There are countless reasons that your community association may benefit from providing remote access to meetings of its members or that of its board of directors. In fact, the availability of remote access alone tends to lead to, at the very least, a positive feeling of increased transparency among the community, due to the ease in which the ongoings of the association can be broadcast and discussed. For the same reason, remote access may also benefit communities that often struggle to obtain the participation of members that only reside in the community part time.
But there is yet another reason remote access benefits your community association – it enables those in charge of the meeting to mute participants in order to control the presentation and flow of meetings. After all, as most of you have likely witnessed at one point or another, despite the best of efforts, community association meetings can often devolve into multiple conversations, some of which concern matters that were never even intended as the subject of the meeting in the first place! And, as most of you have also likely witnessed at one point or another, meetings can sometimes be derailed by particular members who believe that they are entitled to air their grievances as long as they wish, regardless of the agenda of the meeting and everyone else’s schedules.
With that said, community associations should always consult counsel in establishing written procedures and best practices in wielding the power to mute, as the power to mute is not without its limits.
Indeed, the primary statutes that govern community associations, Chapters 718, 719, and 720 of Florida Statutes, all expressly provide, in one form or another, that association members attending either a meeting of members or that of its board of directors are entitled “to speak” as to “all designated agenda items”, while also providing that that the association may adopt written “reasonable rules” governing participation.
Furthermore, Section 617.0721(3), Florida Statutes, governing corporations not for profit, which includes all types of community associations – condominiums, cooperatives, and homeowners’ associations – also limits the power to mute by making clear that members attending member meetings remotely must be provided a “reasonable opportunity to participate in the meeting”, which includes “an opportunity to communicate and to read or hear the proceedings of the meeting substantial concurrent with the proceedings.”
Another limitation to consider is the fact that community associations are not authorized under Florida law, absent a few narrow exceptions, to hold “remote only” meetings. In fact, as a rule of thumb, community associations should always provide a physical location for meetings so that those individuals who are unable to attend meetings remotely, or otherwise wish to attend in person, can do so, as Florida law is clear that, in most cases, meetings must be open to all members. To that end, Section 617.0721(3), Florida Statutes also establishes certain prerequisites that must be satisfied before members are formally authorized to participate in a meeting, be counted for quorum purposes, or deemed present in person and voting at the meeting.
Lastly, because community associations are also governed by their respective Governing Documents, community associations must be aware that their Governing Documents may also further define, or even prohibit, remote participation in meetings. In fact, Governing Documents may even contradict the foregoing statutes, which means you will need to consult an attorney to understand how to best address that issue.
Ultimately, this article is not intended to serve as an exhaustive list of issues your community association may deal with in wielding the power to mute. Rather, this article is intended to emphasize that you should always consult your legal counsel early and often when it comes to the issue, as it can be nuanced to navigate and costly to address if done so without proper planning and analysis.
