|
Article Courtesy of The Forum
Publishing Group
By Fallan Patterson
Published June 2, 2009
Whether it's Twitter, Facebook, e-mail, IM or just text messaging, even older generations are finding new ways to use modern communication technologies. But some condo residents and board members are now wondering whether these new trends could soon be breaking the law.
As it turns out, Florida law doesn't specify.
Current law states that a meeting of the board occurs when a quorum or majority of the members get together to discuss association business. Board members are required to give 48 hours notice of a board meeting, and unit owners are given the right to attend and speak on any agenda topic.
The law states that board meetings can be announced via the community network television channel, but there is nothing about other forms of technology.
Marilyn Perez-Martinez, an attorney with community association law firm Becker & Poliakoff, noticed this trend while speaking with clients and wrote about the issue in the firm's blog.
"I sometimes see a thread of e-mails communicating with me," Perez-Martinez said.
Perez-Martinez said she hopes to address two key factors when it comes to the issue of new communication methods: Do these types of communication constitute a board meeting? And is there anything about these technologies that would be considered improper?
"It's a good reminder that these [communication devices] are not a board meeting," Perez-Martinez said. "You still need to have a proper [face-to-face] meeting."
Florida has no legislation defining "an e-mail, an instant message or a Twitter post as a meeting," Perez-Martinez said. Twitter is a messaging service that allows users to send updates of up to 140 characters.
The farthest board members can be apart legally is a conference call via speakerphone, "so long as the governing documents don't require a face-to-face meeting, and most don't," Perez-Martinez said.
Bill Raphan, the assistant condo ombudsman in Fort Lauderdale, said lawmakers have to reference what constitutes a meeting and how to deal with official records.
"This is going to be the future, this whole business with e-mails," Raphan said.
"As we get more technologically advanced and everyone has a computer, eventually the legislation will have to rewrite the statues to deal with this."
Raphan said his office gets calls daily about the use of technology from board members wanting to know if they are breaking the law.
Some board members are already being told they are doing business improperly, even though the law is unclear.
"I tell them, 'If I call you on the phone, is that a meeting?'" Raphan said. "No. Some people say [board members] are getting around having [an official] meeting ... but board members say 'I can e-mail my friend who so happens to be on the board.'"
|