Academy/Committees & Volunteers
Committee minutes
Know when informal notes are enough, and when the law expects the same minutes the board keeps.
Most HOA committees only need to keep an informal memorandum of what happened at their meetings, not formal minutes. That default changes when a committee holds real decision-making power, such as final say over architectural approvals or spending, since several states then require the same open-meeting and minutes rules that apply to the board.
The default: a memorandum, not formal minutes
A committee is not the board, so its back-and-forth doesn't usually go into the association's official minutes. Under Robert's Rules, the secretary skips over committee proceedings entirely, and the committee keeps its own informal notes instead, enough to remind its members what was decided, not a record meant for the board or the membership.
"The secretary does not record in the minutes the proceedings of the committee, but should keep a memorandum of the proceedings for its use."
Source: Robert's Rules of Order Revised, Article IX, Committees and Boards
This default only applies if your association's bylaws adopt a parliamentary authority in the first place, most commonly some edition of Robert's Rules. Many associations never do, so check your bylaws before assuming this rule governs your committee at all. If your bylaws point to the current Robert's Rules of Order Newly Revised, that edition, not this one, is the one to read for the current wording.
When formal minutes become mandatory
The moment a committee stops being purely advisory and starts making the board's own decisions, more is expected of it.
"committees with decision-making authority... such as an executive 'committee of the board' made up entirely of directors to which the board has delegated certain powers, or an architectural review committee"
Source: Creating Committees, HOA Law Blog, SwedelsonGottlieb
Several states then hold that kind of committee to the same open-meeting and minutes rules the board itself follows. Check your own state's community association statute for the actual trigger and requirement. Florida is one example:
"The provisions of this subsection shall also apply to the meetings of any committee or other similar body when a final decision will be made regarding the expenditure of association funds and to meetings of any body vested with the power to approve or disapprove architectural decisions with respect to a specific parcel of residential property owned by a member of the community."
Source: Florida Statutes section 720.303, State of Florida
California takes a related but different approach. A committee counts as a quorum gathering of the board, and falls under the same rules the board's own meetings do, when it's made up of enough directors to equal a board quorum, or when the board has delegated it the board's own decision-making authority, as defined in Civil Code section 4090 and the Common Interest Development Open Meeting Act. Neither state's rule should be read onto the other forty-eight; look up your own state's statute, or ask your manager or attorney, before relying on any specific notice period or minutes requirement.
What to write down either way
Even a purely advisory committee should still put its recommendation in writing before it goes to the board. A committee agreeing among itself isn't the same as association policy: the board still has to formally take the recommendation up and vote before it means anything. A clear written recommendation is what lets the board actually do that. If your committee has a charter, check what it says under reporting expectations, since a charter can set stricter recordkeeping than any parliamentary default.
Check yourself
Answer before you read the explanation, recalling it is what makes it stick.
The landscape committee meets, discusses options, and sends the board a recommendation. Under the Robert's Rules default, what happens to the committee's own meeting notes?
An architectural committee has final authority to approve or deny requests on its own, without board review. Florida law treats this committee's meetings like what?
A California association forms a committee made up of enough directors to equal a quorum of the full board. What follows from that fact alone?
Sources
- Robert's Rules of Order Revised, Article IX, "Committees and Boards"
- Robert's Rules of Order Newly Revised, 12th edition, The Robert's Rules Association
- California Civil Code section 4090
- Florida Statutes section 720.303
- Creating Committees, HOA Law Blog, SwedelsonGottlieb
Committees & Volunteers
Next, see how a committee's recommendation actually turns into association policy.
Whether your committee's meetings must be open and whether it must keep formal minutes depends on your state's community association statutes and on whether your bylaws or a board resolution give the committee decision-making power.