How can an HOA board track decisions and action items between meetings?

By OurHOA · General information · Revised November 5, 2026

How an HOA board can keep a decision log and action item list between meetings: columns to track, what TX, FL and CO law says about acting outside meetings, retention.

Part of the HOA board handbook: running the board.

The short answer

Keep two documents and review them at every meeting. A decision log lists every motion the board adopts, in order, with the date, vote and amount. An action item list turns each decision into tasks, each with one named person and a real due date. Minutes stay the official record. The log and the list are how the board finds out, a month later, whether anyone did the work. Both should live in the association's shared folder, not on a director's laptop, and both should be written as if an owner will read them, because in most states an owner can ask to.

Why minutes are not enough

Minutes record what happened at one meeting. They are bad at showing what is still open. A board that approved a fence repair in March, a new fine schedule in May and a pool contract in June has those decisions spread across three sets of minutes, and nobody can see at a glance whether the fence got fixed or the fine schedule ever reached owners. Work falls through because each director assumes another one has it. Our guide on HOA board meeting minutes covers what minutes should say. This guide covers what happens after they are approved.

Set up the decision log

Use a spreadsheet with one row per adopted motion. The columns that earn their keep are: entry number, meeting date, a one-line description, the vote count with any recusals, the dollar amount and the fund it comes from, the effective date, any resolution or policy it created or changed, and where it appears in the minutes. A row might read: 2026-07, March 12, approved the fence repair bid, $8,400 from reserves, 4 to 0 with one director recused, see March minutes item 6. Two years later, when an owner asks why the association pays for gate repairs or when the late fee went up, the log answers it in a minute. It also makes records requests easier, because you can point to the exact minutes instead of handing over a stack. Log decisions made outside a meeting too, with the date the last vote came in and a note that they will be reported at the next meeting.

Set up the action item list

The action item list tracks work, not decisions. Each row needs a short task, the decision log entry it came from, one named owner, a due date, a status and a notes column. Assign each item to one person, never to the board or a committee as a whole. If three people own it, nobody does. Write dates as dates. Next month is not a due date. April 15 is. Keep status to four choices: not started, in progress, waiting on someone else, done. Then define done in the task itself, because getting three bids and signing the contract are different jobs. Here is what three lines look like. Item 14, from entry 2026-07: schedule the fence repair. Owner, the vice president. Due April 30. Status, contractor booked for April 22. Item 15, from the May fine schedule: mail the adopted schedule to all owners and post it. Owner, the secretary. Due May 22. Status, done May 20. Item 16, from the June pool contract: set up the vendor for payment and get the insurance certificate. Owner, the treasurer. Due July 1. Status, waiting on the certificate.

Review it at every meeting

Make action item review a standing agenda item near the top, so it does not get squeezed out by the topic everyone came to argue about. The secretary sends the updated list with the meeting packet. At the meeting each owner gives a one-sentence update. Done items move to an archive tab. Late items get a new date or a new owner, and the board says why on the record. An item that slips three meetings in a row is usually too big or has nobody with time for it, so break it into smaller steps or pay someone to do it. Ten minutes per meeting catches most of what would otherwise be forgotten. A motion the secretary can use to start the practice: I move that the board adopt a decision log and action item list, kept by the secretary in the association's shared folder, and that review of open action items be a standing item on every regular board meeting agenda.

Carry out decisions between meetings, but do not make new ones

The list keeps work moving, but it gives no director new authority. Doing what the board already approved is fine. Making a new choice is not, and state law draws the line in different places. In Texas, Property Code section 209.0051(h) lets a board act outside a meeting, including by email vote, if every director gets a reasonable chance to give an opinion to the others and to vote. The action must then be summarized orally, with any known or estimated spending, and recorded in the minutes of the next meeting. Fifteen subjects can never be handled that way and need a noticed open meeting, among them fines, assessment increases, special assessments, borrowing, budget approval, filling a board vacancy and electing officers. Florida Statutes section 720.303(2)(a) lets directors use email to communicate but bars casting a vote on an association matter by email. In Colorado, section 38-33.3-317(1)(c) and (d) of the Colorado Common Interest Ownership Act treats any action taken without a meeting, and the directors' written messages and votes tied to it, as association records, so keep them. California Civil Code section 4910 bars board action outside a meeting, with one exception: an emergency meeting by email that every director consents to in writing. When a task hits a snag that needs a choice, such as a contractor raising the price above what was approved, the item owner brings it back to the board. Write the snag in the status column so it lands on the next agenda.

Treat both documents as records

Write every entry the way you would want an owner or a judge to read it: facts, dates and amounts, no opinions about owners or vendors. Florida's official records list in section 720.303(4)(a) ends with all other written records related to the operation of the association, and those records must be kept at least 7 years. Colorado's section 38-33.3-317(1)(c) covers minutes, actions taken without a meeting and actions of board committees. Texas section 209.0051(d) requires written minutes of every regular and special board meeting, available to members on written request, and section 209.005(m) requires associations with more than 14 lots to adopt a retention policy that keeps minutes and financial records for 7 years and contracts of a year or more for 4 years after they end. Keep executive session items, such as a delinquency or a personnel matter, in general terms or on a separate restricted tab. Texas 209.0051(c) requires decisions made in executive session to be summarized in general terms in the minutes, and Colorado section 38-33.3-308(7) requires minutes to show that an executive session was held and its general subject. Make sure the log never says more than the minutes do.

Mistakes boards make

Assigning tasks to the board as a whole. Letting the list live in one director's email, so it leaves when they do. Writing items so vague that nobody can tell when they are done. Treating an email thread that settled a new question as a decision, which in Florida is a vote the statute does not allow, and in Texas is a valid action only if every director had a chance to weigh in and it is reported at the next meeting. Recording gossip or blame in the notes column. Skipping the review when the agenda is crowded, which is exactly when items slip. If you are not sure whether something can be done by written consent, our guide on taking HOA board action by unanimous written consent walks through when that works.

The payoff at handover

A clean log and list are the most useful thing an outgoing board can leave behind. New directors can read three years of decisions in an evening instead of every set of minutes, and they can see which projects are half finished and who had them. When a director resigns mid-term, reassign their open items at the next meeting so nothing is orphaned. Rules on meetings, records and retention vary by state and by your declaration and bylaws, so check both. This guide is general education, not legal advice.

Sources

These guides are general education for HOA boards and residents, not legal, tax, or financial advice. Rules vary by state and by your community's governing documents - check with a professional for your situation.

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