An HOA Board Member Guide to Taking Minutes

 Keeping good minutes is a necessity for every board meeting. Good minutes serves multiple purposes including: keeping your board organized, keeping the board on task, and keeping your board transparent for the members.

Many states have requirements that HOAs should keep meeting minutes of all board members, whether through HOA specific laws, or through the state's nonprofit corporation laws. And in most cases, the HOA is legally obligated to furnish the meetings to an owner upon receiving a request.

If you're not taking minutes now, or maybe you're a new HOA board member and need some help, you've come to the right place!

What are HOA board meeting minutes?

Homeowner associations are nonprofit corporations or cooperatives ran by a volunteer group of homeowners called the HOA board. Much like any board of directors, whether in a company or a nonprofit organization, regular meetings are held to discuss business and to handle issues in the organization. HOA boards will meet about a variety of issues including landscaping, maintenance, reserve funding, collections issues, renovations, budgeting, or even potential legal issues facing the community.

During these meetings, the board secretary is responsible for taking a written record of discussions and decisions made during the meeting.

Why should HOA boards take minutes?

At the most basic level, board meeting minutes serve as a written record of what occurred during the meeting. This allows the board members to review prior discussions when looking at old business, and will keep them on track for on-going issues.

These records can also offer legal protection to the board and to the association. If a lawsuit is filed against the HOA, the meeting minutes can provide proof of discussions and decisions that were a part of the meeting.

How to take meeting minutes?

Many new board members (and experienced ones) attempt to keep a written transcript of dialogue and unnecessary comments. Rather than providing a verbatim dialogue, the minutes can just include a summary.

Bad Example

After discussing the social event, Ms. Smith thanked John for is work on organizing the fall social gather. She said that she was very concerned about the dues and several people were late. She reviewed the financial statements and went over the balance sheet and then income statement. When going over the balance sheet, she said that the Accounts Receivable balance was up 27% over this same time last year. She said that several owners, including the Johnsons, one of her neighbors who are new to the community, haven't paid their dues........(you get the idea).

Better Example

Ms. Smith presented the financial statements to the board and noted an increase in delinquencies for the 3rd quarter. She recommended the board send out payment reminders to the community in an effort to collect past due fees.

What to include in HOA meeting minutes?

As a rule of thumb, think about "Who, What, When, Where, and Why."

The meeting minutes should include:

  • Date of meeting
  • Time of meeting
  • Time the meeting was called to order
  • Who called the meeting to order (usually the HOA Board President)
  • Names of present board members
  • Names of additional attendees or committees
  • Absent Board members
  • Review and approval of the minutes from the previous meeting and any potential amendments
  • Establishment of quorum
  • Review of any discussions (usually financial reports or presentations)
  • Any motions that were proposed, who proposed them, who seconded, and the result of the motion
  • Any voting that took place, including those who voted for and against the item
  • Actions taken by the board
  • Resolutions and decisions made by the board
  • Old business from the previous meeting
  • New business
  • Open discussions
    • This is usually where boards allow homeowners that are present to discuss pertinent issues
  • The date, time, and location of the next board meeting
  • Adjournment time and who adjourned

Things NOT to include in the meeting minutes are personal opinions, side conversations, comments, verbatim dialogues, or irrelevant discussions.

Things to Remember for Taking HOA Board Minutes

  1. Use the meeting agenda as the guide. Your board meeting should have an agenda, including a list of any items the board will discuss and potentially vote on. You can structure the outline of your minutes document in advance to include these agenda items.
  2. Write clearly and objectively. Remain objective and professional in your tone. The meeting minutes are a record of what happened, not an opinion piece. Even if you are discussing sensitive and controversial topics, focus on the topic, the results of the discussions, and any actions taken by the board.
  3. Don't be afraid to ask someone to clarify an issue or what they discussed. It can be challenging to take notes while also listening and engaging in the conversation. Be sure to ask right away, do not wait until after the meeting, or worse yet, until the next day or week. This way you can get all of the important facts and key points.
  4. Review and make edits. Go through the draft of your minutes to make sure everything is written clearly. Check for grammar mistakes and misspelled words.
  5. Distribute the minutes to the board.
  6. Distribute minutes to the homeowners (or make them accessible).
  7. Save digital and physical copies.