When HOA Dissenters Want to Record Meetings [HOAleader.com Video]
HOAleader.com - Tip of the Week - January 19, 2024
We're guessing you've got owners in your community who find fault with just about everything your board does. We're also guessing that some of them even take you to task on social media.
In this week's tip, we're lending a hand to a reader in that situation who's asking for help with two issues. Our reader says a small but noisy group of residents regularly use the community's Facebook page to bash the board and post inaccurate or incomplete information. The board has steadfastly said that it
doesn't conduct HOA business on Facebook.
When the group sought to video record meetings, the board got worried the dissenters would alter the recordings to further damage the board's efforts. So they reached out to their HOA attorney, who
advised the board to institute a rule banning the recording of the meetings. As you might expect, after the board did that, the angry mob turned to the HOA's Facebook group to ridicule the board and question its ethics.
Click on the arrow
below to hear a short clip in which two of HOAleader.com's experts— Jennifer Biletnikoff, a shareholder in the Naples, Fla., office of Becker & Poliakoff, who has represented condos and HOAs for more than 15 years, and Todd J. Skowronski, an associate at Makower Abbate Guerra Wegner Vollmer PLLC, whose firm advises nearly 2,000 association clients throughout Michigan—share their expertise on whether state laws and governing documents typically permit boards to ban taping of
meetings.
