Page 8 - New England Condominium August 2021

8 NEW ENGLAND CONDOMINIUM -AUGUST 2021 NEWENGLANDCONDO.COM really a fear of the unknown, and the idea that board service will be a huge, thankless time- suck. Once people get involved, though, they fi nd it to be a very rewarding experience.” Marks says the secret to his success in get- ting residents involved has been in spreading the work out among board members and com- mittees, so it doesn’t all fall on the board mem- bers alone. Reliable communication, making the issues known, and letting people know what opportunities exist to get involved and re- solve those issues helps otherwise uninvolved shareholders feel more comfortable and em- powered to contribute. Committees are a great way to get people started. Th ey see that it need condominium development 45 minutes out- not be a burden, and may be more interested in side Boston about six years ago. Th e property, a ments, problems, and issues—is both useful joining the board when a position opens. “Th ere are community members in the munity, was built in 2006. Each unit has a two- building who run committees creating vibran- cy and a feeling of cohesion,” says Marks. “New board for fi ve years and became interested in community, especially for our newest mem- people are moving in and they are getting in- volved. It’s more about community than being community, but the board at that time was con- a shareholder of a corporation—that’s the key,” trolled by an established group that resisted her he adds. “If you can elevate the feeling of com- munity and coming together, that’s what it’s elected. Mary says her main motivation was to about. “One board member initially took an inter- est in the building’s garden,” Marks continues. pany the community had at that time—which “Th ey wanted to be involved. Slowly over time, she eventually was able to do. Th e community they got more and more involved, and now is now self-managed—with Mary doing most they’re a board member. Th ere’s a point of of the management herself. entrance—in this case for this person, the gar- den—that’s how we get them interested. Th ere’s she says. “We have a lot of board members in an entry point. Th e shareholder and the board name only. People say, ‘Oh no, I’m not doing have to fi nd it for each person.” An Evolving Approach Mike (not his real name) has served on the board of his 56-unit co-op in Upper Manhat- tan for the past fi ve years or so. He initially be- came involved in governance by volunteering for a committee charged with renovating the building lobby. When the board president re- cently stepped down aft er serving for a decade, the building held an election—but no one wanted the presidency. “We don’t have a president now,” says Mike. “No one wanted to take it on. We are trying to distribute the responsibilities of the former president between the board members. We will let the shareholders know who to call with what issues, so no one person is overburdened with too much. It’s hard for any one individ- ual to make that level of time commitment to the building. Th e former president did pretty much everything. No one person’s role will look like this. It’s just too much. But we think we’ve come up with a creative way of handling the situation.” To encourage residents to get involved with board service and building governance, Mike reports that they use the same method as the building on the Upper East Side mentioned above: committees. “We try to bring people onto committees to get them started,” he says. “We’ve also found that with the introduction of Zoom meetings begging, are there other methods of prodding as a result of the pandemic that more people at- tend. We may continue to use Zoom for meet- ings of all kinds for better attendance—though service as a condition of purchasing into a personally, I miss the schmoozing aft er meet- ings with wine and cheese.” He adds that “people are hesitant to volun- teer for certain activities as a result of the pan- demic. Th ey’re in overload, navigating what service might turn off prospective purchasers, they can actually do—including how much to making it harder to sell units. interact with other people in person. Others are asking themselves, ‘What can I do, being vac- cinated?’ We have consistently found, though, board aft er a set amount of time and bringing that there is a distinction between apathy and in new blood. While Marks, Jack, Mike, and willingness. When we have a one-day event Mary all think it would be a good idea, for her like weeding the garden, we get lots of people part Mary says she isn’t sure who in her com- for a one-shot deal. People are more hesitant to munity would pick up the mantle if she re- make a sustained time commitment.” Be Careful What You Wish For Mary (not her real name) bought into a service. “If you want change, get involved. In- 15-unit townhouse-style condominium com- car garage and back deck. She has been on the with the community and fostering a feeling of board service when she fi rst bought into the bers.” attempts to get involved. Eventually she was keep their fees low. She saw an opportunity to do that by getting rid of the management com- “I think people don’t want to be bothered,” that again. I did it before, not interested.’ Th ey feel they don’t have time.” But Mary feels that if she can do it, others can, too. “It’s really no more than a couple hours’ commitment a month,” she says. “Th e worst part is there’s no community. I’ve had to referee confl icts be- tween owners.” Th e community has made periodic at- tempts to build a stronger sense of community and cohesion, including social programming like picnics, parties, and a yard sale. Mary says that seemed to help, “but the arrival of COV- ID-19 ended the experiment. It was nice, and then it evaporated.” Th e community has also tried to get the owners involved via committees, but Mary says there was no response. Th ey no longer even have meetings. She says that one owner volunteered for the board, saying he wanted to help, and a week later he resigned aft er she asked him to do a few things. “Th ere’s a real resistance to doing anything,” she says, add- ing that she believes—in an ironic twist—it’s because she’s done everything for the commu- nity for so long, they just prefer she continue to handle things. Which begs the question: what happens for this community if Mary leaves, or decides she’s had enough? Term Limits, Service Mandates, & the Benefi t of Serving Aside from committee work and outright owners and shareholders to get more involved? One suggestion might be mandatory board community. Mary thinks it’s an idea worth considering; Jack, Mike, and Marks do not, and question whether such a requirement would even be legal. Additionally, mandatory board Another approach could be for communi- ties to adopt term limits, pushing people off the signed tomorrow. Marks says there are clear benefi ts to board formation—having a view of all of the docu- and interesting. For me, it brought about a change of profession. I also like the interaction n A J Sidransky is a staff writer/reporter with New England Condominium, and a published novelist. tunate event of litigation. We would always recommend keeping original signed docu- ments such as proprietary leases, recognition agreements, tax records, and other agree- ments in written form, while simultaneously maintaining electronic copies of each, togeth- er with electronic copies of the balance of the corporation’s records.” Richard Brooks is a principal with the law fi rm of Marcus, Errico, Emmer & Brooks lo- cated in Braintree, Massachusetts, and says that “in whatever format they are contained, certain records must be accessible to the own- ers per the \[Massachusetts condominium\] statute. Not all records have to be review- able—the statute contains a list. It may actu- ally be easier to let owners have access if they are in electronic format. Most professionally managed associations are putting the records online so that owners have access without much trouble. Th erefore, there is more trans- parency, and it is easier for everyone involved.” The Practical Approach “Pre-pandemic,” says Dan Wollman, CEO of Gumley Haft , a management fi rm based in New York City, “\[our company was\] mov- ing to a new space that was smaller than our previous offi ce. We scanned a million docu- ments—we also got rid of a lot of documents. We culled through the fi les and scanned every single closing fi le, approved board package, stock certifi cate, fi nancing info, etc. We had all this in a huge fi le room before. Now that it’s all been digitized, that room barely exists. When someone sells their apartment, their fi le gets deleted because we don’t need it anymore. Digitization is secure, protected, and available when needed. Everything is backed up in the Cloud. Everything is in a secure place with limited access, and we have lots of bells and whistles for security.” “We shift ed to digital records some eight or nine years ago,” says Scott Wolf, managing partner at Briggs, a large real estate manage- ment fi rm located in Massachusetts. “We started converting documents when scanning became available. Digitization got rid of the fi le cabinets and boxes. I myself like paper, but I’ve come to understand that it’s redundant. Everything is available online now. We email everything with attachments, so no more shift ing papers and boxes. Th is is particularly important now in light of COVID-19. I be- lieve a majority of our competitors have con- verted to digital as well.” Are All Documents Equal? “Ninety percent of what we receive now is digitized,” says Wollman. “Th is process ap- plies to everything: bank statements, invoices, bids all arrive digitized. Nothing comes by paper anymore. You can attach things to email digitally, so we don’t even write checks anymore. Everything is done electronically. If we do have to process anything, we scan it and send it to a bank or whoever the recipient might be.” Wollman stresses that most companies are moving in this direction, and if they aren’t, they’re way behind the curve. Th e digital rev- olution has been underway for long enough for most businesses to have gotten on board— and condos, co-ops, and HOAs are embracing it as well, to the point that most boards and management companies consider digital in- formation storage and communication to be best practices. Security of that information and commu- nication remains a top priority. Very sensitive information must be handled appropriately, no matter what format it’s in. “We do our best to keep things as secure as possible,” Wollman says. “Board packages are sent through Drop- box or BuildingLink. Nothing with sensitive information is sent by attached email any- more. Th ere’s no security there.” In terms of what might be necessarily kept in both digital and print formats, Wolf says he takes a ‘belt-and-suspenders’ approach with some types of documents. “Th ere’s nothing I can think of that cannot be digital,” he says. “But there are documents which are manda- tory to be signed and sent to the Registry of Deeds. We keep a paper copy of these, and when they become offi cial, they are saved electronically as well. Initially we saved legal documents, insurance claim information, and items like that—but over time, we realized we didn’t need any paper at all. We used to keep leases in a hard copy in Massachusetts, but not any longer. From a condo standpoint, everything gets digitized. Th e majority of new paper we receive today comes from new busi- ness inherited from other companies sending their stuff to us as new management.” An Accountant Weighs In Avi Zanjirian, a partner with the Manhat- tan-based accounting fi rm of Czarnowski & Beer, sees digitization as a positive trend for IMPROVING... continued from page 6 DIGITAL DOCUMENTS continued from page 1 continued on page 10