0Shares

Originally published in 2010

It may seem like our meetings are a secret as you have to know someone who can tell you when and where our Woodlands Homeowners Association meetings are held each month.

Prior to moving to the Woodlands, each neighborhood I have lived in here in South Florida would notify the residents of their monthly HOA meetings either by mail or with temporary signs displayed at the entrances. It was almost impossible not to notice this information. Of course, most people chose not to attend the meetings, but that was their prerogative. At least they knew when and where not to attend.

Keeping up with the whereabouts of our monthly HOA meetings would be easier if they took place at the same clubhouse. However, because our meetings are rotated to a different clubhouse each month, there is no consistency on where our meetings will be held even though they are rotated in sequential order by section number. How can anyone remember which of the six clubhouses the prior meeting was held in order to determine where the next meeting will be?

I hear that the meetings are posted on many of the section clubhouses; however, if you are one of the many homeowners that live in sections without clubhouses, (such as myself) you would never see these. If you assumed this information would be found in our quarterly newsletter “Neighbor to Neighbor” you would be wrong. Despite the fact that this publication is run by our board and is mailed out to the entire community, there are no meeting dates or locations in it. Think you can find them on our official community website? They used to be when I was the administrator but are no longer posted there as well. Besides, many of our elderly residents do not own a computer so this was never a sufficient means of communication for the entire community.

If you happen to be a section president or a committee member, meeting information is well-communicated to you. Along with the agenda and prior month’s minutes, they are mailed a letter each month which tells them which clubhouse the meeting will take place. Unfortunately, there are over 800 homeowners that do not fall in this category. Don’t get me wrong: I’m not suggesting that every homeowner gets a mailed letter as that would be cost-prohibitive, just that the association needs to find a way to notify the homeowners of these monthly meetings.

Don’t know when and where our WHOA meetings are? Then you’re out of luck

According to government attorney and online contributor Amy Schrader, “Florida law requires that an HOA must give the public reasonable notice of a meeting subject to the Sunshine Law. “

The Sunshine Law not only applies to our HOA but to our Architectural Committee (ACC) as well. Because HOA approval is required prior to the City of Tamarac issuing a building permit, the architectural review committee must open its meetings to the public as well as to residents. In effect, all residents need to be notified of their meetings and not just the members of the ACC.

My suggestion is this: The only reasonable and cost effective way to notify our residents is to have signs posted at each entrance 48 hours prior to the meetings like many other communities already do. This is the minimum amount of notification required by Florida law for monthly board meetings. According to the City of Tamarac, signs may be used to post information about HOA meetings, as long as they are picked up in a timely manner after the meeting date.

The possible consequence for not complying with Sunshine Law requirements is the state may impose a penalty of up to $500 for any HOA board member who violates it. The court can also award reasonable attorney’s fees, which would be payable by the HOA for any action brought by the state to enforce this law.

My intention in writing this is not to see our HOA incur any fees for non-compliance of the Sunshine Law. My expectation is our Board of Directors and our Management Company change the way they are informing us. We have a community of over 800 homes and communication like this is imperative. Meetings should be open to all of the residents and agendas as well as minutes need to be published so the community can read them. The Woodlands needs more transparency and it is not too late to start now.

There are no guarantees that there will be more people attending our meetings, however, let’s give our residents that choice.