Improving Quorum for Your HOA Meetings
Most board members, and even homeowners, have heard the word “quorum”. However, its definition can be misunderstood and its importance can seem insignificant for conducting HOA business. By definition, a quorum is a required minimum number of board members and/or residents attending an HOA meeting. Unless quorum is reached, business cannot be conducted during a meeting.
If quorum is not reached at a meeting, Board member elections and owner assessments are on hold until a meeting where it is reached. These meetings must be rescheduled until quorum is reached, and often reaching quorum is harder with each subsequent meeting as homeowner interest wanes.
While the number required for quorum varies by community, almost all communities will struggle to reach quorum at some point. Since business can’t take place without a quorum, an HOA board should consider the following tips to avoid the frustration of planning and hosting a meeting that has to close before it begins.
- Give your community proper notice of upcoming meetings. Your board can’t expect to reach quorum if you never notified owners or if you only give them a few days notice. Send out a newsletter, post reminders on your website, and/or set up a Facebook event/group. People are busy, and often times they need several reminders to make a HOA meeting. While boards are not obligated to give more than the legally required minimum notice, a longer notice period will help interested homeowners make plans to attend.
- Make meetings quick, efficient and fun! Consider offering pizza and drinks or snacks. It’s amazing what an offer of free food can do for attendance! Make sure meetings stick to the previously agreed upon agenda, if your meeting drags on for hours for no apparent reason, your next meeting’s attendance numbers will suffer.
- Most importantly, educate residents on the importance of reaching quorum and talk about the option of allowing absentee ballots and proxies for homeowners who cannot make it. This allows owners to vote and be counted toward quorum, all the while they could be across the country! Proxies are a valuable tool for associations that would otherwise struggle to reach quorum, so make sure to educate owners and use them whenever possible.
By being organized, communicating well with owners, and making things as straightforward as possible, your board is already one step closer to reaching quorum. If you are unsure how to reach quorum, or continue to have struggles, contact us at Jellybird HOA Management! We’d be happy to help get your community back on track and reach quorum!
