We hope you like puzzles because in this week's tip, we're working through a brain teaser of sorts.
Our challenge comes in response to an HOAleader.com reader's question: "During the summer of 2023, our condo association had no board members. A special election was held, and three of the seven candidates were elected. They decided among themselves who'd fill what role and for what term.
"One board member quit before the next annual meeting, and a replacement was elected at the annual meeting. Then another of the original three (the president, in fact) quit less than a month after the annual meeting. Two of the original seven candidates indicated their interest, and the two current board members are happy to use one as
a voting member and the other as a nonvoting officer to spread the workload.
"What's confusing us is twofold: Does the appointed voting board member need to be elected at the next annual meeting? And does the original secretary/vice
president who became our new president when the former one resigned need to be reelected or change her term of office as voted by the newly created board?"
Let's geek out with this question!
Of course, our experts would need to review our reader's bylaws and their state law to provide specific answers to the reader's questions. But let's start with some basic rules of thumb that apply in most states and under most governing documents, which is where you should start with
these types of challenges.
"I think the reader might be a little confused," says Danielle Wang, of counsel at the law firm of Sands Anderson PC in Williamsburg and Richmond, Va., and the leader of its community associations team. "But it
also could be possible that there are no terms stated in the governing documents, or their bylaws or articles are very poorly written."