“Why three minutes? As a homeowner, I ought to be able to talk as long as I want during the Homeowner’s Forum at our monthly meetings. I pay my Association dues; I should be able to talk to the board for as long as I want. I just don’t understand why the board tries to enforce this arbitrary rule that stifles my freedom of speech.”
This seems to be a reoccurring sentiment from some homeowners, so let’s talk about it.
On the surface, it does seem a little unfair. Homeowners have to wait four weeks to talk to the board about issues that are important to them only to have a board member interrupt them in the middle of their soliloquy to inform them that they have exceeded three minutes. That of course, does not really mean anything to a homeowner that has worked him or herself up into a full head of steam so in most cases, they blithely march on as the rest of us wish we brought a book.
Just for fun, let us look at the situation from a board member’s point of view. By California law (Davis-Stirling, to be exact), a board can only conduct the business of the Association at an open meeting that has been advertised in advanced. This means that every item, old or new, that requires board action must be individually addressed, discussed and voted on by all the board members for any progress to be made during the monthly meetings. If the board runs out of time to address an issue, or just blows it off because the hour is late, another 30 days will go by before anything happens.
At a monthly board meeting, there are typically between 20 and 25 subjects on the open meeting agenda and then another 5 or so subjects that are discussed at the executive session. So to cover 25 subjects, if the board spends 7 minutes, on average, discussing and acting on each subject that would require about 3 hours. If the meeting starts at 6:30 PM, it would end at about 9:30 PM, that is without any time allowance for the homeowner’s forum. That’s also not counting the hours that the board members must spent prior to the meeting reviewing the Board Package so that they are prepared to discuss and vote on each issue.
I have noted that on average, we get between four and eight homeowners that want to address the board. At three minutes apiece, that adds somewhere between 12 and 24 minutes to the meeting time. This seems reasonable and manageable. However, at an average of 10 minutes apiece, this will add between 40 minutes and 1 hour and 20 minutes. This could extend the meeting quitting time to 11 PM, which seems above and beyond the call of duty for a non-paying volunteer job.
Some of our board members work, and come directly from work to the meeting. It would be nice if they had time for dinner. They also need to get up the next morning to go to work. Now comes the real unfair part. Homeowners typically go home after they have had their say, so they are only there for about an hour. The board member’s real job begins after the Homeowner’s Forum ends so they have another 2-3 hours to go or until their patience and stamina runs out.
I propose that if a homeowner wants more than three minutes to address the board, their presentation should be moved to the end of the meeting.
Being a board member is a volunteer job. Make it any tougher than it has to be with late-night meetings, and who could blame any homeowner for not wanting to volunteer.
This seems to be a reoccurring sentiment from some homeowners, so let’s talk about it.
On the surface, it does seem a little unfair. Homeowners have to wait four weeks to talk to the board about issues that are important to them only to have a board member interrupt them in the middle of their soliloquy to inform them that they have exceeded three minutes. That of course, does not really mean anything to a homeowner that has worked him or herself up into a full head of steam so in most cases, they blithely march on as the rest of us wish we brought a book.
Just for fun, let us look at the situation from a board member’s point of view. By California law (Davis-Stirling, to be exact), a board can only conduct the business of the Association at an open meeting that has been advertised in advanced. This means that every item, old or new, that requires board action must be individually addressed, discussed and voted on by all the board members for any progress to be made during the monthly meetings. If the board runs out of time to address an issue, or just blows it off because the hour is late, another 30 days will go by before anything happens.
At a monthly board meeting, there are typically between 20 and 25 subjects on the open meeting agenda and then another 5 or so subjects that are discussed at the executive session. So to cover 25 subjects, if the board spends 7 minutes, on average, discussing and acting on each subject that would require about 3 hours. If the meeting starts at 6:30 PM, it would end at about 9:30 PM, that is without any time allowance for the homeowner’s forum. That’s also not counting the hours that the board members must spent prior to the meeting reviewing the Board Package so that they are prepared to discuss and vote on each issue.
I have noted that on average, we get between four and eight homeowners that want to address the board. At three minutes apiece, that adds somewhere between 12 and 24 minutes to the meeting time. This seems reasonable and manageable. However, at an average of 10 minutes apiece, this will add between 40 minutes and 1 hour and 20 minutes. This could extend the meeting quitting time to 11 PM, which seems above and beyond the call of duty for a non-paying volunteer job.
Some of our board members work, and come directly from work to the meeting. It would be nice if they had time for dinner. They also need to get up the next morning to go to work. Now comes the real unfair part. Homeowners typically go home after they have had their say, so they are only there for about an hour. The board member’s real job begins after the Homeowner’s Forum ends so they have another 2-3 hours to go or until their patience and stamina runs out.
I propose that if a homeowner wants more than three minutes to address the board, their presentation should be moved to the end of the meeting.
Being a board member is a volunteer job. Make it any tougher than it has to be with late-night meetings, and who could blame any homeowner for not wanting to volunteer.