Open Meeting

What is an open meeting?

Open meetings laws require that most public entities’ meetings, with very narrow exceptions, be open to the public, either by physical access to the meeting room or by electronic access. Homeowners associations, however, are usually defined as private, not-for-profit organizations, which means most are not required to open their meetings to the public but must allow any interested property owner or resident within the HOA to attend. 

Open meeting typically only implies that parties with an interest (in the case of an HOA, its property owners/residents) may attend. Open forum, by contrast, indicates that those attending a given meeting may address the entity and other audience members.

Why is an open meeting important to HOAs?

Open meeting laws were established in most jurisdictions for public entities so that they could not conduct business in the public’s name without its scrutiny. HOA boards have no similar obligations to the general public but do to their members, and most jurisdictions recognize that such organizations must admit property owners to their deliberations. (As with public entities, HOA boards may go into executive session, from which all but the involved parties are excluded, to deal with personnel issues, issues involving personal information, and other confidential matters.)

Beyond the legal requirements, however, HOA directors should be aware that transparency plays an important role in the relations between their board and the HOA community at large and individual property owners.

How can you use “open meeting” in a sentence?

“Open meeting” requirements for an HOA board typically means allowing HOA members to attend but not the general public.