You are the new HOA secretary, the meeting is this month, and the page is blank.

This page is for the volunteer HOA secretary in month one — condo, neighborhood, 24 homes or 240. It is not a training course and not legal advice. The association’s documents still win.

First-meeting checklist

1. Find the legal name. The name on the articles, not the subdivision marketing name. That goes on the agenda and the minutes.
2. Find last month’s minutes if they exist. If they do not, say so in this month’s minutes. Do not invent a prior record.
3. Ask how notice works. Your bylaws usually say how many days ahead the agenda must go out. Send it that many days ahead. Attach last month’s minutes and a treasurer one-pager if you have one.
4. Print two things for the chair: the timed agenda, and how to run a 60-minute board meeting (free). The president chairs. You write. Nobody else needs a speaking role unless called on.
5. Print a notes sheet with the same numbers as the agenda. Notes are fragments in the room. Minutes are the record the next day. Do not type the official minutes live.
6. Count directors out loud. Say whether you have a quorum. If you do not, you may wait or adjourn. You may not vote on association business.
7. The next day, turn the notes into minutes, with one sentence per motion. Save a PDF, send a draft to the board, and approve it at the next meeting, because that approved PDF is the record.
8. Start an action register the first night you assign anything. “Get three mailbox quotes” should not live in someone’s head. See HOA action items register.
9. Handoff. Leave the originals in the folder, so the next secretary inherits the book instead of a blank page.

What you can skip this month

• Redesigning letterhead.
• A homeowner app, dues collection, or live-meeting software.
• Writing a novel of who said the grass looks terrible.
• Fining anyone on the fly. If owner rights are at stake, stop and call counsel.
• Publishing executive-session details. Public minutes: category plus time in and time out. Sealed cover stays sealed.

Free how-to + $49

The free page is the chair’s one-pager: how to run a 60-minute board meeting. Read that even if you buy nothing. The $49 kit is the rest of the month: matching agenda, notes, and minutes template in Word (Google Docs opens it), action register, a Cedar Grove worked example so you can copy the shape, an executive-session cover, and an optional notes-to-minutes how-to. It is a one-time download through Paddle checkout, and it is not a subscription.

If you would rather see the method first, how to write HOA minutes walks through the eight things a record needs, and why a long argument or a one-line shrug both fail. If you want a filled example, the sample HOA meeting minutes use a fake board and are sample only.

Don’t fill this out if you are human:

Email Association name (optional) Email me the one-pager

The free 60-minute run-sheet plus the Cedar Grove sample minutes. No account. Unsubscribe any time. We will not sell your address.

Get The Minute Book — $49

1. Pay through Paddle (your statement may say Paddle).
2. Get an email with the zip.
3. Open “00 Read me first.” Copy this month’s files. Leave the originals.

Keep the Paddle receipt. Associations often reimburse a one-time supplies purchase. Pricing · What’s in the zip.

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