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“Open Meetings” may not apply, but it’s still a good idea

/ Owner - June 7, 2011

Most states have “Sunshine” or “Open Meetings” laws, requiring that meetings of governing bodies be open and transparent.  The laws were designed to prevent “backroom” politics from undermining the political process and making sure that citizens could see just what their governments were up to.  The laws really don’t stop people from working behind the scenes, but at least the meetings and votes are noticed and open.

Many homeowners in associations believe that their association and board fall under these laws, but in most states, this isn’t true.  The laws pertain to public bodies and associations are considered private.  A few states do include associations and some have similar laws governing community association meetings, but for the most part, association boards are free from this governmental oversight. But that doesn’t mean they should take advantage of this and meet in secret.

There have been any number of news stories about associations with problems and one of the most consistent themes that are a part of the story is that the owners were unable to find out information about the decisions the boards were making.  We’ve written about the need for good communication from the board to the owners in the past, and that’s a critical component of any good association, but along with that is the need for openness and transparency in the decision-making process.  There’s really no good reason not to.

With certain exceptions (usually dealing with legal or personnel issues) board and committee meetings should be open to the residents.  They should be provided with an opportunity to comment on issues or raise questions.  This doesn’t mean they should be given free rein to interrupt the meeting at any time to toss their two-cents in, but they should be heard.  An open comment before the formal meeting or before agenda items would appropriate and a time-limit on comments would make sense in order to keep the length of the meeting to something reasonable.  The board chair should announce when comments or questions will be invited, and remind people that civility will go a lot farther in getting their point across than antagonism.

Open meetings doesn’t preclude the need to communicate the actions of the board to all owners on a regular basis, but it does allow for feedback and the ability of the board to get a sense of how things are going.  If you start getting large numbers of owners at meetings, that’s usually an indication that they’re concerned about what you are doing and the direction their association is going, so you may want to really listen to the feedback.  This is also an opportunity to get to know your neighbors so use it to good advantage.

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