Plan Early for Successful Annual Meeting, Election

The year-end holiday season is also the season in which most community associations celebrate their annual meetings and elections. But no matter when your community association celebrates its annual meeting and election, it is important to begin the planning and organizing process well in advance in order to help ensure the best possible outcome.

The work should begin with a thorough review of the roster of current owners for each of the residences. Ideally, it is best to organize the roster in numerical order by the unit numbers or addresses in order to facilitate the registration and ballot verification process.

While a title search of the county public records deed database is the most accurate means to verify ownership of the residences, a more economical approach would be to turn to the county’s property appraiser’s office to verify ownership. Once obtained, the records should be organized in a binder, together with copies of the deeds in the same order as the roster or sign-in sheet. Using dividers to separate each floor/street is also advisable, as it may help to facilitate the verification of ownership on the day of the meeting or election. For those communities that require voting certificates to be submitted on behalf of units owned by corporations, partnerships, other entities or by more than one individual (including for units owned by a married couple), it is important for the board or management to ensure that binders are well-organized with copies of the voting certificates that have been submitted to the association in the past – as such forms are typically valid until revoked, modified or rescinded and the votes for those units cannot be counted unless the association is in possession of the forms.

Proxies that are received prior to the meeting should be verified in order to help ensure that they are dated and signed by the owner or other qualified voting member. Verified proxies should be logged in on the sign-in sheet for the meeting, and a note should be included on the sheet indicating those who have been designated as the proxies for corresponding units in order to help ensure that the designated proxies sign-in on behalf of the appropriate residences. Proxies that are found to be questionable or incomplete during the validation process should be set aside for the association attorney to review, and the valid proxies should be organized in a folder in the same order as the sign-in sheet for reference at the time of the meeting.

For those associations that suspend the voting rights of owners delinquent in the payment of monetary obligations, well-documented records should be maintained to confirm that the voting rights were properly suspended and the association’s accounting records should be updated to ensure accurate records of the amounts owed by such owners.

In addition to closely adhering to all of the statutory notice requirements for the meeting, associations would be well advised to go beyond those minimum requirements in order to help maximize attendance and participation in the election. Telephone calls, emails, and door-to-door visits by the management staff are encouraged, as these efforts will help to ensure that all of the owners are made aware of the date and the importance of their making every effort to participate by voting in the election.

While applicable statutes may provide for the posting of the meeting notice at one designated location, some communities opt to post notices in a fairly prolific manner in order to broaden the opportunities for all of the owners to view it. For those communities, in addition to posting notices in the clubhouse and recreation rooms, communities should also consider posting them in the mail room, elevators, fitness center and any other appropriate spots through which the residents typically pass.

Another important strategy to maximize the attendance and participation of the membership is to include information on the importance of the annual meeting and election for the financial and administrative wellbeing of the association in all of the notices and communications.

My colleague Michael Chapnick with our firm’s West Palm Beach office recently posted a brief video in the “Community Chatter” page of our website about some of the best practices for associations to maximize the attendance and participation of their members. Click here to watch Michael’s video.

By starting the planning early and working closely with qualified community association legal counsel in order to follow all of the prescribed protocols, associations can help to ensure that their annual meeting and election are a resounding success and in full compliance with Florida law.