Question: Our annual HOA meeting is coming up. We have been provided with last year's annual meeting minutes. Upon review, I have found that the minutes had been substantially doctored by the developer who revised, omitted and added things to paint a rosier picture. What should be done about this?

Answer: Typically, annual meeting minutes are approved a year after they are written. If you have personal knowledge or a copy of draft minutes that vary substantially from what you just received, you have every right to demand that the minutes be corrected. Part of every annual meeting concerns reviewing and approving minutes. You should raise your specific concerns at that time.

Question: Our property manager distributes a board packet at our monthly meetings that includes the agenda plus financial reports, rules violations, contract bids and other related materials. I emailed a list of agenda items to the manager several weeks before the meeting but most of the items were omitted from the agenda. Obviously, the manager can provide input and items they need to present, but overall, shouldn't the board have the final say?

Answer: The manager works for the board and the board definitely should approve the agenda prior to distribution. The board president is usually the person that provides the information to the manager. The agenda, of course, needs to conform to the time allotted for the meeting.

Question: When our manager was requested to do an inspection, the board was informed that he had already exceeded the monthly manager time allotted for our HOA. There's nothing in our management agreement that discusses time allotment.

Answer: No HOA management agreement provides for unlimited services for a set fee. They are generally based in providing routine services and the average time it takes to accomplish them. Even though there is not a specific number of hours quoted, that is the reality on how management fees are determined.

If the company is consistently running way over the initial time estimate, either it will raise its fee or quit because it's not making any money. The board needs to be judicious in use of manager time. The manager, in turn, should be candid with the board when manager time is being overused or abused.

For more Ask the HOA Expert, see Regenesis.net

Published: February 13, 2008

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Richard Thompson owns Regenesis, a management consulting company that specializes in condominium and homeowner associations. He is a nationally recognized expert on HOA management issues. Regenesis publishes The Regenesis Report, a monthly newsletter for HOA boards, developers and managers. To subscribe, go to Regenesis.net. He can be contacted by email at .