Tips to help avoid mayhem at your next annual meeting

Q. We are a fairly good sized self-managed association. We have had significant turnover on the board. As a result, information has not been effectively transferred to current board members. As a further result, our most recent annual meeting was a disaster, mostly because the board was not prepared. Do you have some basic tips for a smooth annual meeting?

A. An annual meeting can go sideways for any variety of reasons. Here is a brief list of preparatory actions the board can take to eliminate some of the potential snafus.

• Bring an accurate list of owners to the meeting.

• Owners should check in on arrival.

• At check-in, owners who have proxies for other owners should be given a ballot for each proxy. Owners who appear in person to vote should be given a ballot. This should avoid the inadvertent issuance of multiple ballots for a unit.

• Proxies are not ballots. Actual ballots need to be available and distributed at the annual meeting.

• A quorum should be established before the meeting is called to order. This would be based on the number of proxies and owners attending in person.

• If there is cumulative voting, an explanation should be provided as to how this works in completing a ballot.

• A vote tally sheet and calculator should be brought to the annual meeting.

• Election inspectors, comprised of owners who are not candidates, should be appointed to tally the vote.

• Tabulation of ballots is typically performed off to the side by someone appointed as an "election inspector," and the results are then read. Some associations just announce the winners; others report as to specific number of votes each candidate received.

• The minutes from the last annual meeting should be approved at the current annual meeting.

• Minutes need to be taken of the annual meeting.

This list is by no means complete. It is intended to be illustrative of some basic issues to address for a smoother annual meeting.

Q. One of the units in our condominium association flooded when a common element pipe failed late one evening. The problem was exacerbated because we could not reach our property manager. Are property management companies required to maintain a 24-hour emergency service phone number for residents to call?

A. There is no requirement in Illinois that a property management company maintain a 24-hour emergency service phone number. That said, most do, and that is something to discuss with any property management company being considered by an association.

Q. For the second time in recent years, contracts between the association and third parties automatically renewed without the board being fully aware. The board was not happy with the performance of the two vendors whose contract automatically renewed (but not enough to terminate with cause) and the association is now stuck with each for another couple of years. What can the board do to prevent these contracts from automatically renewing in the future?

A. Associations enter contracts with auto-renewal provisions for any number of reasons. Such contracts, while providing for auto-renewal, also include language that describes how auto-renewal can be avoided. This typically requires the association to provide the other party to the contract with written notice, by some specified date, that the association elects to terminate the contract at the end of the current term.

Associations should maintain a list of all contracts and their expiration dates. The list should also indicate if the contract automatically renews and, if so, by when notice of nonrenewal would have to be issued. The list should be reviewed frequently by the board so that timely action can be taken if the association wants to avoid nonrenewal of a particular contract or contracts.

• David M. Bendoff is an attorney with Kovitz Shifrin Nesbit in the Chicago suburbs. Send questions for the column to him at CondoTalk@ksnlaw.com. The firm provides legal service to condominium, townhouse, homeowner associations and housing cooperatives. This column is not a substitute for consultation with legal counsel.