The bylaws must be recorded, and bylaw amendments are valid only if duly recorded. Certain bylaw changes need unit-owner approval and follow petition, mailing, and timing rules.
(a) A true copy of the bylaws shall be recorded in the same manner as the declaration. No amendment to the bylaws is valid unless the amendment is duly recorded. (b) The bylaws shall provide for at least the following: (1) The number of members of the board and the titles of the officers of the association; (2) Election by the board of a president, treasurer, secretary, and any other officers of the association the bylaws specify; (3) The qualifications, powers and duties, terms of office, and manner of electing and removing directors and officers and the filling of vacancies; (4) Designation of the powers the board or officers may delegate to other persons or to a managing agent; (5) Designation of the officers who may prepare, execute, certify, and record amendments to the declaration on behalf of the association; (6) The compensation, if any, of the directors; (7) Subject to subsection (e), a method for amending the bylaws; and (8) The percentage, consistent with this chapter, that is required to adopt decisions binding on all unit owners; provided that votes allocated to lobby areas, swimming pools, recreation areas, saunas, storage areas, hallways, trash chutes, laundry chutes, and other similar common areas not located inside units shall not be cast at any association meeting, regardless of their designation in the declaration. (c) The bylaws may provide for staggering the terms of directors by dividing the total number of directors into groups. The terms of office of the several groups need not be uniform. (d) Subject to the provisions of the declaration, the bylaws may provide for any other matters the association deems necessary and appropriate. (e) The bylaws may be amended at any time by the vote or written consent of at least sixty-seven per cent of all unit owners. Any proposed bylaws together with the detailed rationale for the proposal may be submitted by the board or by a volunteer unit owners group. If submitted by that group, the proposal shall be accompanied by a petition signed by not less than twenty-five per cent of the unit owners as shown in the association's record of ownership. The proposed bylaws, rationale, and ballots for voting on any proposed bylaw shall be mailed by the board to the owners at the expense of the association for vote or written consent without change within thirty days of the receipt of the petition by the board. The vote or written consent, to be valid, must be obtained within three hundred sixty-five days after mailing for a proposed bylaw submitted by either the board or a volunteer unit owners group. If the bylaw is duly adopted, the board shall cause the bylaw amendment to be recorded. The volunteer unit owners group shall be precluded from submitting a petition for a proposed bylaw that is substantially similar to that which has been previously mailed to the owners within three hundred sixty-five days after the original petition was submitted to the board. This subsection shall not preclude any unit owner or volunteer unit owners group from proposing any bylaw amendment at any annual association meeting. [L 2004, c 164, pt of §2; am L 2006, c 273, §18]