Q: Is it illegal to go live online for a meeting open to the public in my community?
I live in An HOA Community and our board is run by residents that also reside here. They collect our fees and manage our money. Recently the community has become concerned with a lot of decisions made by the board and they have a record of saying one thing and doing another and not being accountable for what they say. The community is having an open meeting in the community clubhouse to discuss some of these matters freely as it’s an unofficial meeting. The board members will attend. Some of the people in the community have expressed that they will be unable to attend but would like The information available and we would like to tape it so that the community can watch it at their convenience. It will be posted to a private group that only our community can see. The board is telling us so we are not allowed to tape or go live with it and I’m wondering if they have any grounds to say that we cannot. Can we by law tape it? Furthermore can I post the video to our private fbook group?
A:
The answer to your final question is yes, the Florida Statutes permit tape recording and video recording of all HOA member meetings and board meetings. If you cannot find that yourself in the on-line statutes, I suggest you consult an attorney to find it for you. If the HOA directors still won't cooperate after being referred to the statute, you can file a lawsuit for injunctive relief - or you can start with hiring an attorney to send them a nasty letter threatening to bring suit.
By the way, this not a "constitutional law" question, as the only applicable law is State statute, as well as any published court opinions interpreting same.
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