ANNUAL MEETINGS? A REQUIREMENT BY STATUTES!
By
Jan Bergemann
Published
January 24, 2014
Every
association is required by law to have an annual meeting. Sounds
easy, right?
It’s
definitely not as easy as it sounds! Especially in homeowners’
associations regulated by FS 720 many annual meetings just
don’t take place due to lack of quorum. That’s why many
associations send out “limited proxies” that do nothing else
than creating the quorum needed to let the meeting actually take
place!
But
even that little trick doesn’t help in many cases.
According
to the
Florida
statutes, the election of the board members has to take place at
the annual meeting – once a year. In condos [FS 718.112(2)(d)] that often creates a weird situation:
The election can take place, but the annual meeting can’t.
You
may ask why? The explanation: Difference in quorum requirements.
While it takes only a 20% qualified voter participation to have
an election, most governing documents require a 30% quorum to
start the business part of the annual meeting.
In
some HOAs you find reports that the clubhouse was filled,
standing room only, but the board quickly declared that due to a
lack of quorum the meeting – and election – can’t take
place and then quickly flee the scene, if they are afraid the
opposing candidates would win the election. That loophole is
caused by the vague election rules in FS 720.306 – an issue we
want changed with the help of our proposed HOA REFORM BILL PART
II.
Let’s
make no mistake: In most associations the only reason for having
the needed quorum is controversy. A seriously disputed election
with two groups of candidates opposing each other – or the
debate over a special assessment – will get owners to
participate.
Another
pretty common bone of contention is the question: Who chairs the
meeting? Some bylaws are silent on that matter -- others make
the president of the board the chair for the annual meeting.
Never forget: The annual meeting is legally a membership meeting
and board members have no specific rights. They have just one
vote like every other member of the association. The members
present could even elect a chair specifically for that meeting.
And
hiring the association attorney to chair the meeting? I agree to
that suggestion if there are disputed issues (like election) on
the agenda and threats of litigation are already flying around
long before the meeting takes place. Otherwise it can as well
cause more friction since not all members may like the
association attorney. Sometimes an off-duty police officer can
be of much more help to conduct a peaceful meeting than the
association attorney who maybe considered biased by quite some
members.
When
selecting a president the other board members – and the
membership – should consider that one of the most important
duties of the president is chairing the meetings. With other
words, pick somebody who has the necessary know-how to preside
over the meetings and doesn’t have to pay the attorney showing
up at each meeting doing his/her job. A president who isn’t
comfortable chairing a meeting might not be the right person to
be elected president.
Meetings
are an important part of creating a democratic community. CCFJ
has over the years added quite a lot of owner-friendly
provisions to the
Florida
statutes. But they all count on the participation of the owners.
APATHY
is the worst enemy of creating a nice owner-friendly community.
A
little piece of advice to all the owners who say that “they
don’t want to get involved”: You are involved since the
moment you bought into the community – for better or for
worse. Your lack of involvement allows other members to create
sometimes dictatorial rules.
“Dictators” can only rule if the majority of owners
is silent and “doesn’t want to get involved.” Recalls and
elections are a great tool to get rid of “dictators.”
Not
getting involved can cost you lots of money. Make sure you go to
the meetings and have your voice – and vote – heard – or
stop complaining and just write the checks when the
“dictators” are wasting more of your money!
Wishing
you all “peaceful” annual membership meetings!
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Jan Bergemann is president of Cyber Citizens For Justice,
Florida
's largest state-wide property owners' advocacy group.
CCFJ works on legislation to help owners living in
community
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associations. He moved to
Florida
in 1995 - hoping to retire. He moved into a HOA, where the
developer cheated the homeowners and used the association dues
for his own purposes. End of retirement!
CCFJ was born in the year 2000, when some owners met in
Tallahassee
- finding out that power is only in numbers. Bergemann was a
member of Governor Jeb Bush's HOA Task force in 2003/2004.
The organization has two websites to inform interested
Florida
homeowners and condo owners:
News Website: http://www.ccfj.net/.
Educational Website: http://www.ccfjfoundation.net/.
We think that only owners can really represent owners, since all
service providers surely have a different interest! We are
trying to create owner-friendly laws, but the best laws are
useless without enforcement. And enforcement is totally lacking
in
Florida
!
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