Handling privacy concerns for email and phone information

I want to revisit an issue addressed in my Nov. 11 column regarding the amendment to Section 19(a) (7) of the Condominium Property Act. The amendment, effective Jan. 1, provides that the board must maintain a list of email addresses and telephone numbers of all members for examination and copying by unit owners, to be provided if requested for a purpose that relates to the association. Previously, only owner names, addresses and weighted vote were required to be maintained.

The change in the law is raising privacy concerns. That is, associations may have unit owner email addresses and telephone numbers; however, it was never contemplated that telephone numbers would be made available to other unit owners.

I stated that in reading Section 19(a) (7) and Section 18.4(s) of the Act together, it was my view that an association only has to provide an owner's email to another owner making a request for this information, if: A) the association has adopted a rule permitting owners to consent to receive electronic communications; B) if an owner has consented to receive electronic communications; and C) if such owner has designated an email address as the unit owner's address on any list of members or unit owners that an association is required to provide upon request.

While that is a reasonable argument to make, it might be too aggressive of a position for many associations.

Another approach to the privacy concerns raised by the change in the law may be for associations to provide unit owners with an opportunity to designate what email address and/or telephone number the association will provide to another unit owner under Section 19(a) (7) of the Act. This will give the owners an opportunity to create an email address just for this purpose; one board member of another client told me they would purchase a rarely used "burner phone" to create the telephone number provided to the association.

The bottom line though is the legislature needs to act swiftly to restrict access to owner email addresses and telephone numbers by other owners, unless an owner has consented to the release of such information. Try calling your state representatives, at home, to let them know what you think.

Q. Our association has various reserve accounts for various projects. Last year, the board of our association voted to consolidate all reserves into one unrestricted reserve account. Is it legal for the board to do this?

A. The various reserve accounts could generally be consolidated into a single reserve account. However, if the association's declaration requires the reserve account to be "segregated and allocated for specific purposes," the reserve account must be itemized (allocated) by component for each component of the property subject to reserves. The funds could be in a single reserve fund, or account; however, the records of the association would have to identify the itemized allocation. Otherwise, the reserve funds could be considered in a general unrestricted account.

Q. The board of our association posts notice of board meetings throughout the association. However, the board does not post the board meeting agenda. Is the board required to post the agenda with the notice of the board meeting?

A. The board is required to post notice of its meetings, stating the date, time, place and purpose of the meeting. However, the board is not required, unless required by the association's declaration or bylaws, to post the agenda. That said, many boards do post the proposed agenda with the notice of board meeting. This is a matter of personal preference, often based on the desire of the owners.

• David M. Bendoff is an attorney with Kovitz Shifrin Nesbit in the Chicago suburbs. Send questions for the column to him at CondoTalk@ksnlaw.com. The firm provides legal service to condominium, townhouse, homeowner associations and housing cooperatives. This column is not a substitute for consultation with legal counsel.