Questions for Discussion in the Search for a Better Way to Live at the POR

SUGGESTED QUESTIONS PERTAINING TO THE SEARCH

FOR A BETTER WAY TO LIVE AT THE POR

                  1.  How is Condo governance organized? 

a.       How does it work and how could it work better?

b.      Should two persons working together be able to control every decision?

c.       Expansion of the Residential Committee to five?

d.      Preventing RC President and Board President from being same person?

e.      Not permitting Board members elected to the RC to be voting members of RC?

f.        Separate direct election by Residents of the members of the RC and the two Board Members?

g.       Elect leadership on the basis of staggered terms to preserve some continuity?
2.  Should Condo governance be required to be more open?

a.       Require not less than four quarterly open RC and Board meetings a year with RC meetings preceding Board meetings by one full month because Board is required to approve 100 percent of what RC recommends (RC can’t “do” anything per Bylaws).

b.      Should Residents be given notice and right to attend or be on dial in conference call to hear every quarterly RC and Board meeting?

c.       Should other meetings than quarterly be limited to emergency?

d.      Should attendance be taken and minutes taken, and required to be published either on mp3 file or on paper?

e.      Should governance best practices be required?

3                      3.    Do we need a Residents’ Bill of Rights to protect us all from arbitrary tyranny and micromanagement some of us have been experiencing?

a.       All Residents are entitled to the “quiet enjoyment” of their homes by Bylaws (but not as clearly stated as may be needed) and by common law.  Do we have that or do we have micromanagement that is out of bounds?

b.      Residents are entitled to real Due Process. But the same committee or Board that fines us also decides our appeals, under the Rules, and Due Process is eviscerated by the current administration.  The only relief is expensive litigation or toxic atmosphere over time to get people elected “out” of office.  Bill of Rights could address this.

c.       What does it mean to be a pet friendly Condominium?

d.      What does it mean to be watched by cameras at every corner in our homes and punished for not closing the garage door one time out of one thousand in our homes?

4                      4.  Should the Board and/or RC regulate daily life and monitor Rule infractions initially or should that be the job of the Professional Building Manager in a Condominium of our size?

a.       A concern is to keep the volunteer leadership’s actual time commitment to a size that is manageable for the very busy people who live here so we get the best people to volunteer.

b.      Micromanagement by our neighbors or professional management of the building with moderate oversight of the Rules? 

c.       Fines should be the last or the first resort?
5.  Might cost more; Are we getting our money’s worth from PMC?