The Division 17 Board of Directors generally meets once a month to conduct the business of the association, as authorized and directed by the Division 17 CC&R and state laws.
The Board Secretary distributes the anticipated meeting agenda electronically to owners about a week in advance. The meetings generally follow a standard format and published schedule. Past meeting agendas and minutes are posted on the Division 17 website, and serve as both a record of board decisions and examples of the meeting format.
Board meetings are generally held from 2:30 to 4:30 pm on the second Wednesday of each month. Anticipated dates and times are posted on the Division 17 Website, at the start of each calendar year. This helps meet the state requirement that owners have the opportunity to observe all HOA board meetings.
Any necessary changes to the meeting date, time, or location should also be posted on the Division 17 Website and/or in a notice distributed to owners electronically.
All Division 17 owners are invited to observe the board’s meetings. One can gain a much broader understanding of their community this way, and hopefully, develop a future interest in serving as a Board member or other volunteer for the Association. It can initially be a surprise to owners, but the board meeting is a meeting of the board members, and as a general rule, owners do not actively participate, with three exceptions: 1) There is a section of the board meeting where the board chair calls on specific committee chairs and coordinators to report out to the board; 2) The Division 17 board has established a 10-minute owner comment period both before and after the board meeting itself; and 3) the Division 17 annual meeting, while it is also a board meeting, is also a required annual meeting of the owner members, so greater owner participation is expected.
Roberts’ Rules of Order are followed (as adapted to small boards) to facilitate the fair and efficient conduct of business by board members.
Owners are encouraged to contact Board members and committee chairs directly, between meetings, with any questions or concerns. As a general rule, there is no need for an owner to wait until a board meeting to raise their question or issue. Contacting the most appropriate individual directly will allow the board member to hopefully respond in a more timely fashion, do the necessary research, or bring the issue up before the full board, as appropriate. Some responses may require full board involvement, as well as time to research the issue.
Board member contact information— name, board position, assigned sunlandnorth.org email address, and phone number — are listed on the Division 17 Website, and can be found under the “About Us” tab. However, each board should try to communicate how and when they would prefer to be contacted so that owners are encouraged to participate, but in a way that does not put the board “on call” 24 hours a day.
Owner involvement is key to the Board and the Association’s continued success. Transparency and accountability by the Board build an important foundation for trust, and things generally run more smoothly when owners feel they can trust their board.
Collaborative and positive interactions should be the norm for Board members and owners alike. See “Sunland North Operating Principles.”