M.H. from outside of Connecticut writes:
Dear Mister Condo,
I was just elected to our BOD earlier this year and I am the secretary. I have requested and reviewed the minutes of last year’s minutes, to get a feel for how they have been done, and sort of follow what was being done previously. I am very disappointed in what I found. Many actions were taken place through the year that were talked about but not voted on, no motions were made on so many things, it seems ridiculous to me. My main question at this point, is did that board act illegally, and could they be held liable for acting without the proper documentation?
Mister Condo replies:
M.H., welcome to the Board! I trust you will do a bang-up job as Secretary. Legally, the Minutes are the official record of what actions the Board took, what votes were held, what motions were made, and so on. They don’t need to be overly detailed but they do need to reflect basic activities and votes of the Board. Actions taken without a proper vote are subject to scrutiny from any unit owner who can challenge the action since there was not vote or record of a vote. It is a dangerous practice and sets the association up for lawsuits from disgruntled unit owners. That being said, if no unit owners have objected to the actions taken by the Board, there is quite literally no harm and no foul. However, since you are now on the Board and you are armed with the proper information about Minutes, votes, and actions of the Board, I strongly suggest you inform the Board of their erroneous ways and that they have set themselves up for all sorts of problems in the future from disgruntled unit owners. You wouldn’t want to defend actions taken without great records. Good luck!