Members Participation at Meetings
Question:
I understand that the elected Board members are the only persons able to make motions and vote on them at a "Board Meeting." Is it true that at a "Membership Meeting”, either Annual or Special, that the members have the right to vote on issues affecting them, such as election results, budget proposals or even reversing or rescinding actions the Board may have taken?
In short, the association members are not just an audience to the Board at such "membership" meetings, it is actually their meeting, which is usually Chaired by the President of the Board, with all the rights to vote and make and second motions. Am I correct in this assumption?
Answer:
You are correct that the issues which are discussed and voted on at meetings of the board of directors are subject to discussion only by board members. However, the Virginia Code does allow homeowners to be present and there must be some time allotted at each such meeting for owners to address the board about any issue pertaining to the association. This is generally referred to as the “owners forum.” Time limits may be imposed.
The manner of conducting annual and any special meeting of members/owners are largely dependent on the provisions of the Bylaws for your particular Association. For example, in almost all cases the Bylaws will provide that the members have the right at the annual membership meeting to vote for election of the Board Members whose terms are expiring. Also, together the Declaration and Bylaws likely will set out what powers the Association has as a whole, and which, if any, of those powers can be exercised by the members exclusively, rather than the Board.
Unlike Board meetings, there are no hard and fast rules about how the agenda is developed, what the level of comment and discussion is to be allowed from the individual members and whether there are votes taken on those items. You are most likely to find information related to Board and Member meetings in your Bylaws and suggest you start by carefully reviewing those provisions. Also you may find that your Bylaws provide that your meetings are governed by Roberts Rules of Order which is the internationally recognized authority on the conduct of meetings of all types of organizations. The Virginia Code does limit comments by members at these meetings during the owners’ forum to items appearing on the agenda, and, again, members may be given a time limit.