Establish Standards for HOA Meetings With Meeting Rules

By Kelly G. Richardson, Esq. CCAL

Along with the property’s overall condition, another positive initial impression upon new members can be board meetings which are effective, positive, and orderly.  However, how does a new owner or director learn how board meetings are to be conducted?  The law does not require associations to have meeting rules, but such rules can be extremely helpful in guiding attendees and directors.  Much of the rules may be derived from statutes (Open Meeting Act, Civil Code 4900-4955) but good meeting rules can add further important guidance.

Topics in meeting rules could include:

1. Who can attend board meetings? Under the Open Meeting Act, only members have the right to attend open meetings - but what about tenants, non-owner spouses, attorneys, owners’ children, or service providers?  The rules can reaffirm that only members can attend, or could state if anyone else can attend.
2. What is the order of business the HOA board usually follows?  A model agenda can be included in the rules to inform HOA members about the order in which things happen in board meetings.
3. How is open forum handled? Is it at the beginning or the end of meetings?  Can the board vote to have a special open forum on a limited issue during the meeting? What is the time limit on owner remarks? Reasonable guidelines on open forum will be helpful.
4. What behavior is not permitted in board meetings? Rules should contain clear boundaries of behavior - boundaries which no reasonable person would dispute.  Meeting rules should spell out what is not allowed and thereby promote reasonable behavior during board meetings.
5. If someone disrupts the meeting, what does the board do? There is nothing more unfair to the board and the attending owners than when one or more owners hijack a meeting with obstreperous behavior.  I have attended meetings in which the goal of the disruptors was clearly to try to force the board to adjourn and prevent the board from deciding certain issues on the agenda. This is reprehensible behavior which should not be condoned.  Rules should include an escalation of response to disruption.  The escalation should start with a warning from the chair, followed by a motion of the board of censure (asking the owner to quiet down), followed by a motion to eject the offending owner from the meeting. It is not fair to anyone to allow bullies to stymie the board from handling the association’s business.
6. If the homeowner is called to a hearing, what will happen? So often I attend disciplinary hearings or reimbursement hearings in which the HOA member called to the hearing is simply lost, not knowing what is expected from them or how to proceed.  Meeting rules can explain how disciplinary and common area damage reimbursement hearings are conducted. This would help inform members how to prepare, resulting in better and fairer hearings.
7. What happens in closed sessions, which homeowners often see as mysterious?  Why not include in the rules an explanation of what the law allows boards to address in closed sessions – and such rules may remind the board as well.

Meeting conduct rules can be a very positive statement about what a community values.  Take some time, consult association legal counsel, and create and adopt some clear and reasonable association meeting rules.

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