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All Condo Owners win when the board works together!

  • wecare994
  • Jul 24, 2024
  • 3 min read

My last post was about condo boards creating committees to govern and manage a condominium corporation and how effective committees can be to ensure that you have the best people to tackle a problem but it creates community when everyone works together to solve problems and then everyone wins. A condo board must be willing to be inclusive in order to maintain a successful building. Why would a board struggle to deal with issues that are beyond their scope when there are people living in the building who have the knowledge? Think about it...how silly is it that there are people sitting and waiting and able to assist the board and they struggle daily to complete a project or task that they are incapable to completing for any reason when all they had to do was reach out to their neighbors and ask them to help. All owners in a condo corporation have the same stake in how the corporation operates. Utilize your resources. It's not just poor governance it's bad management and leadership and puts the corporation in jeopardy. If a board is unable to create a community then the owners need to step in and demand action from their board. In order to be successful everyone needs to understand their strengths and weaknesses and a condo board is not different. A condo board needs to look around an evaluate the skills of and strengths and weaknesses of their board and once they've identified reach out to fill up the weaknesses. This is the only key to good leadership and the only way to be successful. A board of directors is not an exclusive club and shouldn't be treated that way. They should stay away from creating an us and them attitude the board should be able to turn around year after year with different members elected by the owners to bring a different perspective, different skills, knowledge and experience and include as many owners in committees as possible to work together to maintain a successful board of directors to create a strong successful corporation.


We see too many boards using the same divisive language and developing the same attitudes. Boards often refer to "we" as the board or continue to make excuses because a board is a "volunteer" position. Well we is the building the owners everyone who owns part of the corporation. Creating a us and them mentality creates division and anger within the condo community and creates no benefits. Condo boards need to understand they volunteered to serve the community and the owners and they are responsible to them for their actions and activity not the other way around. If a board member is not concerned what the owners in their building then you as owners need to re-set your board and start educating them.


How ineffective and ridiculous is it that a board is struggling to work through a problem and someone living right next to them may be an expert in that problem. The neighbor may have dealt with the same situation in the past or in their everyday life so why you would struggle and put the corporation is jeopardy and not reach out and ask for help from people who can help? If a board member is overwhelmed and unable to manage the task them they need to reach out to other owners to form a committee or step down and reach out to the ownership to find owners who can complete the task that's the reason condo boards were developed. I'm not preaching singing camp fires songs together - its a simple solution I think they call it teamwork! In a condo corporation the owners are a team the board needs to change their attitude and understand everyone is in the same position, their actions and inactions affect everyone in the building. So bring the best team members forward to deal with problems and you have a great team and a great building.


Successful communities are inclusive and listen to the requests of their owners and become accountable to them. Contact us today if you would like more information on committees or assistance with educational tools and ideas to help your board become more inclusive and work together to create your successful community and corporation.



 
 
 

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Meetings and Events

Condo Buildings have many different types of meetings -AGMs, Special Meetings and  Extraordinary Meetings, Owners Meetings -    See below on tips for making your meeting inclusive and productive 

​Annual General Meetings are crucial to democracy, a condominium corporation in Alberta is required to have annual general meetings every year and at the latest 15 months from the last AGM. These are formal meetings where owners vote on all types of business such as new bylaws, bylaw changes, financial considerations, improvements, upgrades and elect a new board of directors. There are certain procedural rules boards must follow when organizing an AGM; notice must be provided 60 days prior to the AGM, this gives owners the ability to submit agenda items to the board. After the 60 days, formal notice with the agenda items must be sent to owners within 30-14 days prior to the meeting date. Make sure you are voting at your AGMs, you need to make sure the votes are counted - make sure your board is either holding elections through ballots or a counted hand vote. 

There are several types of other meetings a condo corporation holds - Special Meetings, Owners Meetings or Town Halls. It all depends on who is doing the organizing and the topics being put forward. Condo Owners should ensure that their meetings have at least the basic requirements for example: With the exception of Owners Meetings which are called by the owners and not formal, all meetings should include, if possible: scrutineers, agenda- ability of owners to add to agenda, accurate and properly recorded minutes, elections, voting - owners should be voting on issues at AGMs to name a few. There are many requirements to hold a duly organized meeting. For example, public companies and other corporations hire several entities when they hold AGMs. Most corporations start by hiring a law firm. a company to scrutineer and often depending on the type of meeting a solicitation agent. Unfortunately, and of course because it's impractical for the majority of Condo Corporations to assume the expense of all or even a few of those entities most Condo Corporations rely on the knowledge of the property manager and an inexperienced board to deal with meetings which affects the quality of the meetings.

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​The quality of condo meetings depend on the quality of the property manager and the knowledge of your board of directors. Most condo meetings are pretty poor which leads to very little advancement and improvements in the corporation. If your condo corporation holds proper meetings then thank goodness and let us know! We want to hear about condos that are working well together creating successful condo communities. If not then well we all know when buildings incur this type of combination of a poor manager and a poor board for too long the building starts to deteriorate very quickly. Most building come equipped with basic bylaws created by the developer included in the owners manual, some specs and basic information and little else so if you were unlucky to buy into a property with owners who knew very little about condo boards you are probably facing some difficulties after a number of years.  Call us anytime and we will audit your meetings, elections or if you assist in coordinating any type of meeting. See our simple suggestions for make your meetings even more successful. 

condo meeting

Everyone is happier with a cookie in their hand

condo meeting - AGM

                                 Make people feel welcome!         

                           

Meetings are stressful even if there are no hot topics so anything you can do to lighten the mood is helpful. You could also have a giveaway or a play a little game before you get started. Don't forget name tags for large gatherings, bring a card or provide contact information and don't forget a pen, notepad or your phone to take notes and exchange information.  

If you organized the meeting: don't forget to shake as many peoples hands and introduce yourself to as many people as you can!

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Hint: If you are organizing the meeting you should be the last to leave! This helps make sure you talk to everyone who came to talk to you!

                                             Its ALL in the Details

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We believe details are important! Set up a station with coffee, juice or water to keep people hydrated and bring along some home baked or store bought treats. Owners will feel welcome and it helps to set the tone of a meeting. Who can argue with a piece of cake in their hand or mouth! Meetings should be informative and engaging and setting the tone will make your meetings more successful.

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Hint: You'll often be able to tell the people who support you or at least like you if they take a cookie or drink some coffee. More combative individuals won't take the cookie because they feel like they would owe you something back and sometimes that's just being nice and respectful.

CONTACT US Before you buy a condo 

Working as a Trustee in the corporate debt space for over a decade has helped me build a foundation in Corporate and Securities Law. As a a Manager of Corporate Trust acting as debt Trustee, collateral agent or escrow agent, I was involved in many types of large international transaction and the biggest bought deal in Canadian history. As a trustee we were involved in, attended and scrutineered all types of meetings, extraordinary resolutions and consent solicitations. As Corporate Secretary for a large public company, I have over a decade of experience in many aspects of Corporate Law.  I worked for  several years in compliance for a capital raising investment company and worked in the prosecution department at IIROC. My degree in political science gives me a heightened sense of justice and expertise in all levels of government, democratic institutions and democratic practices.  I started this company to help other condo owners who were having similar experiences with condo boards. My corporate law and securities experience provides a great backdrop to be able to help create inclusive communities one building at a time, fighting one board at a time to bring back democracy and inclusion to Condo boards. People don't need to be fighting boards -it ruins their piece of mind and stunts community growth. Boards of Directors need to be held accountable for bad decisions and bad operating procedures and educated in best practices. 

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CONTACT
LOCATION

Email: wecare@momentumcondo.com
Phone: 403.651.7403
 

881 -15 Avenue SW

Calgary, Alberta T2R 1R8

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​Sunday: Closed

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