R.S. from Williamson County, Texas writes:
Dear Mister Condo,
Our condo board made up a manifesto. They no longer have open board meetings. They do have Town Hall meetings where they mostly pat themselves on the back about what they are accomplishing. They voted after the last Town Hall meeting to replace a member that had stepped down, they did not open a meeting, make motion to replace the member, they voted to replace him with their candidate, did not close the meeting, because of course they did not open a meeting. They say owners can attend the meetings but we have to give 48 hours’ notice. Problem is we don’t know when they are having a meeting.
Mister Condo replies:
R.S., I am sorry to hear that your Board has decided to behave so improperly. Clearly, they are not familiar with Parliamentary procedure, which they could waive after calling a meeting to order if they prefer a more casual setting for conducting the association’s business. However, they are not following the procedures for governing your association as outlined in your governing documents and that should not go unchecked. If the Board is made aware that they are not holding meeting in accordance with your governing documents and/or state law and they do not change their mistaken ways, it is time for a new Board. Of course, that requires new volunteers to step up and run the association. You would need to follow the procedures for a recall election. Ideally, unless this Board is conducting shady business or self-serving actions, many association members may not care enough to act. Share what you know with others within the association and act accordingly. If they are well intentioned but just poorly educated on how to properly conduct meetings, it may be as simple as bringing it to their attention. All the best!
Boards are typically tasked with replacing a board member who resigned, but should follow the requirements listed in your bylaws. I googled open meetings in Texas and found this: “ Under Chapter 209 of the Texas Property Code, residential subdivision HOAs are required to have ‘open’ board meetings, meaning that the members of the HOA (i.e., the property owners) have the right to attend, but not speak, at said board meetings.”. You might want to research this and share it with your board.