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Our co-op has been in disarray for almost 20 years. I got elected to the Board two years ago and President this year. Since I actually project manage for a living, I used my experience to revamp everything. We now have a website that allows shareholders to submit work orders and easy for the management company and superintendent to track orders so nothing gets lost resulting in increased satisfaction. Our capital improvement projects are moving along well. We renovated our pool and got new furniture and grill at the pool, which has made it a popular social spot in the community. My wife sometimes hates when we go to the pool, because people only want to talk about what a great job I am doing, instead of letting us relax. The older folks call me JFK since I am the youngest President we have ever had at age 31. There is no drama on the board anymore. We fired our old superintendent who once for 11 days did not do work at the co-op and instead did side work off the property with the old president who used the superintendent to make his own contracting company. The new Superintendent by comparison is a dream, who with his talents saves us money since projects we used to contract out he is able to do.
My point is we have so much apathy in the community since things are going great now. We have quarterly open shareholder meetings that used to be packed with 100 people. We now average about 6 per meeting. For our election we did not have a quorum and were short by about 14 units. We don't have to do a re-election, but we plan to on June 21st to do the right thing.
When things are going well, people strangely care less. If things are going well at your place don't be surprised if there is apathy.
Steve-Inwood,
You don't have a clear picture of our co-op. I care the most about the place and put the most into it. I'm the only person to have created Agendas for board meetings and open shareholder meetings that I am aware of. Our meetings are always on Power Point with the agenda clearly there. Every meeting is announced via e-mail, newsletters and posted in common places prior to the meetings which was never been done in years past. I have already raised a new culture here of honesty and good board members. In fact we had two dishonest members. The community finally became wise to what was going on and voted them off. Thats what started the turn for the positive in the community. None of our units have declined in value through this economic downturn and our reserves are as healthy as the have ever been. We effectively communicate weekly via e-mail to the community and quarterly for Newsletters. Residents are very informed with what is going on so that is one of the reasons they feel they don't need to attend out open shareholder meetings, since they are already informed. In addition our Board Minutes are posted on our website and in laundry rooms, so that shareholders have ready access to them.
Dear FW Board,
Perhaps you misunderstood the intent of my post: it is to keep YOU motivated. Sounds like you are doing great things there - keep at it :)
Steve
No problem. Misunderstandings can happen easily in a online forum due to lack of verbal and non-verbal cues. Just found this website, so I'm trying to be involved so I can share and learn from other board members.
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In my experience, apathy starts at the top. The President needs to push the agenda - if they won't, who will? Stop patting yourself on the back. You need to institutionalize the new culture: raise up good & honest Board members. How are your reserves? How is your resale value (we had 2 record high sales this year). When was your Proprietary Lease amended?
Stop jabbing and get back to work ;)
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