community association elections Tag Archives

This is the time of year when many Florida condominium associations conduct their annual meeting and election of directors. Here are some helpful reminders about the process to ensure that your community’s meeting and election avoid potential glitches and remain in compliance with Florida law.

Board membership should be viewed as being akin to a civic duty for condominium owners. So long as individuals meet the basic legal requirements, to wit: they are current on all of their financial obligations to the association and are not a convicted felon, they are otherwise eligible to run for a board seat in most associations.

The election notices that are distributed by the association to all of the owners begin with the initial notice that must be sent out at least 60 days prior to the election. This notice should include information on the deadlines for submission of notices to the association for those who intend to run for a board seat. All candidates must provide their association with a written notice of their intent to run for the board of directors at least 40 days prior to the date of the election. meeting-vote-300x300 Registered candidates are then able to lobby their fellow owners, and they may submit a resume to the association at least 35 days prior to the election. The resume, which may not exceed one side of a standard piece of office paper, should contain details about a candidate’s professional and educational background as well as any other attributes and qualifications that they would like to include.

A second notice of the election, which must be distributed between 34 and 14 days prior to the election, must include copies of all the resumes submitted by the candidates together with the ballot and the inner and outer envelopes.

The firm’s Nicole R. Kurtz authored an article that appeared as a “Board of Contributors” guest column in today’s edition of the Daily Business Review, South Florida’s exclusive business daily and official court newspaper. The article, which was titled “Disputed Condo Election Offers Important Lessons for Association Boards,” focused on a recent appellate ruling that illustrated the importance for boards of directors to act with a clear understanding of their capabilities to alter association election procedures. Her article reads:

Allegations of questionable or even downright fraudulent tactics by candidates in annual association elections are not entirely uncommon. When suspicious activities begin to call into question the integrity of the election, some boards of directors hit the panic button and take actions that will not stand the test of their governing documents or the Florida Administrative Code.

Such appears to be what took place in a disputed election at the Palm Aire Country Club Condominium in Pompano Beach that culminated in a recent ruling by Florida’s Fourth District Court of Appeal. While the appellate panel’s opinion does not address the reasons for the association board’s actions, noting only that “there is some ambiguity as to what exactly occurred” at the board’s Feb. 29, 2016, meeting, the opinion essentially invalidates the board’s 6-3 vote at the meeting to postpone the annual election that was set for two days later on March 2.

Even though a majority of the board voted to postpone the election, it took place as originally scheduled on March 2, and new directors were elected. The management company for the property, M&M Property Management LLC, subsequently refused to recognize the authority of the prior board of directors and instead began working with the newly elected directors.

In response, the prior board of directors filed suit against M&M seeking a temporary injunction to compel the management company to stop operating in service of the new board of directors. The prior board was granted the temporary injunction, and in turn M&M was ordered to recognize the board as it existed prior to the March 2 election.

Articles Tagged with community association elections

Helpful Tips for Successful Condominium Association Annual Meetings, Elections

Article by Nicole Kurtz in Today’s Daily Business Review: “Disputed Condo Election Offers Important Lessons for Association Boards”