WHEN IS A MEETING A MEETING?

It’s funny how many times over the years, Boards have told me “We weren’t having a meeting, we were only talking about the condo” or “We weren’t having a meeting, we were in a workshop.”

For clarification, let’s see how a “meeting” is defined by law.

For a condominium, the Florida Administrative Code says:

(1)(a) “Meeting of the board of administration” means any gathering of the members of the board of directors, at which a quorum of the members is present, for the purpose of conducting association business.

(b) “Committee meeting” means any gathering of a group of board members, unit owners, or board members and unit owners appointed by the board or a member of the board to make recommendations to the board regarding the association budget or take action on behalf of the board at which a quorum of the members of that committee is present. For example, a meeting of an executive committee, as defined in section 617.0825, F.S., or as that section may subsequently be renumbered, would be included in this definition as would a meeting of a group charged with developing a proposed budget.

 

So under this Rule, a quorum of the Board gets together and talks about the condo — it’s a meeting that needed to be properly noticed and the unit owners had a right to attend.

The Florida HOA Statutes 720.303(2) says:

A meeting of the board of directors of an association occurs whenever a quorum of the board gathers to conduct association business.

 

This provision also shall apply to the meetings of any committee or other similar body when a final decision will be made regarding the expenditure of association funds and to meetings of any body vested with the power to approve or disapprove architectural decisions with respect to a specific parcel of residential property owned by a member of the community.

So…….same rule for HOAs —–, a quorum of the Board gets together and talks about the HOA — it’s a meeting that needed to be properly noticed and the unit owners had a right to attend.

 

Now…….here’s the fun part.

As you learned in last week’s blog, both the condo statute and the HOA statute say that Board members can communicate by e-mail.  So, let’s say that tomorrow night you happen to walk past the Board room and there are the 5 directors sitting next to each other on the stage, talking about association matters.  You would scream and say they are having an illegal meeting that was not properly noticed – and you would be right.

The Board members promise never to do this again.