HOAleader.com - Tip of the Week - January 20, 2023
Published: Fri, 01/20/23
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HOAleader.com - Tip of the Week - January 20, 2023
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An HOAleader.com reader recently told us: "My community is managed by a management company in Florida. Our board employs tactics suggested by the company, including adjournment of meetings, to keep order.
"The board also conducts its meetings in secret, which makes it easier to conduct business. The board also doesn't keep any minutes of its meetings, the thinking being, 'what the membership doesn't know won't hurt them.'
"Despite all this, it seems to raise the ire of the community because they're suspicious we're doing something behind their backs. Is there something else the board can do to bring peace to our meetings?"
This question, like the question about board members packing heat to manage behavior at meetings, was submitted during the Q&A session at a recent HOAleader.com webinar, De-Escalating Conflict in the Moment: How Board Members Can Lower the Temperature When Things Get Heated.
In this week's tip, our experts say some misguided managers actually do offer this advice but explain why you shouldn't follow it.
To our surprise, Andrea L. O'Toole, a community association lawyer for 17 years and the founding partner at O'Toole Rogers in Lafayette, Calif., says that, unfortunately, she has seen managers in California advise boards to meet without giving owners a heads up.
"The minutes not so much, but the meeting in secret?" she says. "Yes, it happens. I don't think those managers were doing it for insidious reasons. I think they weren't knowledgeable about what the law requires. Or perhaps they were inexperienced.
"But this issue comes up all the time in California," adds O'Toole. "My clients will make a decision about something in executive session rather than in an open board meeting. That's a violation of state law. There are very strict guidelines about what can be discussed during executive session. It has to be one of five things, and if it's not, the discussion has to be in open session. An owner could bring a claim of a violation, and there's a $500 penalty if it's upheld."
For Betty Crudden, CMCA®, AMS®, PCAM®, senior community manager at SBB Management in Dallas, who manages community associations ranging in size and amenities, including both residential and commercial associations, this practice would be "100 percent no."
Find out why this is a very slippery slope in our new article: https://www.hoaleader.com/members/4638.cfm
Best regards,
Matt Humphrey
President
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Recent articles posted at HOAleader.com:
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Court: HOA Board Can't Take Law Enforcement Into Its Own Hands
A Pennsylvania appellate court recently held that a community association couldn't force an owner to vacate his home by passing a ban on sex offenders residing in the community. In Lake Naomi Club Inc. v. Rosado, it was revealed that the association also approached a renter about the same issue, and the renter vacated the unit...
Click here for more:
https://www.hoaleader.com/members/Court-HOA-Board-Cant-Take-Law-Enforcement-Into-Its-Own-Hands.cfm
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Pennsylvania Court Says HOA Can't Push Out Sex Offender Owners; What About Renters?
A community association couldn't force an owner to vacate his home by passing a ban on sex offenders residing in the community, a Pennsylvania court recently held in Lake Naomi Club Inc. v. Rosado. In the same case, it was revealed that the association approached a renter about the same issue, and the renter vacated the unit...
Click here for more:
https://www.hoaleader.com/members/Pennsylvania-Court-Says-HOA-Cant-Push-Out-Sex-Offender-Owners-What-About-Renters.cfm
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Gun Toting to Manage Condo/HOA Meetings: Our Experts Say There Are Better Tools
In this week's tip, we ask our experts if a question we got during a recent HOAleader.com webinar, De-Escalating Conflict in the Moment: How Board Members Can Lower the Temperature When Things Get Heated, raises any red flags.
Click here for more:
https://www.hoaleader.com/public/Gun-Toting-Manage-CondoHOA-Meetings-Our-Experts-Say-There-Are-Better-Tools.cfm
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Guns and Brushbacks: Is This a Good Way to Control HOA Meetings?
We got a question during a recent HOAleader.com webinar, De-Escalating Conflict in the Moment: How Board Members Can Lower the Temperature When Things Get Heated, that gave us pause...
Click here for more:
https://www.hoaleader.com/members/Guns-Brushbacks-This-Good-Way-Control-HOA-Meetings.cfm
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Condo/HOA Insurance: Why You Need an Inflation Checkup
In this week's tip, we urge you to take a look at your insurance policies to see if they're weathering today's inflation. And even if your coverages turn out not be affected by inflation, it's a good time to do an insurance check-in because insurance premiums are going through the roof...
Click here for more:
https://www.hoaleader.com/public/Condo-HOA-Insurance-Why-You-Need-Inflation-Checkup.cfm
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