W I N T E R / S P R I N G 202 1 I S S U E
THE
BEACON A CHAPTER OF THE COMMUNIT Y ASSOCIATIONS INSTITUTE (CAI)
Is Your Association Complying with Maryland’s Open Meeting Requirements? BOARD MEMBERS AND committees of community associations are often unaware that their meetings are improper. They will get together at each other’s homes or will take certain actions by email. Under certain circumstances, these things are okay, but if they fail to give proper notice to the homeowners, then their meetings and any decisions made at such meetings may be improper. Maryland’s highest court, the Maryland Court of Special Appeals, recently reached such a conclusion in the case Willoughby Condominium of Chevy Chase v. Dillin, No. 2647, Sept. Term 2018 (Md. Ct. Spec. App. Oct. 14, 2020). In Willoughby, the condominium’s board of directors met at a special meeting and approved a contract to upgrade the condominium’s fire alarm system. The condominium’s bylaws required that a notice of three business days be given to directors regarding special meetings.
2021 DIAMOND SPONSORS Atlantic Maintenance Group, LLC Becht Engineering BT E&F Contracting, Inc. Hann & Hann Construction Services Kris Konstruction Roofing Professionals Minkoff Company, Inc. Palmer Brothers Painting & General Contracting Quest Insurance Risk Strategies Company RoofPro, LLC SageWater Simmerer Insurance
Notice of the meeting was posted in the condominium’s lobby and on its website, but not for the required three business days—the notice was posted on the morning of Tuesday, October 31, 2017 for the meeting that was to be held on the evening of Thursday, November 2, 2017. Under Maryland law, when computing such a period of time, the first day of the period is not counted, but the last day is. As a result, the notice was short by one business day. All of the directors waived the notice requirement and three of the five directors attended the meeting, as well as about twenty residents. The Court of Special Appeals affirmed, in part, the Montgomery County Circuit Court’s ruling that the Maryland Condominium Act’s open meeting requirements infer a duty to provide notice of all board meetings to homeowners, even though no such obligation was expressly stated in the condominium’s bylaws or the act. continued on page 4
SŌLitude Lake Management The Falcon Group Tidewater Property Management, AAMC TRC Engineering
2021 PLATINUM SPONSORS CIT Davis, Agnor, Rapaport & Skalny, LLC Nagle & Zaller, P.C. Quiza Management, LLC S&K Roofing, Siding & Windows, Inc.
2021 GOLD SPONSORS BB&T Association Services now Truist Condomnium Venture, Inc., AAMC D.H. Bader Management Services, Inc. FirstService Residential North Arundel Contracting Whiteford, Taylor & Preston LLP
1
