Home Owner Associations are not-for-profit C-7 corporations designed to manage, maintain and enhance a community. They are required by Oregon Revised Statutes (ORS) . Typically homes in HOA's sell for a higher price than homes not in an HOA.
Every association has governing documents, these state how many Board of Directors are needed, what the quorum will be, how to vote them in, as well as all other information needed.
Executive session is allowed by law ORS 94.640 (8) (a), 100.420, for very specific reasons: to discuss litigation with an attorney present, 3rd party contracts, employee matters, and collection of late assessment payments.
To go into executive session a board member must make a motion to move into executive session and state the reason. That motion must be seconded and voted on. Once the motion is passed the board may move into executive session where no owners are allowed. No minutes or voting can take place in executive session.
Once all discussion is complete in the executive session the Board must reconvene in open session to vote on what was discussed.
A reserve account is a bank account set aside to fund future needs such as roof replacement and is required by ORS. 94.595 and 100.175. It must be updated annually in Oregon. In Washington the reserve study requirements are much more detailed and can be found in RCW 64.38.070 and RCW 64.34.382.
The second in HOA legal hierarchy, Oregon Revised Statutes contain the laws for nonprofit Organizations, HOAs, Condominiums, etc.
We have an outspoken owner who comes to every board meeting and tends to dominate the meeting. How can we control this?
According to ORS (8)(a) All meetings of the board of directors of the association shall be open to owners, except that at the discretion of the board, the board may close the meeting to owners other than board members and meet in executive session. Owners are allowed to attend all meetings of the Board with the exception of executive sessions and are not allowed to speak unless called on by the Chairman of the Board. It is a good practice to have an "open forum" for owners to address the Board for a certain allotment of time, such as 3 minutes each, at some point during the Board meeting. At the beginning of the meeting the chair person should address the owners present and state...."the only time we will be permitting owner input is during open forum or if called on by the chair..." Typically this takes care of the situation.
If you have your own question, feel free to write us and we will be glad to respond as soon as possible!