Five Tips for Keeping Your HOA Board Meeting on Track

With Director of Association Services, Heather Russel

Successful homeowners association board meetings are a productive collaboration of the directors, with a constant focus on how to best run the association.

Heather Russel, Rizzetta’s Director of Association Services, offers five tips for an effective HOA board meeting:

1. Hold meetings in a business-appropriate indoor meeting space: Examples of suitable locations are the community clubhouse, management office or a library.

2. Plan meetings at a time and duration that ensure that board members can function at their highest level: The meeting should be no longer than 90 minutes with clear start and stop times.

3. Have an agenda prepared in advance: Put together a realistic agenda of items to review, which helps the discussion stay on topic.

4. Have a designated chairperson: This person will generally follow parliamentary procedure, and follow meeting rules of when and how owner comments will be received by the board and how meetings will be recorded.

5. Treat them as business meetings: It’s best to remember that HOA board meetings are business-related. They are most effective when they are not treated as a social gathering or as a venue for gossip.