It is finally the evening of your Association's annual meeting to elect members to the Board of Directors. You have been working hard to assure that tonight will go off smoothly and without a hitch. You sent your request for nominations out to the entire community along with the notice of the meeting weeks ago. You have received the candidate bio sheets and provided them to all of the members of the community along with a second notice of the meeting. You have even prepared absentee ballots (if specifically authorized by your documents) or directed proxies identifying the names of the candidates.
Now, just as the candidates are introducing themselves, someone stands up and asks, "are nominations from the floor allowed?" All eyes turn toward you. What do you do? First and foremost, you turn to your Association's Governing Documents to determine whether they specifically provide for nominations to be submitted from the floor at the election meeting. Often times, the language concerning nominations may be very complicated and you may wish to seek an opinion from your Association's legal counsel prior to the election so that you have a clear understanding of this issue. Often times, however, the documents are silent regarding this issue, which is the reason that this subject has been selected for our November Newsletter.
We recommend that the Board of Directors establish a Policy concerning the acceptance of nominations from the floor when the documents are silent on this issue. This Policy should be established by the Board of Directors and adopted by a Resolution of the Board. In this way, the Board of Directors may avoid the appearance of a conflict of interest when determining whether to accept nominations from the floor.
Your Policy may take into account the number of vacant seats as compared to the actual number of candidates running. For example, you may only wish to accept nominations from the floor when the number of vacant seats is equal to or less than the number of candidates running. If you would like us to review your Association's Governing Documents to help determine whether nominations are required to be accepted from the floor or to help develop a Policy for your Association, simply contact our office. As most election meetings occur at the end of the year, now is the ideal time to take care of this housekeeping matter to assure that all of your hard work at the next election meeting pays off.
Now, just as the candidates are introducing themselves, someone stands up and asks, "are nominations from the floor allowed?" All eyes turn toward you. What do you do? First and foremost, you turn to your Association's Governing Documents to determine whether they specifically provide for nominations to be submitted from the floor at the election meeting. Often times, the language concerning nominations may be very complicated and you may wish to seek an opinion from your Association's legal counsel prior to the election so that you have a clear understanding of this issue. Often times, however, the documents are silent regarding this issue, which is the reason that this subject has been selected for our November Newsletter.
We recommend that the Board of Directors establish a Policy concerning the acceptance of nominations from the floor when the documents are silent on this issue. This Policy should be established by the Board of Directors and adopted by a Resolution of the Board. In this way, the Board of Directors may avoid the appearance of a conflict of interest when determining whether to accept nominations from the floor.
Your Policy may take into account the number of vacant seats as compared to the actual number of candidates running. For example, you may only wish to accept nominations from the floor when the number of vacant seats is equal to or less than the number of candidates running. If you would like us to review your Association's Governing Documents to help determine whether nominations are required to be accepted from the floor or to help develop a Policy for your Association, simply contact our office. As most election meetings occur at the end of the year, now is the ideal time to take care of this housekeeping matter to assure that all of your hard work at the next election meeting pays off.
