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NO
BOARD MEETINGS NEEDED?
By
Jan Bergemann
Published
May 2, 2014
We
hear it all the time: Our board never holds board meetings. The
only meeting being announced is the annual membership meeting
– and since there was never a quorum that meeting doesn’t
really take place either – and the board won by default! That
are often the board members who brag that they are serving as
board members since many years – but please don’t ask them
what FS 720 means. They will look at you like deer in the
headlight.
And
then you have the board presidents who think they are in reality
CEOs and can make any decision they want without even having to
ask the other board members – if there are any.
How
would you like this statement from a HOA board president: “We
only meet twice a year for those of you who are new. We have one
budget meeting and next month you’ll receive a letter and
we’ll have an election meeting. Pretty much we run
the board as a CEO of a company. The majority of the
information comes to me. I make the decisions and unless I have
to talk to another board member for repair situations for most
part and to address the management company to make sure they are
doing their job and the gates are running like they are supposed
to run.”
As
you can see: This board president wasn’t even ashamed to admit
his violations of Florida statutes in public!
And
that opinion was even supported by the actions of management
firm and association attorney.
With
other words: Who cares what the Florida statutes really say?
I guess the old saying goes: “Power corrupts – and
more power corrupts even more!”
Florida
statutes are very clear: Board meetings have to be noticed –
minimum 48 hours in advance – and all decisions – like
contracts etc. – have to be voted on by the board – in
public!
Florida
statutes 720.303(2) + (3) are very specific in
regards to board meetings – and minutes. Motions and votes
have to be recorded in the minutes of these board meeting, so
even years later there is a record that – for example – a
contract was approved by the majority of the board at a noticed
board meeting where a quorum of the board was present.
To
explain it the easy way: No
public board meeting, no official vote – no contract!
I
can assure you: FS 720.303 doesn’t contain any provision
promoting the board president to CEO, allowing him to make
executive decisions without even asking fellow board members!
It
really doesn’t take Einstein to interpret the provisions
regulating board meetings. But even the best statutes are being
ignored if there is nobody to enforce these provisions. Then
this provision supposed to safeguard the interests of the
homeowners becomes a toothless tiger!
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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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