Closed Door Condo Board Meeting Held Without Full Board Allowed

J.G. from New Haven County, Connecticut writes:

Dear Mister Condo,

The president of our association does not regard the treasurer as a member of the executive board despite the fact that the treasurer was initially elected as a director to the board then appointed treasurer. It is all stated in our minutes. After one year as treasurer, he was told he must get off the board and someone else be elected to the board. The treasurer had no say even though he indicated this was not correct. Closed door “board” meetings were held and the treasurer was omitted. Unit owners were unaware of such meetings and minutes were never distributed. Does the treasurer have any recourse?

Mister Condo replies:

J.G., I am sorry to hear that your Board is functioning in such a dysfunctional manner. All elected Board members, regardless of additional title like Treasurer are Board Members first, officers second. Your President is misinformed. Unfortunately, in Connecticut there is no legal authority to appeal to. It is up to the Board member who been slighted to seek legal remedy on his/her own by suing the Board. Consequently, any association member may also sue the Board for functioning outside of the prescribed manner in the association’s by-laws and/or state law. There are no such things as “closed door” Board meetings so this Board is making itself particularly vulnerable to being sued. My advice would be to vote them out at your earliest convenience. Of course, that also means replacing them with better informed volunteer leaders from within the community. Perhaps it is time that you raised your hand to volunteer to run for the Board? That is what it will take to correct this bad behavior on the part of the seated Board. Good luck!