There are more than 320,000 community associations (HOA's) in the United States, according to the Community Associations Institute. Think of all the membership, board, and committee meetings that take place! Since statutes and governing documents often require such meetings to follow certain rules, it’s important for...
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The annual meeting was one that homeowners in the Long Beach, Calif., community wouldn’t soon forget – and not for good reasons. Registration alone took more than an hour. Homeowner’s didn’t know where to sign in. Ballots were distributed to residents who had already voted by mail. Out of frustration, some people began screaming at the board.
TRYING NOT TO LAUGH
Some sources trace the origin of the word “idiot” to politics. No, seriously. Some scholars maintain that the ancient Greeks took the ideals of democracy pretty seriously, and imposed upon citizens both the right and the obligation to vote in all elections and referenda. A citizen who did not vote or who was not a regular orator in the citizen assemblies was publicly “marked” and labeled idiotai: A person who put his own interests over those of society as a whole. Over time, the word idiot evolved to mean something different, a half-with or an utterly senseless, foolish individual.
Understandably, being “publicly marked and labeled as idiotai, ”was not an ideal development for an upstanding, status-conscious and propertied citizen of Athens or one of the other city-states. Sometimes, however, it was unavoidable. There were no planes, trains or automobiles in ancient Greece, and when a citizen found himself away from his home city when it was time to vote, he was looking idiotai square in the eye. To avoid becoming labeled the village idiotai of his hometown, the citizen had to find a way to vote when he was away. The solution was to commission someone to vote on his behalf. Thus, was the proxy born.
What is a Nominating Committee?
Some HOA governing documents require or permit the homeowners association to have a nominating committee that nominates candidates for the board. How does that work if your state allows homeowners to throw their names into the hat for an HOA election? Here we explain the basics of nominating committees and the pros and cons of using them.
What Nominating Committees Do
The role of a nominating committee isn’t set in stone. “That’s going to depend on the association,” says Matthew A. Drewes, a partner at Thomsen & Nybeck PA in Edina, Minn., who represents associations. “Typically committee members are going to propose a slate of candidates. But they’re not going to propose individuals who have to be then approved by the membership before they can be considered for the position.”
