A.B. from Vermont writes:
Dear Mister Condo,
Can a condo board require the unit owners to install and pay for UV treatment apparatus because of a contaminated well without a vote by members? Can unit owners make a motion at the annual meeting?
Mister Condo replies:
A.B., I am sorry to learn that your community is suffering with a contaminated well. I am assuming that the well is association-owned or managed. If so, the Board is very likely empowered to maintain the common asset of the association and can manage the contamination as they best see fit. I assume they got an expert opinion and a few bids on how best to treat the contamination. If they selected the UV treatment and have pursued the remedy, all that is left is how to pay for it. In this case, the association members (who will certainly benefit from having the contaminated well treated) are the ones who will foot the bill. Keep in mind that the Board is comprised of democratically elected volunteers from within the community. They were elected to handle the business of running the association, which is exactly what they are doing here. If the majority of homeowners disagree with how they are conducting the business of the association, the best remedy is to vote them out of office at the next election.Unit owners should not make motions at the Annual Meeting. The Annual Meeting should have an agenda and only items on that agenda should be voted upon. Homeowners can certainly make suggestions for items for the Board to consider and put on an upcoming Board Meeting Agenda for a vote. The reason for this is that votes for items not on the agenda are suspect because no notice was given to homeowners in advance of the meeting. For instance, if a motion to paint all the buildings red came up at the Annual Meeting and no advance notice of this vote were given, homeowners who don’t want red buildings would cry foul because they weren’t properly noticed that a vote on building colors was going to be held. Fair is fair and advanced notice via the meeting agenda is required by most governing documents. All the best!