $12 plus change on Amazon and is also in most large bookstores. http://www.robertsrules.com/book.html Edited to add: It's also available from the National Association of Parliamentarians, which also has a wealth of other good parliamentary resources, some dealing with homeowners associations, I believe. Click on "Store" on the home page. http://www.parliamentarians.org/ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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