Board meetings – Getting The Job Done
BY Rand E. McNeal, LCAM, CPA, CPM
Property managers are often asked for advice concerning the best approach for conducting board meetings. The manager should take advantage of these opportunities to assist the board members in structuring productive board meetings. Many board members have not had experience operating a business or conducting board meetings. The property manager, on the other hand, has generally participated in many board meetings and has seen and heard the good, the bad and the ugly. Let’s look at some tips the manager may provide to the board.
The agenda
The board president is generally responsible for establishing the agenda after soliciting input from fellow board members and reviewing requests from homeown-ers. The board president should estimate the time that will be required for each potential agenda item and resist the temptation to load up the agenda. The greatest temptation to load up the agenda generally occurs early in the year after a new board president takes the reins. It is great for the board to be ambitious and to set goals, but an unrealistic agenda and lengthy meetings will soon frustrate and disillusion the board members and may discourage homeowner participation. It is important for the board to pace itself over the course of the year in order to avoid burnout and turnover of board members.
Control of the meeting
In most cases, a well run board meeting with a realistic agenda should last anywhere from forty-five to ninety minutes. Board member productivity generally declines beyond this timeframe. In order to limit the duration of board meetings, it is imperative that the board president, as the presiding officer, maintain control over the meeting.
One important step in controlling the meeting is to establish and periodically review meeting rules and etiquette with the board members and homeowners in attendance at a meeting. Rules might include such things as raising your hand to be acknowledged by the chairman prior to speaking and restricting discussion to issues on the agenda. A matter of etiquette would be the prohibition of private conversations while another board member or homeowner has the floor to speak.
The board president is also responsible for keeping the meeting on course by only dealing with items on the agenda. It is very easy to become distracted with a matter that is not on the agenda and thereby extend the meeting duration beyond the desired time limits. In many instances, these non-agenda items are special interest issues which do not apply to the membership in general. Special interest issues can often be dealt with outside of a board meeting and not infringe on the time of all the attendees at a board meeting.
Meeting preparation
A board meeting is a business meeting at which the directors of the association are to review the operations of the association and make decisions concerning the business and operational affairs of the association. In many associations, the directors have responsibility for substantial sums of money and for real estate with significant values. The duties and responsibilities of a director should not be taken lightly. As such, each board member has a responsibility to prepare for board meetings and become knowledgeable about issues that the board will address at the meeting.
The board meeting package should be provided to board members in advance of the meeting so that the board members have ample time to review the information and ask questions prior to the meeting. Board members should generally come to the meeting prepared to act on the issues on the agenda after nominal discussion at the meeting. The board meeting should not be a ‘workshop’ environment whereby the board members are reviewing information for the first time. The board members should do their homework outside of the meeting. The lack of preparation by a board member can significantly extend the duration of a board meeting. This can be extremely frustrating for the other board members.
Owner participation
Many board members are confused about the rights of unit owners (non-board members) to participate in the discussion at a board meeting. After all, it is a board meeting and not an owners’ or members’ meeting. For the record, Florida Statute 718 (the "Condominium Act") specifically permits unit owners to participate in a board meeting with reference to designated agenda items. Given that unit owners are permitted to participate in board meeting discussion, how does the board conduct the unit owner participation portion of the meeting and still maintain control of the meeting? Once again, Florida Statute 718 provides that the association may adopt reasonable rules governing the frequency, duration and manner of owner participation. If such rules are adopted by the association, the rules should be in written form and should be made available to all owners at the board meetings.
The next decision the board must make concerns the placement of the owner participation on the agenda. Should it occur at the beginning of the meeting or at the end of the meeting? Unfortunately, there is no general rule on this issue which works for all associations. Some prefer it at the beginning of the meeting and others at the end. Conventional wisdom suggests that it makes more sense to involve the owners at the beginning of the meeting so that their input can be considered by the board when making decisions on agenda items. Additionally, it may serve as a courtesy to those unit owners who prefer not to remain for the entire board meeting but simply desire to comment on one agenda item.
Meeting environment
Although unit owners are permitted to participate in board meetings, it is important to remember that the primary purpose of the meeting is for the board members to address the business and operational affairs of the association and to make decisions as the governing body of the association. In this regard, the meeting environment must be conducive to effective communication among the board members. The meeting area should be comfortable in terms of seating and room temperature, and the board members should have plenty of room to review documents and reports. All board members should be able to make eye contact with each other for communication purposes even if it means that some board members will have their back to the audience. It may be appropriate to temporarily change the seating arrangement for board members during the owner participation portion of the meeting.
Good board meetings do not just happen. Planning, preparation and discipline are required in order to get the job done! |
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