Are you familiar with the concept of a quorum? If you serve on the HOA Board, the answer is probably yes. A quorum basically just means the minimum number of members present at a meeting in order for any business to be transacted. In other words: Quorum rules state that, if not enough members show up to the meeting, you effectively can’t have the meeting at all, or at least you can’t take any real action.
How many people are actually required for a quorum? That’s something you’ll have to determine by checking your HOA bylaws. Another key question is, what can you do if you convene for a meeting and there’s not a quorum present?
Meetings Without Quorums
Unfortunately, there aren’t a lot of good solutions here. If you do not have a quorum present at your meeting, you’ll need to adjourn and call a new meeting for another day. This creates a little bit of extra work for the Association, and it can also cost money. Moreover, getting a quorum present for a rescheduled meeting can be challenging in its own right; there is certainly no guarantee that you’ll get that quorum the second time around.
Even so, the HOA Board is legally required to call meetings. You can’t simply not meet. So, rescheduling the meeting for another day is really the only move you can make.
Voting via Proxy
Now here is some good news. A member of your HOA Board can be in a totally different city—even halfway across the country—and still participate in an HOA vote. This is done simply by signing a proxy form, which allows for remote participation in HOA actions.
In fact, you can actually have the members of your HOA Board sign off on proxy forms even if they plan to attend the meeting—just so that your quorum isn’t compromised should that member have an emergency or an illness arise that prevents meeting attendance.
Help Getting Quorums
As such, the HOA Board does have some options for arriving at a quorum—both by asking people to fill out proxy forms, and also by ensuring that the meeting is well advertised and even that you get an approximate head count ahead of time.
Our managers can help with all of this, and also ensure that your meetings run smoothly. To learn more, we invite you to contact our team at Kuester Management Group today.
