Rules regarding order of business and minutes

[allie]

I have attended my HOA meeting the last two months and the agenda was as follows:

1. Sign up for those who wish to speak 3 min, limited to 1/2 hour,

2. Open board meeting, Approve Minutes (note read)

3. Financial Report

4. Delinquent Accounts

5. Engineer Report

6. Neighborhood Watch

7. Alarm Monitoring

8. Set Next Meeting Date, Adjourn

My question is that member comments are not recorded in minutes, there is no old or new business format and each item brought up has to be brought up again and again with no resolution except the Chair "will take it under advisement". We do not have any follow up on items.

If issues are handled as formal motions, would this resolve our problem? Our attorney has stated that it is not necessary to include comments in minutes and only necessary to post minutes on a bulletin board at the pool? We have part time residents who are never advised of meetings or have the opportunity to review minutes. When I asked that minutes be posted to website, the response from Chair was "that is not an official website"

Help!!

[Guest Edgar]

I have attended my HOA meeting . . . Help!!

I'll assume you're referring to meetings of the board (as opposed to meetings of the general membership of the association). If that's the case, attendees who are not members of the board have no parliamentary rights at the meeting. It is also correct that comments (even by members of the board) should not be included in the minutes. Minutes are a record of what was done (e.g. motions), not what was said (e.g. debate). Nor does RONR require that the minutes be posted anywhere though your rules (or state law) may say otherwise.

The thing to keep in mind is that when RONR (and therefore the responses on this forum) refers to "members", it's referring to members of the body that is meeting.

[allie]

I'll assume you're referring to meetings of the board (as opposed to meetings of the general membership of the association). If that's the case, attendees who are not members of the board have no parliamentary rights at the meeting. It is also correct that comments (even by members of the board) should not be included in the minutes. Minutes are a record of what was done (e.g. motions), not what was said (e.g. debate). Nor does RONR require that the minutes be posted anywhere though your rules (or state law) may say otherwise.

The thing to keep in mind is that when RONR (and therefore the responses on this forum) refers to "members", it's referring to members of the body that is meeting.

Thanks Edgar, since these are Board of Director Meetings, if I understand you correctly, I cannot make a motion. Therefore, I must wait until Annual Membership Meeting or can I request a special meeting of membershp?

[jstackpo]

Check your bylaws to see what it takes (usually more than a single "request") to call a Special Meeting and carry on from there.

[Guest Edgar]

. . . since these are Board of Director Meetings, if I understand you correctly, I cannot make a motion.

What you can do is try to convince a sympathetic board member (assuming that's not an oxymoron!) to make the motion for you. If you can persuade him that most of the association agrees with you (and that they will reflect that agreement at the next election!), he might be agreeable.