Voting on Resolutions.

[Guest tom.oday@comcast.net]

A Resolution was discussed in previous  Executive Sessions of our HOA.  The night before a vote was to take place in open session, the Resolution was sent to the the Trustees and it had some changes in it that had not been on the Resolution prior.  In the General Meeting one of the Trustees tried to ask three times if the other Trustees had actually read the Resolution that was presented for voting on.  The president shut him off every time and called for a vote.  Resolution passed 5 to 2.  Didn't the Trustee have a right to the question and get an answer from each Trustee prior to the vote?

[Richard Brown]

Guest Tom, I’ll make several comments here. First, it is hard for me to follow who (what body) was meeting when and which body did what. It helps us tremendously when people who are posting a question are very clear as to which body is doing what.  General membership ?  Executive committee? Board of directors? Board of trustees, if that is something different? 

You made a statement about a general meeting, which I took to mean a general membership meeting, but then you said the vote was 5 to 2, which sounds much more like it was a meeting of a committee or a board, such as an executive committee, board of directors, or board of trustees. It will help if you’ll clarify who was meeting in each of the instances that you described.

As to the right of a trustee to ask questions of other trustees and to get an answer, RONR does provide the right to ask questions in the form of a “request for information“. However, no member has the right to force another member to respond. Without knowing exactly what was going on in the meeting, it is hard for me to say whether the chair was right or wrong, but I think he should have permitted at least one question along those lines. Your question could be asked rhetorically in debate, such as asking rhetorically “have all of the trustees actually read these revised provisions?” The right to ask questions cannot be used to harass, abuse, or embarrass other members. It sounds like that might be what the chair was trying to prevent.

Stay tuned. Some of my colleagues might have a different interpretation. In the meantime, please clarify what body was meeting at what times and which body did what. 

[Rob Elsman]

By what authority did the Board of Trustees actually change the text of the resolution?  The proper procedure is for the Board of Trustees to make a report containing recommendations for amendments to the resolution.  The resolution itself is returned to the committing body without any changes in the text.  It would be up to the committing body to adopt or reject each recommendation.

[Richard Brown]

13 minutes ago, Rob Elsman said:

By what authority did the Board of Trustees actually change the text of the resolution? 

I agree with this question and had intended to ask it myself. I think that at this time we don’t know enough about exactly what process was being followed. It is impossible from the original post to tell what the process was and to know when, how and by whom the resolution was changed.

[Guest Puzzling]

Also not understanding what happened at what kind of meeting, it all seems a bit improper and maybe acrimonious to say the least. 

HOA's are not only regulated by RONR, 

It is much more important what is in other documents like the bylaws and covenants and even (state) laws. They all have precedence over ronr.

Where is found that there is a board of trustees? What exactly do you mean with an executive session (what the bylaws say might differ from what RONR says and the bylaws have priority) 

For HOA's I refer to the Homeowners protection bureau hopb www hopb.co  they are much more skilled in the legal bits than we at this forum (and at least tell you where to find your state laws and how to get those other documents.  With hoa's it is always important  to look at the legal side.