In an attempt to make board meetings brief, they have taken to voting the “consent calendar” as one agenda item without any prior members’ knowledge, discussion or even speaking the items on it. This month these include: approving minutes; acknowledging the directors reviewed the financials; treasurer’s report; manager’s report; and architectural/landscaping report. These matters are then adopted by the board at the meeting without discussion or disclosure of the contents.
When setting the agenda, items which are not expected to require discussion can be placed together in a group called the “consent calendar.” Once the agenda is set, the chair simply calls for a vote on the consent calendar group of items. There is no debate and no questions — items requiring questions or discussion by any director should already have been removed from the consent calendar. A quick vote follows, and the board has thusly handled multiple items at once. This not only eliminates undue consumption of time but also preserves value time and energy of the board for the matters which merit questions and discussion.