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While it's true that you find more than a million links for the topic above at the sites searched, you may not need to go any further than your neighborhood HOA to understand the powerful link between your association and the legal counsel they have hired▶ It also won't take you long to realize that the very same legal counsel is the primary roadblock to real transparency within your association, or at least that is the observation of this HOA citizen journalist.

https://goo.gl/G4uGDn
If you read the a series of search results and archive on topic (#transparency), the question of how much or how little transparency exists in the typical common interest development (aka HOA) is answered only by personal experience▶ As for our Inland Empire, Southern California HOA, the #transparency experience is uneven, at best▶ In California, the complicated Davis-Stirling law (DSL) specifies these topics only for private, executive session by any HOA Board▶ Hence, these guidelines serve as a certain moderator that permits some #transparency ▶

1.  Legal Issues. Boards may go into executive session to “consider litigation."
2.  Formation of Contracts. Boards may consider matters relating to the formation of contracts with third parties.
3.  Disciplinary Hearings. Boards should meet in executive session for all disciplinary hearings. The accused member is entitled to attend the executive session for that portion of the meeting dealing with member's hearing.
4.  Personnel Issues. Personnel matters which include, but are not limited to, hiring, firing, raises, disciplinary matters and performance reviews.
5.  Payment Plan. Board may meet with members in executive session to discuss requests by delinquent members for payment plans.
6.  Foreclosure. The decision to initiate foreclosure shall be made only by the board of directors of the association and may not be delegated to an agent of the association. The board must approve the decision by a majority vote of the directors in executive session. 

So, what could possibly cause a question about #transparency?▶ Easily, #1 (Legal Issues) in the list usually is the typical cause for perceived transparency conflict, but the DSL defines those "legal issues" as actions to "consider litigation"▶  Not all actions between the board and legal counsel are about litigation▶

Early on in our current HOA experience that began in November 2011, we attended an open forum in which the HOA legal counsel was present when a contentious issue was on the agenda▶  The attorney made it clear that he presence was as representative for the board and not for members of the association▶  On several other occasions, that same legal counsel has made responsibilities clear▶  HOA attorneys are not employed by and do not act on behalf of homeowners▶

 Rarely do our HOA attorneys attend general, open meetings of the association▶  Usually, attorney presence is only arranged by the board when a contentious issue is on the agenda▶  In some ways, this is a cost control issue, but it proves that the #PRIVATOPIA nature of HOAs brings a basic presumption that transparency issues are bound to arise▶

No one would suggest that HOAs, which are truly nonprofit corporations, function bare of legal counsel▶ But the presence and role of lawyers, whose fees are paid by homeowners dues, will inevitably create #transparency issues that are the natural outcome of HOA management▶



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ALTACITIES® by social media archivist ALTALOMAN® is a web moniker for content created and archived in the 'social current see' (SCS) for and about the subject of COMMON INTEREST DEVELOPMENTS, the residential communities of some 68 million people in the USA.


▶ALTACITIES®, an acronym for "ALTERNATE CITIES", is the web moniker for the neighborhood of sites, blogs and locations created and managed by ALTALOMAN, in reference to our journals and blogging activity when Dee Dee and I were residents of Alta Loma, part of Rancho Cucamonga in Southern California. Of course, we have moved on but these ALTACITIES® remain.
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