Contents
Meetings can be productive, efficient, and empowering. They can also be overly long, meandering, and frustrating. The difference often comes down to organization. Having a good, clear agenda, then sticking to it, can ensure any meeting feels relatively on-point. That’s particularly true for condo Board meetings.
If you’ve never made a formal meeting agenda before, you may have some questions about what it should include. We’re happy to provide a brief outline. With further questions, reach out to your association management company. If your condo complex is based in the Carolinas, feel free to contact our team. Kuester Management Group provides HOA Management in Charlotte NC, Huntersville NC, Myrtle Beach SC, and HOA Management in Fort Mill SC.
What Should Your Meeting Agenda Include?
At the top of your agenda, you’ll usually want to include a few basic details such as meeting date, time, and place. Beyond that, there are several standard items that can help to ensure a smooth, focused, and productive meeting of your condo Board. Remember that your governing documents will provide more insight into the rules and requirements for your agenda, as the agenda really does matter for ensuring efficiency and order during association business.
1) Call to Order
The first agenda item is usually the call to order, which simply involves the moderator commencing the meeting. We recommend that you always call the meeting to order at the scheduled start time, setting a precedent for punctuality and for efficiency.
2) Roll Call
You don’t necessarily have to have a roll call at every meeting, but it can be good to introduce the Board members to any unit owners who are present; and, likewise, to welcome unit owners or other special guests who have been invited to the meeting. A roll call can also be a good way to break the ice before the business portion of the meeting truly begins, providing it with value beyond just taking attendance.
3) Open Forum
One option you may consider in your agenda is an open forum, allowing members or owners a chance to speak up about any pressing questions or concerns they may have. You may want to limit the time allotted for the open forum, ensuring that this portion of the meeting does not derail the entire agenda. And if you don’t have to have an open forum, you may decide to dispense with it altogether. Note that, in many states, it is against the law to take voting action on any open forum items, so this part of the meeting may be more informational in nature.
4) Approval of Meeting Minutes
Next, allow just a couple of minutes for everyone to review a copy of the HOA and condo meeting minutes from the previous meeting. These minutes are usually kept and provided by the secretary, or by someone else who the secretary appoints. A simple yay-or-nay vote is required to approve the previous meeting’s minutes. Remember that the point here is just to ensure that the minutes accurately reflect what happened at the last meeting, not to re-litigate every single issue or every decision made.
5) Committee Reports
Following the approval of minutes, schedule some time for your regular committees to give their reports. You may include reports from a representative of your condo association management company, providing updates regarding finances, architectural filings, and so on.
6) Old Business
After these reports, schedule time on the agenda to follow up on any old or unfinished business from a previous meeting. This is a good time to circle back about issues that required additional thought, research, or fact-finding, or simply issues that you had insufficient time to discuss in the past.
7) New Business
From there, you will move on to new business. This section of the meeting requires any new items that were submitted to the Board for discussion, for a vote, and/or for action. This is a good chance to have a more formal, planned discussion about items brought up during a previous open forum.
8) Adjournment
Finally, you’ll adjourn the meeting. Before doing so, you may wish to provide a notice of meetings scheduled for the next month or so, including any special meetings that you have planned.
What About Executive Sessions?
Every now and then, your condo Board may need to schedule an executive session. This may take place before or after the meeting, or at an entirely separate time. Executive sessions are not included as part of the regular agenda.
These sessions happen behind closed doors, and usually involve a smaller group of people (e.g., just Board members). These meetings are confidential in nature, and may be used to discuss sensitive legal or personnel issues, along with issues related to unit owners who are delinquent with their payments. You can likely find more information about when and how to call executive sessions in your bylaws or other governing documents.
Condo Association Meeting Agenda Template
Looking for an easy-to-customize template? Here’s a quick outline.
Frequently Asked Questions
With any specific questions about drafting meeting agendas for your condo board, feel free to contact your management company. In the meantime, here are just a few of the most common inquiries.
It is usually the moderator (President) who formally sets the agenda, though the moderator should always be sure to include items requested or submitted by Board members.
Should there be an agenda for annual meetings?
Yes, having a clear agenda is good for all types of condo Board meetings, including the big annual meetings with unit owners.
How much notice is required for executive session?
While it is always helpful to schedule executive sessions days in advance, emergency issues sometimes arise that only allow for notice a few hours in advance.
How many items of business should your agenda include?
It will vary quite a bit from meeting to meeting, just depending on the new items submitted as well as the number of “old business” topics that need to be revisited. In some cases an item may be booted for further discussion at a subsequent meeting of the association Board.
