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SETTING THE
AGENDA
QUESTION:  Who sets the agenda
for board meetings? I'm concerned the board president may prevent discussion of
needed items by refusing to put them on the agenda.
ANSWER:
When it comes to setting board meeting agendas, any director may
place items on the agenda. However, once an item has appeared on the agenda and has either
died for lack of a second or is voted down, it may not reappear on future
agendas unless requested by a director who was on the prevailing side of the first vote.
(See Robert’s Rules of Order, section 37) Otherwise you will have the opposite
problem where an eccentric director insists on placing the same twenty items on the agenda
every meeting, even though those items are of interest only to that director and
have already been discussed at previous meetings.
USING VAGUE
AGENDAS
QUESTION: I am the president of a board and I have a
director who insists that I can use the word "Other" as
an agenda item to facilitate changes to the agenda that come in after the
required posting date of the agenda. The way I interpret the new Open Meeting
Act, I cannot add or remove any agenda items once the agenda is posted. Could
you please respond to this??
ANSWER:
I've had similar questions from other readers. One asked, "Can
'Old Business' and 'New Business' indicate all items under these headings
without specifics?" Your understanding of the new law is correct. Boards cannot
dodge the new law by creating broad categories called “Other” or
"Landscaping" or "Contracts", etc. and then throw
action items into those categories at the meeting. This has the effect of keeping owners in
the dark since they will have no idea prior to the meeting what matters might be
discussed and voted on at the meeting.
UNLIMITED
SPECIAL ASSESSMENTS?
QUESTION: Last week you said there
cannot be more than one assessment in any fiscal year. What if there is an
emergency?
ANSWER: There are actually two
exceptions. Although boards are limited to one 5% special assessment per fiscal
year, boards are allowed to impose additional
emergency
assessments as defined by the Davis Stirling Act. The second exception is the
membership itself. Although boards are limited to 5% per year, the membership
may assess itself without regard to the size or frequency of the special
assessments. As a result, you could have an unlimited number of special
assessments in a twelve month period. As a practical matter, this will never
happen because the membership is loathe to assess itself, and the board has
strict limitations.
Very truly yours,
Adrian Adams, Esq.
Adams Kessler PLC |
