Part A: Question Many members wonder why the public comment session of the open Board meeting only allows the members to make comments or raise their questions but the Board doesn’t give answers.
Answer 1). Members are allowed to speak at the public comment session of the open Board meeting pursuant to the Civil code CIV 4925 (b), see below the code stipulation.
Currently the time limit to speak is set for 3 minutes per member by the Board.
§CIV 4925. (b) The board shall permit any member to speak at any meeting of the association or the board, except for meetings of the board held in executive session. A reasonable time limit for all members of the association to speak to the board or before a meeting of the association shall be established by the board.
2). The Board doesn’t give answers because the Civil Code 4930 (a) prevents the Board from discussing or taking action on any item at an Open Board meeting that was not placed on the meeting agenda distributed prior to the meeting.
The point of the public comment session is not for the members to get answers to their questions from the Board on the spot, but for the members to have an opportunity to make comments and be heard on anything.
(a) Except as described in subdivisions (b) to (e), inclusive, the board may not discuss or take action on any item at a nonemergency meeting unless the item was placed on the agenda included in the notice that was distributed pursuant to subdivision (a) of Section 4920. This subdivision does not prohibit a member or resident who is not a director from speaking on issues not on the agenda.
(b) Notwithstanding subdivision (a), a director, a managing agent or other agent of the board, or a member of the staff of the board, may do any of the following:
(1) Briefly respond to statements made or questions posed by a person speaking at a meeting as described in subdivision (b) of Section 4925.
(2) Ask a question for clarification, make a brief announcement, or make a brief report on the person’s own activities, whether in response to questions posed by a member or based upon the person’s own initiative.
(c) Notwithstanding subdivision (a), the board or a director, subject to rules or procedures of the board, may do any of the following:
(1) Provide a reference to, or provide other resources for factual information to, its managing agent or other agents or staff.
(2) Request its managing agent or other agents or staff to report back to the board at a subsequent meeting concerning any matter, or take action to direct its managing agent or other agents or staff to place a matter of business on a future agenda.
(3) Direct its managing agent or other agents or staff to perform administrative tasks that are necessary to carry out this section.
(d) Notwithstanding subdivision (a), the board may take action on any item of business not appearing on the agenda distributed pursuant to subdivision (a) of Section 4920 under any of the following conditions:
(1) Upon a determination made by a majority of the board present at the meeting that an emergency situation exists. An emergency situation exists if there are circumstances that could not have been reasonably foreseen by the board, that require immediate attention and possible action by the board, and that, of necessity, make it impracticable to provide notice.
(2) Upon a determination made by the board by a vote of two-thirds of the directors present at the meeting, or, if less than two-thirds of total membership of the board is present at the meeting, by a unanimous vote of the directors present, that there is a need to take immediate action and that the need for action came to the attention of the board after the agenda was distributed pursuant to subdivision (a) of Section 4920.
(3) The item appeared on an agenda that was distributed pursuant to subdivision (a) of Section 4920 for a prior meeting of the board that occurred not more than 30 calendar days before the date that action is taken on the item and, at the prior meeting, action on the item was continued to the meeting at which the action is taken.
(e) Before discussing any item pursuant to subdivision (d), the board shall openly identify the item to the members in attendance at the meeting.
Part B:
Ironically, in the recent court document the Declaration of Christopher T. Barone filed with the court on 7/10/2020, Barone stated “ For the first time in the history of our HOA we have a president who ordered each director to not answer questions from anyone during meetings. The reasons for doing so have everything to do with incriminating themselves and being held accountable for the epic disaster that has come to our club since Dec. 23rd and been magnified since the May 5th court order (to validate the recall election).”
Sigh…… What does Christopher T. Barone really know about the law? The answer is: NOTHING.
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