Can a board meeting be suspended and not adjourned?

[Guest Jennifer]

Our homeowner association board has an upcoming meeting where they have to review a possible violation.  Once they do this - the Hearing committee meets to see if they agree a violation has occurred.  Then the HOA board meets again to levy a fine if the Hearing committee aggreed that a violation occured.  All of these meetings occur with an hour and half on the same day.

 

In the past we have posted notice of the HOA meeting, then the Hearing Committee meeting, then the follow-up HOA meeting.  The minutes actually reflect that there were two separate meetings of the HOA on that day.

 

Is there any way to make a motion in the first HOA meeting to "suspend" the meeting and then go back into the same meeting once the Hearing Committee has met?

 

Thank you for your help with this.

 

[George Mervosh]

Our homeowner association board has an upcoming meeting where they have to review a possible violation.  Once they do this - the Hearing committee meets to see if they agree a violation has occurred.  Then the HOA board meets again to levy a fine if the Hearing committee aggreed that a violation occured.  All of these meetings occur with an hour and half on the same day.

 

In the past we have posted notice of the HOA meeting, then the Hearing Committee meeting, then the follow-up HOA meeting.  The minutes actually reflect that there were two separate meetings of the HOA on that day.

 

Is there any way to make a motion in the first HOA meeting to "suspend" the meeting and then go back into the same meeting once the Hearing Committee has met?

 

Thank you for your help with this.

 

They can't suspend the meeting, but why not just take a recess for the short time it takes for the committee to meet?

[Guest Jennifer]

Would the motion then be:

 

HOA Board member X motioned to recess the meeting at X:xx a.m.

 

Followed by:

 

HOA Board member X motioned to resume the meeting at X:xx a.m.

 

 

If this is correct - would we then only notice 1 HOA meeting and 1 Hearing Committee meeting?

 

Thanks!

[George Mervosh]

Would the motion then be:

 

HOA Board member X motioned to recess the meeting at X:xx a.m.

 

Followed by:

 

HOA Board member X motioned to resume the meeting at X:xx a.m.

 

 

If this is correct - would we then only notice 1 HOA meeting and 1 Hearing Committee meeting?

 

Thanks!

 

Well the RONR authors give us a Form and Example to follow, so let's use it. 

 

Forms in which this motion may be made are: "I move that the meeting recess [or "take a recess"] until 2 P.M."; "I move to recess for ten minutes"; or "I move to recess until called to order by the chair."

If such a motion is adopted, the chair announces the result as follows:

CHAIR: The ayes have it and the meeting stands recessed [or, "in recess"] for fifteen minutes [rapping once with the gavel, if desired].

 

At the end of the specified time, the chair gains the attention of the assembly and begins:

CHAIR: The convention [or "meeting"] will come to order. The time of recess has expired. The question is on the resolution ... [Or, if the recess was taken following the vote on a question or an election but before the result had been announced, the first business would be the announcement of the vote.]

 

RONR (11th ed.), pp. 232-33.

 

 

If this is correct - would we then only notice 1 HOA meeting and 1 Hearing Committee meeting?

 

 

That's fine if the board is agreeable to the motion to recess.

[Transpower]

You could use the motion  "Fix the Time To Which to Adjourn."

[Weldon Merritt]

If (as it seems) the purpose of the board meeting is "to review a possible violation," I see no reason the Hearing Committee could not meet first to determine whether "a violation occured." Then the committee could report its findings at a subseqeunt board meeting either the same day or later. Why unduly complicate things by splitting the board meeting into two parts separated by the committee hearing?

[Thomas Ralph]

Would the motion then be:

 

HOA Board member X motioned to recess the meeting at X:xx a.m.

 

Followed by:

 

HOA Board member X motioned to resume the meeting at X:xx a.m.

 

 

If this is correct - would we then only notice 1 HOA meeting and 1 Hearing Committee meeting?

 

Thanks!

"Motioned" isn't the word you want. Try "moved". And the duration of the recess (or that it ends when the chair calls the meeting to order, &c.) is included in the motion to recess.