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Congratulations on your election as Secretary of your community association! You've posed lots of good questions, so I've imbedded my responses following each query.
I’ve recently been elected Secretary of our HOA, which consists of 54 parcels of property, and have several questions about the procedure for the meeting minutes after they have been transcribed? These questions refer to both the Annual Members Meetings and the Board of Directors Meetings.
Do I hold on to the transcribed minutes until the next Board Meeting (which is sometimes several months away) when they can be read and approved, and then send copies of the approved minutes to the HOA Members? Or,
Do I send unapproved copies of the minutes to the HOA Members? If so, how many days after the meeting is this typically expected?
MARGEY: If permitted by state statutes and your association's governing documents, your board could approve the board meeting minutes between meetings if there are no scheduled monthly meetings. With the same caveat, your board could review the draft minutes, notify you of corrections and, once approved by the majority of the board members, the minutes could be distributed to owners or posted to your community's website.
With regard to annual meeting minutes, unless state statutes or your association's governing documents mandate otherwise, your board could appoint at the annual meeting a 5-person committee charged with approving the minutes on behalf of the owners within thirty days of the meeting. The minutes could then be distributed to the membership, and the board doesn't have to worry about they or the owners remembering decisions and discussions differently after a twelve month absence.
Do I always send copies of all meeting minutes to the HOA Members – Board of Director Meetings and Annual Members Meetings? Or, always mail the Annual Members Meeting Minutes and just have the Board of Directors Meeting Minutes available for review by the HOA Members upon request?
MARGEY: It depends on the provisions in your association's Bylaws. Typically, board meeting minutes are available to the owner upon request, or uploaded to the community's website for view at any time. Some associations send a postcard summary of the minutes, saving postage and copy charges, to ensure that owners have the opportunity to keep up with board decisions and actions.
Annual meeting meetings are usually distributed to all the members of the association once they are approved, then made available at check-in for the next annual meeting so that memories do not fade -- or change -- during the 12-month hiatus.
At the first Board of Directors Meeting after the Annual Members Meeting, do I read the Annual Members Meeting Minutes as the previous meeting minutes and then at the next Annual Members Meeting, read the previous Board of Directors Meeting Minutes as the previous meeting minutes? Or, do I keep them separate and read only the Board of Directors Meeting Minutes at the Board of Directors Meetings and the Annual Members Meeting Minutes at the Annual Members Meetings.
MARGEY: Keep board and annual meeting minutes in separate Minute Books, or at least use tabs to keep them separate in a single Minute Book. Board members approve board meeting minutes, the membership or an assigned committee of members approve the annual minutes.
In fact, to save time at meetings, be sure everyone has the minutes ahead of time and move to "Accept the minutes as presented" at the beginning of the meeting rather than spending the time reading them.
However, if I keep the meeting minutes separate to read and approve at their next meeting without sending copies of the unapproved minutes to the HOA, it will be a year before the HOA members receive a copy of their approved Annual Meeting Minutes.
MARGEY: That's why it's a good idea to use the "Minutes Approval Committee" concept as long as it is not prohibited by state statute and governing documents.
In the Minutes Book, do I attach anything handed out at the meetings, Committee Reports, etc. to the Minutes in this book? Also, do I include in this book the Agendas, Dues Notices, etc., that are mailed to the Members?
MARGEY: It's a good idea to attached to the minutes reports that elaborate on decisions and actions of the board and committees. It's not necessary to include meeting notices, agendas, and the other items you listed.
Correspondence from the HOA Members and any responses from the Officers/Board of Directors in the HOA Records – is there a particular filing system that I should use, i.e., individual file for each Parcel Owner? Single file per year for all correspondence maintained chronologically? Should I keep a journal of events in this yearly file?
MARGEY: The usual method of retaining hard copies of homeowner communications is to file them by address or unit number. If the association's communications were created using a word processing software and sent by U.S. Mail, save the letter to the hard drive for future retrieval. If the communications were sent or received electronically, such as by email, retain them in your email inbox or sent folder so you can easily retrieve them by using the key word function. Your association should adopt a Record and Email Retention Policy to ensure that necessary communications are kept while extraneous ones are discarded.
Is there anywhere I can go to see how HOA files are set up so I keep only the things that should be maintained?
MARGEY: Several resources for administering a community association's records can be found on our Links and Resources page and at www.caionline.org.
Sincerely,
Margey
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Board of Directors