What is a Neighborhood Meeting?

What is a "Neighborhood Meeting", and why is it important?

The By-Laws of the HOA state that every Neighborhood is to have a Neighborhood Meeting annually. That's every year. (I know you know what "annually" means, but the Board must not.)

The Summit's HOA is comprised of 28 Neighborhoods. Barony Place Neighborhood is Barony Place I and Barony Place II. There are 78 homes. Twenty-six homeowners (of the 78) constitute a quorum. There appears to be no prohibition against granting a proxy, if you cannot attend or don't wish to attend.

The Board of Directors of the HOA has seven members. Four directors are elected in one year, and three are elected the next year. And it rotates like that, four and three. Or it is supposed to.

You, the homeowners, do NOT elect the Directors of the Board. Directors are elected by Voting Members. Every Neighborhood has one (1) Voting Member. Barony Place has one Voting Member.

How is the Voting Member selected?

At the annual Neighborhood Meeting, those present hold an election. They elect a three-member Neighborhood Committee. A homeowner can be nominated, or a homeowner can self-nominate. 

Don't worry. If you don't show up for the meeting, you will not be elected in absentia.

From the three homeowners who are elected to the Neighborhood Committee, one becomes the Voting Member. The other two are Alternates.

That doesn't sound too difficult, does it?

So, why isn't the Neighborhood Meeting held every year, as required in the By-Laws?

Reference: By-Laws, Art. V, Section 3. Neighborhood Committees


Future topics:

Do you HAVE to attend the Neighborhood Meeting?

What are the duties of the Voting Member?

Why is the VM so important?

What makes the VM's job easier?

How long does a VM serve?

How does Election Fraud occur in a HOA?

What happens when a Director dies in office?

Neighborhood Communications.

What happens if a VM stops serving (gets sick, gets tired, gets sick & tired; dies; moves)?

How "financial" should directors be?

What would you like to know? Email gusphilpott@gmail.com

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Annual Meeting, Barony Place Neighborhood - continued to 5/4/2024

Barony Place Neighborhood (Barony Place I and Barony Place II attempted to hold a Neighborhood Meeting this afternoon. Of the 78 homes, seventeen (17) homes were represented, and that was not sufficient to meet the quorum requirement of 26. The meeting was continued to Saturday, May 4, 2024, 1:00PM, at 44 Barony Place Circle. An effort will be made to have at least 26 homes represented in-person or by proxy. Three homeowners have volunteered to be on the Neighborhood Committee: Tracy Manderino (Barony Place II), Della Glynn (Barony Place II) and Gwen Hayes (Barony Place I). If a quorum is present on May 4th, those present, including by proxy, will elect the Neighborhood Committee. Once the Committee has been elected, it will select one of its three committee members to be the Voting Member for the next 12 months. The other two members will be Alternates. A new announcement will be distributed to your newspaper box, along with a proxy. If you will not attend Saturday's meeting, plea
Read more

Open Letter to Barony Place "Voting Member"

An open letter to the "Voting Member" of Barony Place Neighborhood. Good morning, Billie, If you and/or an Alternate attended last night's board of directors meeting, will you please send out a recap of the meeting to Ann Stirlen and me (and to all the homeowners and residents in Barony Place)? About a dozen homeowners from throughout The Summit showed up for the board meeting  at the church  last night, only to learn from one person that it had been switched to Zoom, which allowed the board to meet in secret. Many of them had not received the email from the office that the board was (illegitimately) closing the meeting to homeowners. There are only about 1,800 (73%) email addresses of the 2,480 Members in the website database. I attempted to join the meeting on Zoom, as I am Attorney-in-Fact for Ann Stirlen, but I was not admitted to the meeting. The HOA's attorney has quoted a section in the By-Laws that she believes allows the Board to close the meetings. That spec
Read more

Special Assessment Possible?

How would you feel about a $3,000 Special Assessment levied by the HOA against you and every other HOA Member (homeowner)? Article X, Section 4 in the CC&Rs allows this. Are you aware of that? Should the Board do everything possible to eliminate the possibility of such a Special Assessment? What is the Board doing that might just lead directly to such an Assessment? The HOA, by actions of the President (Justin Martin), the Treasurer (Vernell Butler, and the Safety Committee Chair (Dennis Rybicki) entered into a contact with the Richland County Sheriff's Department, effective February 1, 2023. They arranged for special patrols in the Summit at a cost of $48.00/hour. In the Special Duty Agreement is a Liability clause. It reads,  "The Requestor will hold harmless the Richland County Sheriff's Department from any and all claims or liabilities resulting from service and indemnify RCSD for any loss due to any injury of its employee unless there is a determination of neglige
Read more