HOA meetings - public? or private?

I am wondering if HOA meetings are considered public or private body meetings? In Oklahoma there is a statute that says that tape recorders are allowed at public body meetings. I understand that to mean public as in governmental. I chaired an HOA meeting last evening where there was a motion on the floor to ask all visitors etc to turn off recording devices. One of the guests heatedly responded to the motion by yelling that they were permitted 'by law and are admissible in a court of law'. I responded by saying to let the minutes show that a motion was on the floor to turn off all recorders and let the minutes show that the guest refused. What do you think?

Wendy - IMHO, the board went at this backwards. There should have been an announcment that permission is needed to record the meeting. Then the board could either approve or deny the request.

I think I might just let it go. We have other larger issues to resolve. It only came up because at last month's meeting a homeowner (not a guest, my misstatement) made a spectacle of showing and pointing the recorder. It was decided that we didn't want the same sort of distraction at this meeting. And I will say that, after everything was said that same homeowner was much more discreet with his actions.

I asked only because that homeowner was very vocal in stating that recorders were legal in oklahoma meetings and upon research I could only come up with the statute that pertained to public meetings.

And you're right, there was no 'presiding'...

Typically, they are private. Members of the Association must be owners of lots within the Association. Anyone who does not own a home could be barred from a meeting of the homeowners. Hence - private. However, the question that needs to be answered is, does an expectation of privacy exist in a general membership meeting?


This discussion comes up every now and then. It will basically depend on your States laws.

Per Oklahoma §13-176.4.:

It is not unlawful pursuant to the Security of Communications Act for:

5. a person not acting under color of law to intercept a wire, oral or electronic communication when such person is a party to the communication or when one of the parties to the communication has given prior consent to such interception unless the communication is intercepted for the purpose of committing any criminal act;

Therefore, an argument could be made, if the person recording was a member, that they were a party to the conversation and therefore had the right to record. The next qualifier would be what would the persons expectation of privacy be.

Oklahoma law §13-176.2 also offers the following definitions:

12. “Oral communication” means any communication uttered by a person exhibiting an expectation that such communication is not subject to interception under circumstance justifying such expectation;

Personally, I see that an argument could be made either way. I do think you did the right thing by recording it in the minutes the way you did.

Since the issue came up, you may want to consult with the Association attorney on expectation of privacy at membership meetings and what the Association may or may not do to limit recordings.

We record since the secretary tends to leave out important information in the minutes. We also have one person who likes to
re-think what she said at the last meeting and claim that wasn't what she said.

Since "minutes" can be subpoenaed it can be a good thing for board members to have proof if the secretary failed to record something important.

you should fire your secretary. If you can't manage to capture minutes, you have no business being a secretary. Or driving a car. Or operating a television. How hard can it be to write ask the President "What is the motion on the floor?" and write down what he says?

Sheesh:

Meeting date, location.
Agenda (already done, just cut and paste)
Board Members in attendance.
X member opened meeting.
X member motioned: lllllllllllllllllllll
Y second.
Discussion: yes/no
Vote: 6-1 in favor, motion carries.

continue capturing motions and votes, until the meeting ends.

done.
They can even be super extra nice, and add things like headers (Treasurer's report, Pool Committee report", etc,) if they want, but if they can't capture a motion and second, I think trying to do more is a stretch for them.

As an almost decade long member of an HOA, I along with other members began attending the quarterly HOA BOD meetings following an almost six month consecutive series of harrassment, threats, extortion related efforts, gross misinterpretations of our ByLaws to support bogus violation allegations, and so forth exicuted by our appointed BOD and HOA agent.

As directed by my legal counsel who had already sent two letters to the agent informing them that they were to stop harrassing me, I brought a recorder to the meetings and did not hide this fact.

One third of the way into the meeting, the agent began to speak loudly over everyone by stating that everyone needed to watch what they were saying in the meeting because she (the agent pointed at me) is recording this meeting and you (the agent pointed again along with a glare at me) need to make everyone aware what you are doing. The other agent screamed from across the room at me, vigorously shaking her had from left to right and stated, "YOU ARE NOT SUPPOSED TO DO THAT!"

Something smelled way wrong to many of us prior to that particular meeting in June of 2011, and this exchange only further increased the stench.

I asserted in a calm yet firm tone, "I absolutely can record this meeting upon the advice from my attorney and I am making no effort to hide it from anyone."

I continued to record. The recordings would become very important at a later time.

Compared to how this fiasco was handled and from a members perspective, I would say you did really well considering that you are probably concerned about making sure that everything is out in the open unlike other HOA BOD's/Agents.

I also agree with Johns response to your original post. Leading the concept of openness with everything out on the table for the sake of communication and understaneding may serve to protect the members ability to trust the BOD's & Agent for their HOA in the long run.

As a member, trust, respect, and communication are vital for everyone to work together instead of against eachother. When one of the three elements is compromised, it sets everything off balance and distrust, disrespect, and poor communication become the unfortunate norm.

Working together begins with leadership setting the standard and upholding an example most members respond to in kind and follow suit.

Ahhh...I seeee! Learn something new everyday! : )