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Open Lines: Communication is the Key to a Successful Community Nobody knows who said it, but it speaks volumes: "If we don't take care of
our customers, someone else will." Think about it this way—we just passed the
holiday season. When you were in the store doing your holiday shopping and no
one was available to wait on you and get you what you need, what did you do?
Perhaps a store manager finally ran by telling you how busy they are, and
promised they'd get to you soon, but they didn't. Eventually, if you're like
many people, your patience wore out and you left to give your business to
another store. If this scenario happened while you were in a restaurant, you
might, once again, walk out and take your hunger elsewhere.
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A Look at Archaic Bylaws On a classic episode of the TV show The Simpsons, the town read its founding
charter only to discover that the mayor of Springfield was supposed to get two
pigs every year. While there are probably no co-op or condo documents in effect
today that deal with pigs, the point is that if bylaws and house rules aren't
read and updated, sometimes, silly things can slip through the cracks. It's
important for any co-op or condo to have a clear set of rules and bylaws to help
govern the building, and because times change, as do community standards,
attitudes and populations, bylaws do get out of date. This means that rules and
regulations that once made sense, or that reflected the morals and standards of
their day, can become antiquated, irrelevant or just plain silly as the years
pass.
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Digital Documents We all know that technology has affected the way property
managers work. In an industry that has traditionally been paperintense, it would
be hard to find an aspect of our business that has changed more than the way we
manage documents. After years of sending documents via the U.S. Postal
System or overnight delivery, fax machines made it possible for us to share
printed information in just minutes. More recently, the use of scanning
technology and PDF documents have become more of the norm. This trend, combined
with the use of computers, e-mail, electronic storage and web portal technology,
has resulted in “real time” access to documents 24/7 worldwide.
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more (PDF )
Checklist for Creating Good Rules When writing rules, boards should use simple concepts and words. If residents
understand rules, they’re more likely to comply with them. For example, board
members may attempt to lend authority to their writing by inserting complex
legal terms. Though rules should have a solid legal basis, those who read them
must be able to understand them. Few residents would understand the meaning of
“Section 35.641 of the Code of the City Municipality of Pleasantville is hereby
incorporated by reference.” The following six characteristics of good rules
will help board members avoid the traps of complexity and misunderstanding.
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Why Associations Need Crime Coverage
Condo and homeowners’ associations would be
wise to purchase crime coverage to protect the
association against internal theft by insiders
and theft of assets by third parties. The
standard fidelity bond only covers criminal acts
by paid employees unless board members and other
volunteers are endorsed on the policy.
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