HOA Board and Homeowner Privacy...

Here's the thing about privacy in a HOA. Board meetings are designed to be "Open" to ALL members. The only time a board officially meets to make decisions is at the OPEN board meetings. Unless your documentation allows for executive/private board meetings behind closed doors, everyone's dirty laundry is going to be spilled onto the floor.

This is the frustrating part about HOA's that members don't get. If your board can ONLY conduct business in an open meeting for transparency of their operations, then why should they complain when a letter they submitted to the board is read? It's only fair that ALL board members have the facts of a situation for them to make a decision. It's NOT like they are trying to hide anything or operate behind their member's backs. Remember Board positions are there to REPRESENT the general membership on the DAILY operations of the HOA on their behalf. That means that you as a general member/owner don't have to have a heavy hand in handling the daily issues a HOA faces. You have voted someone else who is willing to do it for you. That is why your vote is very important. It allows you to vote in a representative on your behalf but also can allow you to remove that person and/or change/adapt new rules of your HOA.

My policy was to read letters submitted to our board at our meetings. If it indeed was a private type of issue, I would leave names out of it and may discuss outside of the typical meeting. Not that I was hiding anything but making it a bit more politically correct once I presented the issue at the Board meeting for a vote/consideration.

If you want a resolution to your problem, how else do you think it should be handled? You don't want your board to be transparent and open with you and everyone? You have a right to know as a member what issues your HOA is dealing with. Sorry it can't be handled in a secretive behind the doors way the HOA gets accused of almost everyday IF they did handle the issue that way. You can't have it both ways...

Ok, thanks everyone for your responses. I really appreciate it.

I would expect any HOA/POA/COA board to do just that and I would be damn suspicious if these discussions were not held in an open meeting.

Our board will discuss a property in question, defining it by its address but not by the owner's name nor any tenant's names. After all, any dues collections efforts or fines attach to the deed in the form of liens, making the property address more fitting. Also, adding insult and humiliation by dropping names in an open meeting isn't necessary. The goal is collecting money or correcting a violation. Nothing more.