HOA open board meetings should be open
Q: I enjoy your column in the Las Vegas Review-Journal every week, especially because I belong to three homeowners associations, two here in Nevada and one in a state back East where I live.
I recently attended a board meeting here in Las Vegas. The meeting opened with comments from the membership on the agenda items.
At this time the directors and representatives from the management company were seated at a table facing the membership.
Following this comment session, they adjourned to another table -- away from the membership -- and proceeded to conduct the meeting.
The membership was not able to overhear the discussion and subsequent vote on the agenda items unless they hung on the railing separating the two sections of the room.
Is this the way it is done in Nevada?
Even though the membership is not allowed to comment during the HOA board meeting where I live on the East Coast, they are able to hear the ongoing discussion and the voting that takes place.
This procedure lets the members evaluate the HOA board directors and decide how they will vote in the next election.
A: No, that is not the way it should be done.
The whole purpose of having an open board meeting is precisely that -- for it to be open, to allow the membership to hear all of the business the board is addressing for its homeowners.
The second homeowner forum allows the HOA membership to comment on the board meeting, which has just taken place. In addition, homeowners can discuss other topics that may not have appeared on the HOA meeting agenda.
However, the HOA board of directors cannot discuss any matters that pertain to individual homeowners because of state privacy laws.
Q: I know that an HOA board can prepare and approve a budget at any time. My question is, when does the budget documentation preparation and distribution occur?
A: Nevada Revised Status 116.31151 Subsection 1 states that the board has not less than 30 days and not more than 60 days before the beginning of the fiscal year for it to prepare and distribute the budget to each owner. Subsection 3 states that within 60 days after the adoption of the proposed budget, the board shall provide for a meeting of the owners to consider ratification of the budget not less than 14 days and not more than 30 days after the mailing of the budget summaries.
Barbara Holland, certified property manager, is president and owner of H&L Realty and Management Co. To ask her a question, email support@hlrealty.com.
