Condo Association Management Blog

Then what does cover the ARB to the members of the HOA ?  
 
It would seem to me that discussions, photos, investigations of the ARB must be open to its members.

Normally the Chair of an ARB is appointed by the President of the Board of Directors. That Chair then call ask for volunteer unitm owners to servie on his committee. This committee can be considered as a member of the Bioard President's cabinet. Any meeting ,deliberations or findings of this committee shoukld be open and available to any member. Useually a repoprt of the committee actifvity should be prersented at Board Meetings

Our BOD is also the ARB. 
 
At the BOD meeting, the BOD discuss the ARB aps in whispers, 
show photos, paint chips, diagrams only amongst themselves. 
They will not share info with the homeowners attending the meeting. 
 
When asked why this is done in secrecy - the answer is 
You elected us to do this job and therefore we do not have to publicized what we are doing until the final vote. 
 
The homeowners say - a neighbor could be doing something really awful to the neighborhood - and since we pay the HOA dues - shouldn't this be open discussion and publicized to the homeowners before a decision is made?? 
 
What is the section of the FL statute that governs this ? 

Notion of the Florida State Condominium Law allows this secrecy on the part of the Board. While their conduct is not illefgal it could be classified as unauthorized and unethical. If the Board uses Roberty's Rules as their guide in conducting meetings they are violating those rules by their ARB secrecy.

ARB's are not subject to The Sunshine Law. 
The Board of Directors and any special Committees are private entities, not any State, County or City government which are under The Sunshine Law. Also, they can go into executive committee for deliberation. 
Board meetings, including Board committee meetings are open to ALL OWNERS period. If the ARB or BOD isn't run openly, then recall the Board and committee if necessary. BTW FL Condos/HOAs are governed by FL Statues 718 or 720, your by-law, Articles of Incorporation and Florida Administrative Code. All their FL laws and rules are easil accessed via the internet or myflorida.com.

I believe ARB's and DRB's are subject to the Sunshine Statute if a municipality delegates authority to them to approve or deny a building permit. Florida's Attorney General agrees. Check out Number: AGO 99-53 
Date: September 1, 1999 
Subject: Sunshine Law, architectural review committee 
 
" In sum: 
1. An architectural review committee of a home owners' association 
is subject to the Government in the Sunshine Law and the Public 
Records Law where that committee, pursuant to county ordinance, 
must review and approve applications for county building permits. 
2. Meetings of such architectural committee to consider such 
applications must be noticed and open to the public at large and 
not merely to members of the homeowners' association. "