My final year on the board - Part V - Projects Newsletter Article

My final year as a board member is drawing to a close; I was on the association board for eight years. Here's the text of one of three newsletter articles I prepared for our owners and residents.  The newsletter was one of many of my focuses, and this article was published several weeks ago. For about four years I was simultaneously the Maintenance Director, Architectural & Projects Director, and the board President. That's in an association with 336 owners. Not everyone on the board was happy with my tenure as President while fullfilling the responsibilities of the other positions, but they were more than willing to allow me to do the work, which was a low of 500 hours per year and a high of more than 1,000 hours per year.  I did not follow the practice of "expanding the task to fill available time". In fact, I could have done more. What I did do was what was absolutely necessary.

v     Projects and the Board --This is my final report as Architecture & Projects Director.

Because I was president I also was significantly involved in coordinating other aspects including landscaping and was a member of the finance committee. I believe in a “working board” and most board members have agreed on this during my 8 years on the board. The results speak for themselves; as I stated we did accomplish a lot since 2010. This could not have occurred if board members merely attended meetings after an hour of preparation.

A commitment to excellence, positive involvement, and dedication is beneficial for a board. It is helpful to approach it as part time job in which all of our actions and inactions have consequences for our owners. What does that look like? I frequently walked the property, conducted numerous surveys of all manner of infrastructure, prepared reports and investigated alternatives. The information gleaned was incorporated into reserve studies, maintenance programs and annual budgets. This facilitated the creation of project lists, spread sheets, progress reports and so on.

Long term planning is essential for financial stability and effective association “guidance”. It requires the partnership of the board, our professional management and our contractors. Trust is an important ingredient. The maintenance director and I worked in a coordinated manner to set priorities and perform physical surveys. There was extensive coordination with landscaping. I would like to emphasize the partnership of the board, for example, our treasurer and maintenance director. Without their assistance the schedules could not have been achieved. We freely shared information on the finance committee, brainstormed and then everything was shared with the entire board for further discussion so group decisions could be made. We had a small, dedicated team working in the best interest of all of the owners. Anyone walking the property does see the results. If requested by your newly elected board of 2019 I may provide future support. I have discussed the 2019 projects list with the current board and include a summary of it in this newsletter.

My final words about our infrastructure: Our infrastructure is much improved but complacency would be a mistake. Our project lists represent a work in progress. Boards should continue with our professional management to generate annual surveys, implement incremental improvements and so on. Our association is 40 years old. Some driveways, garage floors and so on will have to be replaced annually. If not, your future boards will find themselves in the unenviable situation of “catching up” just as I did. See the insert.

PS: Our next roofing cycle may begin as early as 2023!