agenda actions HOA Board fails to motion or vote on agenda item

[Precious Pearl]

At a recent HOA Board meeting, the President discussed a certain agenda item in her opening President's report. When the time came for the agenda item in the course of the meeting she announced there would be "No further discussion" There was no motion or vote on the item, and the meeting moved to the next agenda item. Was this proper?

Thanks

[Richard Brown]

On 10/5/2022 at 11:12 AM, Precious Pearl said:

At a recent HOA Board meeting, the President discussed a certain agenda item in her opening President's report. When the time came for the agenda item in the course of the meeting she announced there would be "No further discussion" There was no motion or vote on the item, and the meeting moved to the next agenda item. Was this proper?

Thanks

If no one actually made a motion to adopt the item, yes, that was proper.  The mere fact that it was on the agenda does not mean it must be taken up.  A motion must still be made at the meeting.  Without the "item" being taken up, it falls to the ground at the end of the meeting.   I do not believe it would carry over to the next meeting as "unfinished business" since the item was reached.

[Bruce Lages]

I think that depends on the nature of this agenda item. It would seem rather unusual to me for a specific item to be placed on the agenda if it was expected that no action would be taken on it. Topics do arise in officer and committee reports which are presented for information only, where no action is expected or required, but it's not clear if that was the case here. So, what was the nature of this item? Was it something that board members could reasonably expect something should be done about?

[Guest Precious Pearl]

The item will be taken up at the next meeting, but owners were not allowed to comment. 

[Precious Pearl]

The agenda item was #10 "Armed Security Officer bid". Owners were given no prior information of such a need, and the topic was discussed among owners on social media prior to the meeting. In the President's report owners were reprimanded for the social media discussion. When agenda item #10 was reached the President announced "There will be no further discussion". 

The motion was not voted on, tabled or postponed by the Board. I don't believe the President handled it properly. Thoughts?

[Bruce Lages]

An agenda item entitled "Armed Security Officer bid" certainly sounds like something that could reasonably be expected to require action of some kind. But you say "The motion was not voted on..." (my emphasis). Was there in fact a motion offered, either orally or in writing?

[Guest Precious Pearl]

No motion offered. The president did send out a disparaging email two days ago. 

"There was an agenda item last week that caused a lot of questions. At the last Board meeting the topic about an armed security guard bid was discussed. This was only a discussion point. The reason this was even mentioned or thought about was due to the harassing social media posts that continually defame the Board of Directors or any individual. There was an article last week that misquoted me once again. In the month of August, a community manager was killed in Georgia. Based on the postings on social media our attorney advised us to investigate safety precautions. We are asking members to please remember to be kind when approaching the Board of Directors and/or the management company"

[Richard Brown]

Based on Guest Precious Pearl's additional information, it is clear that the agenda item was reached, that no motion was made, and that the item "fell to the ground" when the meeting adjourned.  It may, of course, be renewed (made again) at any future meeting.

[Dan Honemann]

On 10/5/2022 at 3:07 PM, Richard Brown said:

Based on Guest Precious Pearl's additional information, it is clear that the agenda item was reached, that no motion was made, and that the item "fell to the ground" when the meeting adjourned.  It may, of course, be renewed (made again) at any future meeting.

I don't think this is quite right.  Apparently, the chair simply unilaterally disposed of the item on her own, without any objection or point of order being raised.

[Richard Brown]

On 10/5/2022 at 2:29 PM, Dan Honemann said:

I don't think this is quite right.  Apparently, the chair simply unilaterally disposed of the item on her own, without any objection or point of order being raised.

I agree, but does that change the situation or outcome? I agree that someone could have raised a point of order or actually made the motion, but apparently no one did.

[Josh Martin]

On 10/5/2022 at 11:12 AM, Precious Pearl said:

At a recent HOA Board meeting, the President discussed a certain agenda item in her opening President's report. When the time came for the agenda item in the course of the meeting she announced there would be "No further discussion" There was no motion or vote on the item, and the meeting moved to the next agenda item. Was this proper?

On 10/5/2022 at 11:35 AM, Guest Precious Pearl said:

The item will be taken up at the next meeting, but owners were not allowed to comment. 

On 10/5/2022 at 11:42 AM, Precious Pearl said:

The agenda item was #10 "Armed Security Officer bid". Owners were given no prior information of such a need, and the topic was discussed among owners on social media prior to the meeting. In the President's report owners were reprimanded for the social media discussion. When agenda item #10 was reached the President announced "There will be no further discussion". 

The motion was not voted on, tabled or postponed by the Board. I don't believe the President handled it properly. Thoughts?

On 10/5/2022 at 12:42 PM, Guest Precious Pearl said:

No motion offered.

Based upon the facts presented, I am inclined to agree that this matter was not handled properly by the President. The President cannot unilaterally decide that there will be no discussion on an item. Certainly, there is no requirement for the board to discuss the matter or take any action at that meeting, but the President cannot make that decision alone. The President should have at least offered an opportunity for a motion to be made on this matter. If no such motion was made, then it would have been appropriate to move on to the next agenda item.

I will note, however, that we are told this was a meeting of the HOA Board, so the fact that owners (other than board members) were not permitted to comment is not a concern, at least so far as RONR is concerned. Only members of the board have a right to speak at a board meeting. 

Edited October 5, 2022 at 10:26 PM by Josh Martin

[Guest Precious Pearl]

It was an Open Meeting and Owners are usually given time to comment on agenda items or other topics if they wish. That was not the case with agenda item #10.

[Gary Novosielski]

So this is a Board meeting at which non-board-member owners are permitted to attend and be heard from?

If that's the case, any point of order or objection would have to come from a board member, and if none of them did anything about it, then the president's action, even though improper, is a done deal.

If this were a general membership meeting with an adopted agenda, then any single member could have made the privileged motion to Call for the Orders of the Day, which is a demand that the orders of the day (in this case, the agenda) be adhered to.  But at board meetings, Owners are not considered members of the body that is meeting.

[Josh Martin]

On 10/5/2022 at 5:38 PM, Guest Precious Pearl said:

It was an Open Meeting and Owners are usually given time to comment on agenda items or other topics if they wish. That was not the case with agenda item #10.

If it is simply a custom that owners are given time to comment on agenda items, then the board is free to deviate from this custom in a particular case if it wishes. If some rule of the organization requires that owners be given time to comment on agenda items, then the organization will need to look to its own rules to interpret them.

So far as RONR is concerned, it is entirely at the board's discretion whether to let the owners speak at a board meeting.

Edited October 6, 2022 at 11:08 AM by Josh Martin