Keep annual meeting short, simple, orderly

Will you suggest a guideline for requesting items of interest to the membership be included in the agenda of the annual meeting? We would like to have a forum to debate.

EP

Vero Beach

The purpose of the annual meeting is to elect the directors for the coming year and to conduct business necessary for the members to vote. The best thing you can do is to keep the meeting brief and to the point.

The agenda should follow the guidelines in your documents or other sources such as Robert's Rules of Order ( www.robertsrules.com). A typical agenda might look like this: Call to order, Verifying the quorum and notice of the meeting, Reports, Election of directors, Old business, New business, and Adjournment. Most times there is no old or new business, so the meeting is basically just the election.

The annual meeting is not the place for members to complain about problems or pose questions. Those should be sent to the board in writing. If you allow debates, they'll make the meeting too long and may spark hostility and friction among the members and the directors.

Immediately following the members meeting, the newly elected board should have an origination board meeting to elect the officers. That meeting would have two items on the agenda: the election of officers and scheduling the next board meeting.

Two members attended a seminar for condominium directors. They were told that, by law, we must have a reserve fund. At our annual meeting, the members voted not to have a reserve fund even after being told it's required by law.

Does the law require presenting the question of reserves to the owners and allowing them to make the decision?

WA

Miami Beach

Florida Statute 718.112 includes directions for board members to create an adequate annual budget and necessary reserves. It is the duty of the board to create and approve this budget.

The same statute allows members to vote to reduce or eliminate the reserves established by the board. However, it is not the duty of the board to present the matter to the members for a vote. The question arises when a member makes a motion at the annual meeting to reduce or eliminate the reserves.

There must be a quorum of members present and a majority vote to eliminate or have less than the required amount of reserves. It is the responsibility of the board to establish proper reserves, and if the members do not have a quorum of members at the meeting or do not have a majority vote, the reserves remain as calculated by the board.