Active Unit Ownership and Participation

During the board meeting that I attended last night (April 9), one of the unit owners who was present made the statement that he "was a unit owner" and continued with a brief declaration about what he expected from the association.

In that declaration, statements were made about unit ownership as opposed to something else.

This created an opening for a serious conversation about the duties and responsibilities of a unit owner. During the board meetings I have attended, the statements made by unit owners generally center on the "rights and privileges" of the unit owner. This sometimes devolves into complaints about "service". Well, we are all adults here and with those “rights and privileges” also come “duties and responsibilities”, and "being of service" to others in our community.

I think BLMH has evolved, or perhaps, from a certain point of view has "devolved" to where it may not be acceptable to have unit owners sitting idly by, and the conversation about rights or privileges must also be offset by one about the "duties and responsibilities" of the unit owner. Our volunteer board consistently makes requests for assistance from non-board member unit owners. For example, it has been stated that our landscape director has 40+ acres to oversee and when there is a drought, requests are always made for volunteers to step forward and assist by watering the lawn. There are requests made regarding assisting in snow shovelling when we get that winter dusting or distribution of additional salt on icy entrances.

It may be perceived as sacrilege to take this position, but perhaps it requires one unit owner per building to take responsibility for the condition of the halls, another the garage interior and yet another the grounds in the immediate vicinity of each building. The fourth unit owner per building could actively support our landscape director.

This activity need not be voluntary; the board may stipulate who is to do what and may require that we ”unit owners” be assigned these duties, on a rotating basis. However, leadership in this as with all other endeavors at BLMH will come only from the board.

I am tiring of conversations about "community" which seem to be centered on block parties, garage sales and similar endeavors. It's time to get real about what "community" is all about. This is not a cruise ship with one or more staffers per vacationer! Or perhaps it is, and I took a mis-step when I entered the twilight zone?