Proper way to run a HOA meeting?

[GB]

Our homeowner's association is in a jumbled mess. The "board" was terrible, and the treasurer abscounded with $20,000 out of the account over the last 4 years. We have a liability in an unisured basketball court and some unfinished business. I got involved, because the treasurer committed fraud with my family, asking us to pay for a lien on our house *which never existed,* interest, and a bad check fee plus some other things *all* from previous owner of our house!!! I was not happy. She was trying to get more money to steal, basically, and I think she swindled a lot of people that way, but I didn't pay. It would've gone right in her pocket.

I am to restructure the HOA, either to reinstate it or dissolve it after attending to tying up some loose ends. I am to run the meeting, which is fine, but am not experienced in how to handle the motions and voting aspect. Any advice?

 

[trailpaint]

Look in your covenants...

I wish you the best of luck; however, you may be putting yourself in hot water. Depending on how your HOA is structured and how your covenants are written, you could personally be sued by other HOA members. Also, someone else could put a lien on your house for whatever reason.

We belong to a HOA in similar circumstances and there is not enough money in the world that would get me involved in it!!! You make more enemies than anything else. I like your idea of dissolving it...wish we could do that with our HOA.

We are going to sell our property in our HOA...it was supposed to be our "dream home" after retirement but after speaking with friends who live there who have been harassed and embroiled in lawsuits with the HOA, we don't feel we need the hassle. I want to enjoy retirement and spend money on fixing up my house and land...not giving it to lawyers!

As for running the meeting, if there is nothing in the HOA bylaws or covenants, you can look online for Parliamentary Procedures for running a meeting....taking care of old business, new business, reports, and voting on issues. Best of luck to you!

 

[SC]

Hoa

I am the secretary of our HOA, and I like it okay. It really can get nit-picky, though. I offered to be an officer because I wanted to be involved, but now I feel like we can never make anyone happy. We don't have the fraudulent things to deal with, though.

Like the other poster said, you have to take care of old business first and then new business. Whenever the association makes a decision, you have to say, "I move to...(whatever the decision is)," and then, "All those in favor say I." Usually it's unanimous, and you can tell if yay or nay wins the vote.

If you have an item on the agenda that might take a lot of discussion, it might be helpful to send out a survey to get everyone's input first. Then you can read what they say and present that at the meeting. That way, you don't have a bunch of people talking at once or wanting to present ideas all the time.

Check your library or amazon.com for books on HOA.