The Annual Membership Meeting is a very important aspect of living in a condominium. It should be an opportunity to review the activities of the past year, elect new Board members, and optionally plan for the coming year. In my opinion, the 2000 meeting only addressed one of these three areas: election of a new Board. An hour that was wasted waiting for the results of a lackluster election, but we didn't hear word one in the way of reports of Board and officers as required by the Bylaws. This was the first year of "committees". The Board meets on a regular basis on Wednesday evenings which may not be convenient for all members to attend, so the Annual Meeting might be their only opportunity to participate in HOA organizational activities. I would like to have seen committee reports and certainly a formal report on the activities of the Board in 1999 as part of the Annual Meeting. We ought to consider ways to speed up the counting of ballots for next year, but it also might be appropriate to plan some informative, intereactive activities to occupy the time required for this meeting.

By Stewart Sexton