April 2023

The best way to avoid these risks is by engaging a professional management company to administer the com munity. That way the board can negotiate and agree upon the services the manager will provide. More importantly though, the residents should feel comfortable holding the manager accountable if they do not perform as agreed because they are paying for it. The conversation will still be uncomfortable, but at least the manager is no longer your neighbor. Preserve Email: One final suggestion for ensuring that a community is prepared to function no matter the result of the most recent election is to implement a plan for constantly preserving the association’s electronic communications. In 2023 digital communication is ubiquitous. I will not even try to address the impact and legal implications of messaging tools, like WhatsApp or text messaging other than to say that all board decisions must be made at open meetings, and those decisions must be recorded and preserved for the association’s records.

However, at the most basic level, all people today com municate via email and the association should take steps to preserve that essential form of communication. One way to help ensure that all email communications between the association and its members, its residents, its managing agent, and among its board members are preserved for future reference is to create a single email address where all email communications are sent or copied. That way the communications are all preserved regardless of whether: a board member resigns, or loses the election; the asso ciation changes management, or; a resident or member moves away. It is equally important that the email address is the association’s property, and not the community manag er’s property, or some board member’s property, to ensure that the association retains control over the account regard less of who comes, or who goes. Don’t Worry About Trying To Do Everything, Just Do Something: I am sure we can all agree that the communication world is evolving faster than any of us can imagine. As CONT I NU E S ON PAGE 20

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