Richard White: --By RICHARD WHITE (Contact)--12:00 a.m., Sunday, September 21, 2008
Mr. White writes for the Naples daily news on ass. procedures!!!
Q. Our association has a president who has attempted to hijack our community. Our property manager suggested to the board, and a motion was made and passed that stated that owners not be allowed to speak until after the meeting is over, and their comments and questions be limited to three minutes total. Our president uses a chess timer to ensure compliance. At the last meeting, the meeting was over and the owners had waited for three hours to have their concerns addressed and were ready to speak. The property manager and a board member stood up and attempted to leave, claiming their back was hurting them. Can the board restrict owners speech until after all agenda items have been discussed and voted on, limit the time allotted for the owners to speak, and not remain present when the time comes to address owner concerns? — M.O., Miami
A. The following section is copied out of the HOA act but the condominium act, FS 718.112(1)c), has similar wording: The HOA Act, FS 720.303(2) (b) says “Members have the right to attend all meetings of the board and to speak on any matter placed on the agenda by petition of the voting interests for at least 3 minutes. The association (board) may adopt written reasonable rules expanding the right of members to speak and governing the frequency, duration and other manner of member statements, which rules must be consistent with this paragraph and may include a sign-up sheet for members wishing to speak.” This means that the board’s policy to allow owners to address at the end of the meeting is unreasonable and not consistent with the statutes. The manager is wrong if he/she is advising the board not to allow members to talk on agenda items at the time the agenda item is discussed by the board. The board needs to address this problem and establish reasonable meeting policies.
Richard White is a licensed community association manager in Florida. Questions should be mailed to him at 6039 Cypress Gardens Blvd. # 201, Winter Haven, Fl. 33884-4415; e-mail CAMquestion@cfl.rr.com. To be considered, questions and comments should include the author’s name and city. Questions should be about association operations, not legal matters.
