What is an open meeting?
Open meeting laws generally require public entities to hold their meetings, well, openly, accessible to the public in person or electronically. HOAs, though, are usually classified as private, not-for-profit organizations, which means these laws often don’t apply the same way, even though many boards choose openness anyway.
Why does an open meeting matter?
Even without a legal requirement, running meetings openly is one of the simplest ways a board builds trust. Residents who feel shut out of the process tend to assume the worst about decisions made behind closed doors, whether or not that assumption is fair.
When You’ll Run Into This
This distinction matters most when a resident assumes state open-meeting law applies to their HOA and is surprised to learn the rules are actually set by the community’s own bylaws. Our complete guide to HOA meetings covers how most communities choose to handle this anyway.
