Virtual meetings are the norm for now
Under the emergency powers granted by the Governor and to ensure social distancing under his COVID-19 orders, many Associations cancelled their Annual meeting (usually held between January and March each Season) to be rescheduled at a later time.
We are now into May and we are not sure when all social distancing orders or suggestions will be lifted. Therefore, some Associations are now looking to reschedule their annual meeting sometime this month or next rather than waiting longer into the year. They may be having contested elections and want to see their new board seated and/or are voting on various important proxies issues.
When you can’t have more than 10 people gathering and they have to stay at least 6 feet apart it is difficult, if not impossible, to have “in person” Condominium or Homeowners’ Association meetings.
The best way we have seen for Associations to have their board and members’ meetings then is to have them by teleconference or video conference. You can provide the call in number and code or video meeting log on link to the members on the notice of the board or member’s meeting that is posted and/or mailed out to the members and the access information can also be blind copy e-blasted to owners.
Telephone and video conferences are an acceptable option as every person on the conference can hear and talk to others on the conference the same as if they were in person. You can set rules as to when and how those attending the teleconference or video conference can speak similar to in person meetings.
If it is an annual or special members meeting where ballots and/or proxies are to be counted, you could allow just a few people (including the counters) attend the meeting in person to count the ballots and/or proxies in a socially distant manner to stay safe. They would also be on the teleconference or video conference line where everyone else is attending.
Some Associations with a snowbird or transient population already have teleconference or video conference board meetings in the summer so they are used to having such meetings. The drawback of video conference meeting is that sometimes they seem not to work too well if lots of members log on and some owners do not have video conferencing set up on their computers. We don’t see such issues with teleconference meetings. If you want to have an attorney client privileged closed board meeting, video conference works very well as there are usually less than 10 participants.
We all look forward to the day when social distancing is a term of the past and neighbors can get together in person again to conduct association business eye to eye. Virtual meetings cannot provide the same warmth and camaraderie of face to face. Maybe we will get handshakes back too someday. Until then, it looks like telephonic or virtual Association meetings may be the norm.
