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May 27, 2005

Finding a Good Manager

The joke is old - "The best manager is a former kindergarten teacher because they're used to dealing with unruly children who don't play well together". Anyone who has ever managed a condo or HOA association is probably nodding agreement right now while remembering one or two associations they once managed. The fact is that most associations have decent boards that try to do the right thing, and a good manager provides the guidance to accomplish that. But finding that manager is apparently a constant challenge.

A management company looking to find new managers will often talk to others about where to find good ones. The conversation will focus around which service industries attract the type of people who can easily slide into a community association role. Hotels, city management, travel, retail sales, etc.--those industries that train people to deal with customers. But then, they have to be re-trained into community management.

Rather than look to others why not let them come to you. Why wouldn't a group of friendly management company competitors set up an associate degree program in community association management at a local community college? Teach the industry basics to people who are at least interested and evaluate potential emloyees at the same time. They get a degree, you get someone who knows how spell condominium. The curriculum wouldn't be hard to set up. There's plenty of examples out there and you could adapt it to your specific marketplace.

Why not?

Posted by joewest at 10:46 AM

May 15, 2005

Each Association is Unique

While going through the news items today, I ran across one from Alaska that had to do with wild bears and associations cautioning their owners to properly store things that attract them. It reminded me of my first visit to Alaska many years ago to talk to a group of community association leaders and area professionals. I used my standard opening, "that while they thought their problems might be new, most association issues were similar and that they could find people to help who had been through it before". The first question from a board member was "How do you deal with herds of moose roaming through the common areas during mating season?" I no longer use that standard opening.

Every association deals with violations, pets, parking, noise, etc. But each occurrence is unique. That is simply because the individual owner involved is unique. Two people building a fence that is 6' tall instead of the allowed 4' will probably have different reasons for doing so. And the association is at least going to have to take a look at those reasons if it doesn't want to end up on the evening news.

Organizations like CAI and others publish a lot of material that helps boards determine WHAT it is they are supposed to do. Even the articles on our web site often are simply checklists and bullet points designed to make sure you don't forget something. But we're all pretty weak on HOW to go about it. That's basically because we can't cover every situation where individuals are involved. I am reminded of this constantly from the e-mail I receive from board members who want to do what's right, but are often unsure of how to deal with the situation at hand.

Well, there are no hard and fast rules. Your association has developed its own character and traits and will continue to evolve as people move in and out and new leaders take office. Boards are elected to make decisions and managers and other professionals are retained to offer knowledgeable advice. All you can do is to take the advice and make your decision, hopefully with common sense and empathy. Maybe, before you sit down at the next board meeting, you might remind yourself of the Golden Rule as it was originally set down and "do unto others as you would have them do unto you".

Posted by joewest at 10:09 AM

May 10, 2005

Telling a Positive Story About Associations

This past week I was very happy to see two stories in the news telling nice things about community associations. Or rather, about two specific associations. The first was about The Meadows, a large planned community in Florida. One of the first things to catch my eye was the fact that they had bronze placques in the community center honoring past volunteers. This is something that every association should do, find a way to thank the people who donate their time and talents to help. One of the residents and a county commissioner said "I think that the pride you feel there from residents is part of the mystique of The Meadows," Mercier said. "They are conservative people. They make their dollars go further. They keep things in wonderful shape because that's what they want their community to be. Their leadership is amazing." Nice to read for a change, isn't it?

The second article was also from Florida (I don't think they have a corner on good or bad associations, just the newspapers actually print something about them). Cypress Lakes One of the things they did was put together their own emergency preparedness guide and distribute it to all residents. I like what the columnist who wrote the story had to say: "The information and detail included in each section is complete and will prove important to any resident. While there are publications printed each year by area television stations, etc., I found this guide to contain more common sense things to do and to be more complete than most of the generic guides. They were able to include sections specific to the community. I believe every community's homeowner association should work on preparing a similar guide if one does not already exist. It can save lives!" One other new program recently developed is a C.A.P., Citizens Assisted Patrol. Community volunteers staff it and they are rasing funds to support it, without an assessment.

Now and then its just nice to remember that associations can work.
(Note: By the time you read this the links, which are to newspaper columns, may be no longer functional).

Posted by joewest at 4:45 PM

May 2, 2005

To the Media: Try Asking a Few Intelligent Questions Before You Go to Print

Once more, a state legislator plays the patriotism card in order to look good in the media, by claiming a condominium association's decision to allow only American flags and not a service flag as a "slap in the face" to Marines. The Michigan Republican state senator stated that "I feel strongly that anyone should be able to express their patriotism in this way and feel compelled to open up the Condominium Act".

A Marine veteran wanted to fly a Marine Corps flag but was turned down by his condominium association (story). He sued, but the local court quickly sided with the association saying that they had the right to make that decision. The veteran took the issue to the media and Marine reserve publications, trying to raise money for an appeal and to paint the association as unpatriotic. He's obviously succeeding and so democracy takes another hit.

This reminds me of another case we had in Michigan last year. A man was flying one of those huge American flags in his front yard and his neighbor filed a complaint that the noise from it flapping all night was keeping his family awake. Of course the flag owner immediately went to the media and claimed he was just being patriotic. No one wrote about the fact that the flag was being flown 24 hours without proper lighting (in violation of flag etiquette), and that it was, in fact noisy. I wonder how the flag owner would have felt if his neighbor had blasted the Star Spangled Banner into his bedroom window at 3:00AM every night. He might have actually realized that it was about the noise, not the flag or patriotism.

The media should have asked the gentleman a few additional questions:

This isn't an HOA, its a condo and the gentleman does not own the outside of his unit. It's owned by all the owners. Where did he think he had the right to ignore their wishes and do whatever he felt like.

A Board of Directors, democratically elected by the owners, decided on a policy, (not unlike our state government). Apparently Marines feel they are not bound by decisions made by elected officials. Is that true?

Taken another way, a decision was made by higher authority. Aren't Marines supposed to obey those in command when given a lawful order?

A court told him that the association did have the right to make rules and that he was supposed to abide them. (See prior question)

When he lost his case to the Board and the court, he took it to the media and other Marine reservists. Since when do Marines whine?

When he bought his unit in the condo, he agreed to abide by the documents and rules and by the decisions of the democratically-elected board. Don't Marines keep their word?

As a Navy veteran, I resent this individual's discriminatory actions by not flying all of the service flags. Does this person have something against the other branches of the service?

And the media should have asked the association:

Does this mean you won't allow scouting flags and banners, university flags and pennants, religious flags symbols or emblems, foreign flags (we're right next door to Canada), sports flags and pennants (hey, the Pistons World Champion banner should be able to fly anywhere, anytime, at least until hockey comes back), NASCAR pennants, golf flags (although they would have to be placed in the lawn), or other obviously patriotic symbols?

This started off as a rant and then I just began laughing. There's really not much you can do when stubborness meets intransigence and even less when a politician sees it as a good way to get his name in the media.

Personally, I think they association should have found a way to accomodate the individual, but it was their right not to. He should have petitioned his neighbors for support and failing that, accepted the decision and found some other way to honor his service. But now its just a mess and with state pols getting involved, it will just get worse. This is the state government that wrote a badly worded amendment allowing American flags to be flown anywhere on the exterior of a condo unit, so that owners could nail flags to walls or roofs if they felt like it. I expect something similar will come out of this.

To the state senator, I feel compelled to call you a "headline hunting" scavenger, but fortunately, I'm able to resist MY compulsions.

To the media, there are always two sides to issues. Try asking better questions before you write.

Posted by joewest at 4:49 PM