For the most part, our Board of Directors are required to discuss and make decisions during a Board Meeting that is open to the members. Some of the reasons are:
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Transparency: Open meetings provide transparency in the operations of the HOA board. Homeowners have the right to know how decisions are made, what topics are being discussed, and how their assessments and fees are being utilized.
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Member Participation: Open meetings allow homeowners to observe the decision-making process and voice their opinions. By attending these meetings, homeowners can provide input, ask questions, and express concerns on matters that affect the community.
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Accountability: Open meetings help ensure that the board of directors is accountable to the homeowners it represents. By conducting business in an open forum, the board's actions and decisions can be reviewed and evaluated by the community.
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Preventing Abuse of Power: Open meetings discourage any potential abuse of power by the board of directors. When meetings are conducted in the open, it becomes more difficult for board members to make decisions without proper discussion or consideration of the community's best interests.
While open meetings are generally required, there are certain exceptions. For instance, the board may hold closed executive sessions to discuss certain matters like legal issues, personnel matters, and member privacy concerns.
Our current Board of Directors met during a closed 'secret meeting' in February, and during that meeting they decided to have (12) stop signs installed with virtually no input from the community, and at a cost of over $15,000!
Stops signs are intended to regulate and control traffic at intersections, to help determine who has the right of way. They are not intended to be used as a speed control measure. Typically, a number of items are evaluated to determine if an intersection does in fact require stop signs. Things like the number of accidents at that intersection in the previous (12) months, traffic volume, type of intersection, etc. Normally, a 'traffic and engineering survey' would be performed to determine the need for stop signs, which is what Victoria Grove has done in the past. However, our current Board of Directors failed to do that and, on their own volition, decided to install stop signs at almost all the intersections of the main roads on the North Side. These stop signs were not warranted and stop signs used in excess tend to lose their effectiveness.