All-Community Meeting, Wednesday August 14, 2024

Topics: CCR Updates, common house fridge and freezer

Present:  Ben (fac), Alex, Kay (notes), Jorge, Kerry, Robin, Linda, Scott, Kellie, Lynda (left early), Tobi, Laura, Laraine, Vicky, K.J.

Reminder:  Committee budget requests are due at the end of this month.

Action Items

Looking for a volunteer to take old community photos & find a way to display them, e.g., digitize them for a slide-show.

Updates to CCR

The community has three legal documents laying out rules. The lowest level is Rules & Regulations (R&R), then the Bylaws, then the CCR.  (Note by notetaker: We’ve never collected the R&R into a single document -- which we need to do; basically that’s what proposals are.)

In response to problems Management has encountered and issues brought to our attention by residents, there are a couple of CCR changes that Management feels are needed. We may as well fix a few other things while we’re at it. 

Management has been consulting with an attorney, Quinn Sperry, whether the changes would be legal, before we bring them to the community for discussion, to avoid spending community time on impossibilities.  Mr. Sperry is very knowledgeable about condo law.  He charges $300/hour for his time, less for paralegals’.  Initial quote $2500, reduced to $1500 this year plus $500 next, plus filing fees.

The intention is that the community will work out the CCR changes.  Changes to the CCR require a two-thirds vote.  We’d like consensus, but legally we have to vote.  Once the community is satisfied then the attorney will review the changes, and if they are okay, file the CCR.

Storage.  Add language to the CCR saying that the community can make rules regarding storage in the R&R.  Our current CCR says storage is not permitted anywhere in the common areas without permission by Management.  The rules would clarify and standardize what’s allowed.

Require Unit Insurance.  Require unit owners to have an HO6 insurance policy rather than self-insuring. That way that the community isn’t left holding the bag for repairs a unit owner can’t afford.

Table of Maintenance Responsibility.  Add window & door trim, deck railings to the Table of Maintenance Responsibility. Things that serve the entire community, like the central path, parking lots, or the main water & sewer lines, are clearly the community’s responsibility. Things that serve just a particular unit are the owner’s responsibility, up to $25K, such as the sewer, the electrical, gas lines, etc.  The Table clarifies whether the Association or the unit owner is responsible for maintenance & repair where that might be ambiguous. We expand the table as we come across these.

Non-Participation Fee (Pay or Play).  Add language to the CCR saying we can specify participation rules & fees in the R&R.  Part of the rationale for charging fees for non-participation is that work not done by residents has to be paid for.  The CCR limits the fee to three times the minimum to do the work. That would probably be interpreted as minimum wage, which was hasn’t changed in 15 years and is increasingly inadequate to hire skilled labor. 

Management Membership.  Allow two of the five members of management to be non-owners so long as they are residents.  This increases the pool of people who can serve to include renters and family members whose names aren’t on the deed.

Reinvestment Fee.  Charge a reinvestment fee of a half of a percent of sale price when a unit is sold, rather than the current transfer fee of $500.  This money would go directly into the capital reserve.  Who would pay it, seller or buyer, would be negotiated between them.  (As an example, on a $400K unit, the reinvestment fee would be $2K.)

Note that the changes on storage and nonparticipation just say the community can make rules in the R&R, without saying what the rules will be.  The community will make & approve the rules.  The R&R don’t have to be filed with the state, are more easily changed, and also aren’t scrutinized as closely by title and mortgage companies, who may not be comfortable with cohousing.

Q.  Aren’t insurance policies required by law?  A. No.

Q. Are fees for non-participation even legal?  A.  Yes, the Association has discussed it with several attorneys over the years.  We can require participation, and we can fine non-participation.  (We don’t like the word ‘fine’.)

Q.  Does the table of responsibilities specify who pays to maintain and repair the individual paths from porch to central path?  A. It’s specified somewhere in the CCR.  We don’t currently have any standard for what these paths are made of. It’s important to enforce rules uniformly; not having a good record of enforcing rules complicates attempts to do so.  If we did decide on standards, we might need to grandfather current paths, only requiring that if/when they are altered they must become compliant.

Q.  How does this impact my plans to get a shed?  A.  Currently you need to get permission from Management -- and many people haven’t.  We want the community to decide what’s okay.

Q.  There seem to be a lot of issues with decks. Shouldn’t owners with decks be responsible for more of the cost & maintenance?  A. Whether a unit has a deck is a factor in the formula that monthly fees is based on, so deck owners already pay extra every month. If there are problems, a unit owner’s insurance is responsible for the first $25K of damage.  The most serious issues have been due both to flaws in the original design and to poor installation by a contractor we don’t use anymore.

The unit owner is responsible for the decking itself.  Usually when Maintenance or Management talk about deck maintenance we are referring to the roof membrane.  Newer decks are designed to be easier to take up to clean under and leave less room for critters to nest under them.

One reason Management puts so much emphasis on building up the reserve is that special assessments are very painful to owners and a real black eye when a unit is being sold.

Insurance mostly pays for accidents, not long-term slow damage.  It’s very important that residents notify us promptly of any damage they become aware.

The quotes we got to fix everything needed on the central path are about $30K, and it is not in the capital reserve.

Suggestion for an additional item:  Parking & vehicles.  Possibly a provision saying we can make rules in the Rules & Regulations.

There is model language for architectural review & landscape that we could adopt.  However, if the CCR says we can make rules, if we want to adopt the model we can put it in the R&R instead of the CCR.

Process suggestion:  Identify which provisions need more discussion and which are uncontroversial by (e.g.) asking about concerns on each provision individually.

Once Management signs a contract with the lawyer, the $2K fee is good for three months, after which we get charged additional. Thus we want to get discussions about changes finished within that time frame. For the rest of the year the second ACM each month will be budget discussions, but that leaves an ACM each month for other business.

Common House Fridge and Freezer

The common house has been being used more recently, both community activities and groups hosted by a resident.  One concern has been the fridge being too crowded for use for events or for shared items like Farmette produce or frozen plums, due to a lot of personal food being stored in the fridge. The c.h. committee will be coming up with guidelines on fridge storage and use, possibly requiring labels, names, dates, and not allowing long-term storage of personal items.  If you have thoughts on this subject, please attend the next common house committee meeting (to be announced).

Announcements & Committee Reports

Unit 19 is under contract.

Fund-raising Committee.  Have raised over $3,262.  Doesn’t include donations for use of common house. Available for sale: 3D printer, bidet, chair & wine rack, glass table.

Wasp Spray.  Commercial spray available in the mail room (also some in the garage), or you can use dish detergent.

If someone mentions an issue to you, encourage them to attend meetings of the relevant committee to discuss ideas & concerns.

Events

25^th Anniversary Celebration.  It will help the committee if they have an idea of how many are likely to come to the 25^th Anniversary Celebration, Saturday September 28, so RSVP. Use the QR code on the postcard. If you have people you’d like invited, address a ‘Save the Date’ postcard and give it to Vicky to stamp and mail.  Laura is collecting photos of residents; she can take a photo or you can provide your favorite.  Looking for a volunteer to take old community photos & find a way to display them, e.g., digitize them for a slide-show.

Folk Festival, music, dancing, & food, August 17 Saturday 6 to 8 Peace Garden. 

Sing-along Saturday August 24^th 10 a.m. in the common house back yard.  Stacy Cole will be here.

Movie night Thursday the 15^th, 6:00 p.m., sponsored by Cooperative Culture Book Club, four shorts about community. (Live stream.)

Emailed 8/15/2024.