Understanding What’s in your ECA 2012 Annual Meeting Package

Elizabeth Condominium Association members should now have the Annual Meeting correspondence that includes:

--The cover letter of explanation from the ECA Board of Directors,

--Agenda for the May 2 meeting,

--A Proxy/Ballot,

--Statements by the seven candidates running for the five Board Director positions, and

--The proposed Amendments to the Bylaws. 

If you do not have this package, contact our management office and Jim Santos immediately.

This is a critically important meeting. Why?

#1 We are electing five (5) board members (normally this year we would elect 4).

#2 We will be voting on two bylaw amendments which will put us into conformance with recommendations consistent with Maryland Condominium law and which will potentially help us manage our resources better if these two amendments are approved by ECA Association members.

There has been some concern among a number of Association members that the amendment pertaining to lowering the percent of membership voting power (this is based on square footage of ownership) required to change other bylaws in the future from the current 75% to 66 2/3% is flawed because it substituted the original word ‘value’ with a the new word ‘votes.’ Therefore, our condominium lawyer Jason Fisher has issued the following clarification in which he concludes that there is no significant difference in meaning between ‘value’ and ‘votes.’

Clarification of Language in Proposed Bylaw Amendment #2

(from Association Counsel)

The modification of the language is made to have the amendment language consistent with the Maryland Condominium Act as well as the defined provisions of the documents. Specifically, Section 11-104(e)(2) of the Condominium Act provides:

(e) Amendments. --
   (2) (i) Except as provided in subparagraph (ii) of this paragraph, unless a higher percentage is required in the bylaws, the bylaws may be amended by the affirmative vote of unit owners having at least 66 2/3 percent of the votes in the council of unit owners.

The effect of the proposed amendment is to lower the percentage required to amend the bylaws from 75% to 66 2/3%, which is consistent with the Act as well as a most condominiums.  The vote required is still 66 2/3 of all owners of the Condominium (not just 66 2/3% of those present at a meeting). 

With respect to the use of the word “value” in the later sentence, it could also be changed to “vote” but in essence has no different meaning in this context.  The word “value” was used in the original version because it is referring to a petition of the owners, and the minimum number of owners who must sign the petition to initiate the action to call for an amendment.  In a petition, the owners signing are really not “voting” per se at that point, but are merely requesting a meeting be called to vote on a specific issue. As such, the signing of the petition in itself is not a “vote” but the percentage of 20% referenced merely refers to the percentage of owners required to sign the petition who represent 20% of the total owners of the association. The 20% is calculated based upon the equivalent voting interest of those who sign it.

It may be a bit confusing to some and really only a semantic difference, but the language has no significant difference in meaning.

Also, in case you are wondering, Jeremy M. Tucker, the attorney of record on our amendment changes, is a colleague of Jason Fisher, our lead attorney. They are both in the same legal firm, a firm that specializes in Maryland condominium law. Mr. Tucker has worked on other legal matters for The Elizabeth with Mr. Fisher. These are the most qualified attorneys that The Elizabeth has ever retained because they specialize in condominium law and are active with the association that supports condo laws.

Approving these new amendments is vitally important to the future health, safety, and quality of life at The Elizabeth. We need 75% of the Association votes (again, this means the votes are based on square footage of ownership value) in order to pass these bylaw changes. 

Be a good citizen by attending the annual meeting and voting then or by turning in your completed proxy to our management office. Also please encourage your neighbors to do the same. Every year those of us who attend the annual meeting are subject to the possibility that because not enough of the membership (what is required is 51%) will have filed their proxies or shown up at the annual meeting that we will not be able to conduct the annual meeting as scheduled. This year we need  75% of the membership to participate. 

If you have questions, I will do my best to help answer them.