What do the HOA Open Board Meeting requirements actually mean?

I read about the government’s open meetings act about every other week. Government entities have very strict requirements about what can be said and done outside of a meeting. Why? Because the state of Texas wants the public to hear what is being considered and how the issues are being handled. They don’t want decisions being made in secret or behind closed doors. It is a really important part of our democracy. In fact, local politics are, at least in my opinion, are the most important process in our democracy. But, I digress. Do HOAs have the same requirements? The short answer is no.

               HOAs are not governmental entities. We will talk more about this in the coming weeks, but some people think they should be. HOAs are generally nonprofit organizations. The members and the board of directors (along with some vendors) are the only individuals that are showing up to meetings. For governmental entities, the meetings are open to the public. 

               Under Texas Property Code §209.0051, meetings where “deliberation between a quorum of the voting board…or between a quorum of the voting board with another person” must be in an open meeting when discussing very specific subjects. For example, if the board wants to apply special assessments or wants to discuss and consider the budget, they must do so in an open meeting. The complete list of subjects or items that must be discussed in an open meeting (15 subjects including subjects to be considered in an open meeting during the development period). 

The code section does not mean that every discussion must be done in an open meeting. If that were different and the board was subject to the same rules as governmental entities, it would be very difficult to conduct business for those HOAs that only have quarterly meetings. If the discussions don’t involve items on the list in 209.0051, they can discuss them without a meeting. Some board of directors then at the next meeting ratify the decision on the minutes. What that means, is that they discuss it and tell the members what the outcome was and include the vote on the minutes so that it is documented. But they only do this when they are discussing subject matter that is not listed in the open meetings statutes in Chapter 209.

               It is a good idea to discuss ideas with the membership in general, but there are situations that it is not convenient to do so. It is always important to refer to the Texas Property Code and consult an attorney when issues arise as it pertains to HOA meetings.