Achieving Quorum

How many times have you tried to hold an official meeting of the members of your community association, only to find that not enough homeowners came to the meeting or sent in their proxies to meet the quorum requirement to conduct a legally held meeting? More often than not, the bylaws of the community don't provide for alternatives if a quorum is not attained, so you're faced with calling another meeting - and perhaps yet another one still -- in a desperate attempt to elect board members and ratify decisions made at previous meetings where a quorum also was not reached. On the other hand, perhaps your legal counsel has advised that as long as you've made the attempt at calling the meeting and complied with notice requirements, you should continue with the agenda except for any issues requiring a vote and try again next year for a quorum. At the "unofficial" meeting, you could take a straw ballot of those present to fill vacant board positions or let the majority decide to allow the current directors to continue in their expired/renewed terms until a quorum is finally met. However, if you're facing the bleak challenge of expending time and money reconvening meetings until the magic number of those present in person or by proxy is reached, perhaps some of the following suggestions will help you go over to top of your minimum quorum requirement the first time around.

	vote with IBallot or another electronic voting system
	place yard signs at each entrance the day of the meeting detailing location and time of the meeting (courtesy officer may be necessary if community will look "abandoned")
	conduct a raffle to encourage proxy submission and state that it's not necessary to be present to win
	award door prizes solicited from area or Internet merchants
	distribute coupons for free services from area retailers
	ask area merchant to sponsor the meeting/party
	distribute awards (plaques, certificates, plant, gift certificate) to recognize volunteers
	invite an interesting speaker -- politician, police officer, contractor
	make the meeting a celebration of another successful year or of another "birthday" of the association - the actual meeting becomes incidental to the festivity - look to the future
	establish annual "theme" - holidays, cities, countries, travel, Texas, games
	provide entertainment - magician, comedian
	provide babysitting service
	provide food (soda, snacks, sandwiches)
	broaden meeting to be a pool party & barbecue
	hold a potluck dinner
	send multiple mailings & reminders -- detail the cost of each mailing and room rental to encourage proxy submission -- use flyers, postcards, newsletters, bulletin board/mail cluster postings
	send postage-paid postcard proxies, including option for quorum purposes only
	form an Annual Meeting Committee charged with achieving a quorum
	have the Annual Meeting Committee call owners who have not returned proxies
	hold meeting in a convenient/"cool" location - restaurant? Neighboring community's clubhouse?
	provide transportation to offsite meeting location
	include a serious/controversial issue on the agenda
	announce that attendees will be able to sign important petition to City/County/State/Federal Government/Agency/Department/whomever
	ask attendees to bring donation for charity (canned goods, clothing)

If you implement one or more of the above, you've got a better chance of encouraging enough homeowners to either mail in their proxy or attend the meeting to reach that magic quorum number. When that happens, as the song says, don't worry - be happy. You achieved quorum and, hopefully, the meeting went off without a hitch because it was such a positive experience. Now it's time to start preparing for next year . . .

Marjorie Jean Meyer, CMCA, PCAM
Vice President and National Director of Education and Certification
Associa
Houston, TX