Oceanside woman takes Robert's Rules seriously

By: PATTY MCCORMAC - For the North County Times | Saturday, November 24, 2007 8:19 PM PST ∞

OCEANSIDE -- Before each homeowners association meeting during which she takes minutes, Willeen Hasler has before her on the table a copy of Robert's Rules of Order, a copy of the association's rules and regulations, and a kitchen timer.

These three items assure her that the meeting about to begin will run smoothly, that questions can be clarified, and that no one in the audience will speak longer than the allotted time of three minutes.

"Ding!"

Hasler has more than 20 years' experience as a homeowners association meeting recorder, trainer and specialist in HOA meeting minutes and the use of Robert's Rules of Order. She is an inspector of elections, an office management trainer and consultant.

Between giving workshops on how to give better meetings through SCORE San Diego, through the Carlsbad Chamber of Commerce and taking care of her six longtime community association clients, she has made being a parliamentary procedure expert practically a full-time job.

"I admire that woman, I really do," said Dennis Paquin, president of Oceanside's Pilgrim Creek Estates Homeowners Association, where Hasler has overseen board meetings for the last 15 years. "I look to her to keep me straight."

Hasler, 78, was recently honored for her 15 years with the Pilgrim Creek Estates Homeowners Association and for her service to the community. Paquin recommended a resolution for the commendation, and it was passed unanimously.

Her primary responsibility is taking minutes, keeping records and making sure that any action taken is correct under the law, he said.

"She is extremely knowledgeable in community association law," Paquin said.

He said there are so many changes in the law governing them that if boards are not kept abreast of the changes, there could be serious legal problems.

"It's very complex," he said.

Hasler's experience came through being the secretary to the superintendent of the Santa Paula School District and a few years later in the late 1970s, as the secretary to the president of Ventura College in Ventura.

Hasler's workshops are lessons in basic parliamentary law. Club officers, committee chairs, board presidents and members take them. She teaches them what is whose responsibility, what agendas should look like, how to actively participate in meetings, take notes, amend bylaws and make better decisions.

Her bible: Robert's Rules of Order, which Hasler said Henry Roberts wrote it in 1863 at the request of Congress.

"Up until then, they would spit on each other if they were mad," she said. "They knocked people down and yelled at each other."

Roberts, who was in the Army, was chosen because he had written some rules for some army generals, she said.

Her next big assistance comes from California's Davis-Stirling Act that in 1984 helped narrow rules and regulations for common interest groups such as homeowners associations.

To lead a meeting successfully, Hasler said, she cannot stress enough that one must know Robert's Rules of Order, and they must have one other skill as well ---- to maintain their cool when things become heated.

"Keeping your cool when someone is yelling at you is hard," she said.

She said when she faces such a situation, she purposely lowers her voice and talks softly.

"Talk quietly and know the rules. A person who has to shout back is not going to be successful," she said.

If things start to get too far out of hand, the president can call a recess or end the meeting.

"Many people don't know they can stop it, but they can," she said.

She said one of the biggest mistakes people make at board meetings is that they take too many notes while taking minutes.

"Minutes are for action items that take place," she said.

Writing a small summary of what was said leading up to the action is acceptable, but it is a waste of time to record whole conversations, she said.