Election help needed: We are approaching the end of our first year as a resident controlled HOA.

According to our CCR we will need to create a nomination committee, see bottom of post.

History, prior to resident controlled the developer created an advisory committee of 7 members (a person from each committee) and worked with us for about 2 years. We met monthly and he included us in many voting matters and basically trained us for the transition from developer controlled to resident controlled. His nomination committee made up of himself and 2 members of the advisory committee that was not interested in running for the board. Basically, they met a few times and nominated the 5 advisory committee members to serve on the board and placed us on the ballot. The letter sent to the members explained that any member in good standing can run and will be given time to speak at the annual meeting and election before the ballots are counted. The letter also included a ballot and a fax number in which members could fax their vote prior to the meeting. My guess is that over 80% of the votes were received by fax prior to members having a chance to speak, which no one did.

A challenge I see, we do not get many of the homeowners to show at the annual meeting so allowing faxing of the ballot is necessary. But what about people that would like to run for the board? I need advise on how this should be handled fairly and a timeline between now and our meeting, scheduled early December. I currently serve as president of the board. Should I send out a communication to all homeowners asking if they are interested in serving on the board to please email me? We will have 2 positions open, does the nomination committee only recommend 2 people? And list the other members as candidates on the ballot? Thanks. Bruce

Section 8. Nomination. Nomination for election to the Board shall be made by a Nominating Committee which shall be appointed by the Board of Directors at least sixty (60) days prior to the annual meeting to serve a term of one (1) year and shall consist of at least one (1) Board member and at least two (2) other members of the Association who are not Board members. The members of the Nominating Committee shall be announced at the annual meeting. The Nominating Committee may nominate any number of qualified individuals, but not less than the number of directors to be elected. The nominations shall be made at least fourteen (14) days prior to the annual meeting. Nominations shall also be allowed from the floor at the meeting. Each candidate shall be given a reasonable opportunity to communicate his or her qualifications to the membership prior to the election. No member shall be nominated for election to the Board, nor permitted to run for election, if more than sixty (60) days past due in the payment of any assessment. Failure to comply with this Section shall in no way invalidate the election of directors who were not nominated in accordance with the provisions hereof.

Bruce,

Although the bylaws state the nominating committee shall be responsible for nominating members, that does not mean you have to come up with the names. I suggest you send a letter to all the members asking for nominees. The names of those people who respond should be placed on the ballot. If you don't get enough nominees to fill the number of vacancies then the committee should begin contacting members they think they can persuade to run for a position. The committee should never place a name in nomination w/o first getting the consent of that person.

As for nominations from the floor. In some instances this is the only way an assn is able to get the required number of candidates to fill the vacancies. However, if you have a full slate, the people nominated from the floor usually don't have a chance to win the election. If your assn is like most, not many people will be attending the meeting; most of the ballots will have been mailed in.