Election of Officers for 2024

At the November 7, 2023 HOA Board meeting I asked for the election of officers to take place and quoted the pertinent section of the By-Laws.

In the By-Laws at Art. IV, Section 2, it reads, in part,

"The officers of the Association shall be elected annually by the Board of Directors at the first meeting of the Board of Directors following each annual meeting of the Voting Members, as herein set forth in Article III." [emphasis added]

The 6:30PM regular meeting of the Board last Tuesday was the first meeting of the BOD following the 6:00PM 2023 Annual Meeting of the Voting Members.

Director Brenda Bryant spoke up and said that another Section of the By-Laws provides for an Organizational Meeting to be held within ten days.

Sure enough, Art. III, B, Section 8 Organizational Meetings reads, "The first meeting of the Board of Directors following each annual meeting of the membership shall be held within ten (10) days thereafter at such time and place as shall be fixed by the Board."

Here, "membership" refers to the Voting Members.

Brenda was right, but I wasn't wrong.

We were all at the first meeting of the Board after the Annual Meeting of Voting Members. It was within 10 days of the Annual Meeting of Voting Members. The November 7th board meeting was supposed to be the Organizational Meeting.

The previous Board had done it wrong for years. They also had not conducted the election of officers at the first meeting after the Annual Meeting of Voting Members. They often elected officers at the pre-board meeting before the following board meeting. Which was even worse, because the election was conducted in private and out of view of the Members.

How could it be done? If the Annual Meeting of Voting Members is held on the same night as the Board meeting, then the officers should be elected on that same night. That would comply with the By-Laws.

Or the Annual Meeting of the Voting Members could be held prior to, but not more than ten days before, the Board meeting, which would be the Organizational Meeting. That would comply with the By-Laws

The Organizational Meeting should be a public meeting, announced to the homeowners (Members) and conducted in open view. The organizational meeting is to organize the Board; i.e., elect officers.

The Board should elect four officers: President, Vice President, Secretary, Treasurer. Some directors might continue in the same office; if so, they should be re-elected to it. No one owns an office.

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