"title" of non-annual executive board meeting

[New Secretary]

Folks,

Should there be any particular designation on notices/agenda/minutes of an Executive Board, non-annual meeting of a condominium association? 

The bylaws refer to the "Annual Meeting", at which meeting the board elects its officers for the year, and which meeting must be held within ten days of the Annual Meeting of the full membership--at which membership meeting the expiring board member position is filled.  The bylaws refer to other e-board meetings simply as "meetings".  For full membership meetings, the bylaws refer to the "Annual Meeting" and to other membership meetings as "Special Meetings".  So, for Executive Board meetings--"Regular Meeting"?  "Special Meeting"  Simply, "Meeting"?  Something else?

Thank you.

 

[jstackpo]

A guess here:  I presume that the Exec Board has, at some point in the past, set up a schedule for when it meets ("First Tuesday of every other month" or the like) and this is codified in a set of Board Standing Rules (or a "Policies & Procedures" manual).  That makes those meetings "Regular Meetings" per RONR's definition of the varieties of meetings. See page 81ff.

[Richard Brown]

Special meetings of the board should be referred to as a special meeting in the minutes and in the notice of the meeting. The annual meeting should be referred to as the annual meeting.  Regular meetings should be referred to as regular meetings. 

See page 468 of RONR which states that the minutes should always specify the kind of meeting that took place, such as regular, special, etc. See also the sample minutes on page 472 which refers to the meeting as the "regular monthly meeting of the L. M. Society. . . "

Edited October 27, 2018 at 02:15 PM by Richard Brown
Typographical correction

[New Secretary]

Thank you both.

Actually, we are a dysfunctional, very small,  condominium association association. The very thin gene pool is 15 individuals, 6 of whom are over 75 years old and unable or unwilling to participate beyond giving proxies when unable to attend meetings, and 2 more of whom have been opposing the association in court for 6-plus years.  I have recently returned  to the board after a 6-year absence with at least a 3/4-hearted agreement from one of the other 2 board members to  go along with attempts to do things "right", so long as I do the vast majority of the work. 

So---"No", past boards have followed little to none of the niceties of RONR, as "We are not General Motors", and "We are too small to bother with that sort of thing." 

I think I will go with "Special", as we really have no "Regular" meetings.  We meet when there is some change to decide upon, or to deal with budget matters or the litigation.

 

[Richard Brown]

33 minutes ago, Back_On_The_Board_Aug_2018 said:

I think I will go with "Special", as we really have no "Regular" meetings.  We meet when there is some change to decide upon, or to deal with budget matters or the litigation.

I would be careful about that. At a special meeting, you can take action only on those items which are specifically listed in the call of the meeting. Unless there is some single pressing issue to deal with, I would think that your meetings would actually be regular meetings where you may take action on all business that members want to bring up. Your bylaws might also contain  restrictions and special requirements for special meetings.

Edited to add:  if a meeting is truly to deal just with one or two issues and those issues are clearly listed in the notice of the meeting, fine. However, keep in mind that the items of business listed in the notice of the meeting are the only business that you can take up  a special meeting. Each item must be specifically identified. A catch-all phrase such as "and such other business as may come before the board" would not suffice for a special meeting.

Edited October 27, 2018 at 02:57 PM by Richard Brown
Added last paragraph

[New Secretary]

Thank you for distiguishing between the two types of meetings. 

If bylaws make no mention of "regular" meetings, would we be allowed to  call and conduct same?  The bylaws mention "Annual" and "Special" meetings for full membership meetings and only mentions "Annual" meetings for the executive board--although for the executive board, the bylaws provide: "  . . .the E/B shall meet at meet three times each fiscal year (in addition to the annual meeting of the E/B), unless all members of the E/B waive such requirements as to a particular meeting or meetings."  I assume that the bylaws anticipate quarterly meetings???

Note that one of our E/B members often refuses to participate and often fails to even acknowledge communications.  It is all-in-all a tough spot for us.

[Richard Brown]

If RONR is your parliamentary authority, you are not allowed to have special meetings at all unless they are provided for in your bylaws or by state  law, such as a state law dealing with homeowner and condo associations.  Regular meetings are the type meetings your bylaws contemplate for your board.... apparently more or less quarterly, with one of them being the annual meeting.

If you don't already have it, I strongly urge you to get a copy of Robert's Rules of Order Newly Revised in Brief.  It's only about $7.50 and covers the basics of meeting procedures and rules:  http://robertsrules.com/inbrief.html
 

 

[New Secretary]

Thank you again.  I do have "revised in Brief" as well as RONR, which is our parliamentary authority.  I will go through the "brief" more closely.

 

Between the Non-Profit Corporation Act and the Condominium Act, it appears that both the EB meetings and full membership meetings can only take up topics for which notice has been given.  Which I suppose makes everything as to both bodies effectively either a "special" (or annual), whether we call it that or not.

The recently (poorly) updated condominium act included a new requirement that non-board members now receive notice of board meetings and that they also be allowed to attend (but not speak) all board meetings.  A paragraph in the condo act  about meetings seems to discuss full membership meetings, then in the next paragraph discusses executive board meetings.  It's somewhat unclear as to whether the previous paragraph's comments might apply to the next paragraph.