Update: Hilton Head Plantation board to tighten meeting access after controversial vote
A controversial set of proposed revisions to the Hilton Head Plantation POA’s guidelines was passed Tuesday morning, according to a board member with knowledge of the vote. The amendments to the association’s rules have ignited a debate over transparency as the gated community’s leaders moved to approve “invite-only” access to committee meetings.
The revision allows property owners and guests access to committee meetings only “at the discretion of the Chair of the Committee.” Previously, those meetings were open to any POA member in good standing with the association.
Other new additions to the general committee guidelines include an outline of the committee application process, language allowing for the formation of ad hoc committees and rules for the appointment of members to the board’s election committee. The full text of the now-approved revisions can be read below.
These guidelines had not been revised since 2004 and were long overdue for an update, according to Peter Kristian, the community’s general manager. It was not immediately clear why the revised meeting rules were part of the proposal or what specific problem they were intended to solve.
POA board vice president Margie Lechowicz and Kristian submitted the planned changes June 21 at the request of board president Carlton Dallas. The nine-person board of directors voted on the proposal at 9 a.m. Tuesday during their monthly meeting, which is not open to residents and not publicly advertised.
In a phone interview Monday with The Island Packet and Beaufort Gazette, Kristian pushed back against the online outrage, saying that under the new proposal residents could attend board meetings or committee meetings by asking either the board president or committee chair for permission. Property owners rarely attended these meetings either way, he added.
“No one has ever been denied the ability to attend a committee meeting if they’ve asked ahead of time,” Kristian said. “There’s nothing that changes that in the document that’s being considered.”
Each member of the board of directors — comprised of five elected residents and four officers — heads a specialized committee, whose monthly meetings include a number of chair-appointed members and have previously been open to other property owners. Proposals made at each committee meeting are put to a vote at the monthly board meeting.
Hilton Head Plantation is home to about 10,000 residents, comprising nearly a third of the island’s total population. The privately owned POA is funded by member dues, meaning the association’s meetings are not subject to open meeting laws under the Freedom of Information Act, unlike public bodies such as town and city councils.
Kristian did not respond to multiple requests for comment made over phone on Tuesday.
This story was originally published June 25, 2024 at 1:58 PM with the headline "Update: Hilton Head Plantation board to tighten meeting access after controversial vote."
