Our Village

Are board members allowed to assemble outside the presence of unit owners in order to bring up association matters?
Yes!
And these gatherings are considered planning sessions commonly referred to as “workshops.” Our Board’s Workshop is supposed to be the same planning session where members are to decide what agenda items will be discussed and voted upon at the upcoming Regular Board Meeting. The open meetings provisions of the statutes which govern our association apply only if our board is “conducting board business.” This conducting of board business is viewed as being able to vote so board members cannot vote on matters at a workshop.
Since votes can only be taken at a called board meeting I would think this is the reason why Director Vasquez had surmised that Workshops are non-meetings and thus can be done within a closed session. After researching this I believe he is actually correct but only if the Workshop protocol is followed by our Board.
This protocol is that Workshops need to be carefully used as planning sessions and not a substitute for a discussion because board discussions belong in a called board meeting, so this is where the rub is. Our board president gloated that Directors spent two hours at last month’s Workshop going back and forth at each other arguing over agenda issues which as I see it disqualifies this as only a Workshop planning session.
The Board needs to be mindful of the political ramifications of holding these types of chinwag workshops because these technically become a meeting that should be open to owners. One might easily mischaracterize those who argue business within a closed assembly. They then might inaccurately assume that something nefarious is taking place behind those closed doors.
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