BOARD MEETING JUNE 18, 2024
On the Sevilla HOA Portal, homeowners received 2 sets of Board Agendas, one that appears to be posted on Friday, June 14th and one posted on Saturday, June 15th. Both agendas have different times for the start of the board meeting. One agenda says 5:30 PM and the other agenda says 5:00 PM for the Closed Meeting and 5:30 PM for the Open Meeting. Which is it?
Terminology also has changed : The Executive Session is now a Closed Meeting. The General Session is now an Open Meeting. Why change the names after a consistent pattern of use for over 15 years?
It appears that there will no longer be in-person board meetings at the pool or even a hybrid meeting with both virtual and in-person options.
Topics: Under Closed Meeting, As provided for in Civil Code 4935, boards may go into executive session for the following five enumerated matters.
1. Litigation.
2. Formation of Contracts. Boards may consider matters relating to the formation of contracts with third parties.
3. Disciplinary Hearings. Boards should meet in executive session for all member disciplinary hearings.
4. Personnel Issues. Not applicable to Sevilla HOA which does not have employees.
5. Delinquencies and Payment Plans.
Other Issues. The above list of topics is not exhaustive and does not exclude other matters that require confidentiality.
Meeting Rules: Even though the board agendas lay out meeting rules, the Sevilla HOA has no authorized meeting rules. None have been voted upon and adopted.
Boards have the authority to create reasonable rules of conduct for their meetings, such as restrictions on recording, prohibiting foul language, etc. The authority to adopt rules is normally found in the CC&Rs and oftentimes in the Articles of Incorporation and bylaws. If boards and committees adopt rules of conduct for their meetings, the rules should be printed on their meeting agendas. The Agendas repeatedly have indicated that the Sevilla Board of Directors have adopted meeting rules for monthly board meetings, but they haven’t. They should, but there is no documentation that they have.
Instead the Board has threatened members for the past year with Penal Code §632. Penal Code §632 makes it a crime to record confidential conversations without the other person’s consent. However, the prohibition does not apply to open board meetings or to membership meetings. Private membership meetings are deemed public forums for the limited purpose of free speech by the membership. As a result, recording a board or membership meeting does not necessarily violate Penal Code §632 . The solution would be for the board to adopt rules restricting recordings and penalizing those who violate the rule.
The June 18, 2024 Sevilla Agenda indicates on the first page some suggested rules:
•Homeowners are requested to keep their cameras off and themselves on mute until they are called upon during the Homeowners Forum.
•Each homeowner shall be granted 3 minutes to address the board.
•If any homeowner unmutes themselves, interrupts the meeting or turns their camera on during the meeting they will be immediately ejected from the meeting.
•Please note that there is to be no recording of any kind in this business event. If done, proper action will be required upon Civil Code.
On the second page of the Sevilla Agenda, there is mention of “No Disruptive Behavior” According to this corrective measure, it states that “members do not have unlimited free speech rights . . . The right to address the board does not give members the right to shout, use profanity, or make obscene gestures or threatening remarks . . . Members who engage in such behavior may be ejected from the meeting.” The statement goes on to describe how a member can be removed by the board with possible police action with possible fines for their behavior and conduct. None of which has been included in any Sevilla HOA Board Policy on Meeting Rules because there is no policy. It would make sense for the board to propose and adopt a policy instead of merely threatening homeowners at will.
