CAI-NJ May 2019 (w)

LOOKING AHEAD LARRY THOMAS, PCAM | CAI-NJ CHAPTER EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR

T his month’s theme can easily be the premise for every month. “In the Know” cannot be overstated or over- played. I will give you my take on the theme and some suggestions and observations over my 35 plus years in the community management business. The most dangerous community boards are the ones that “know everything”. They feel that their community is the best and all other communities look to them as a model. They feel that they do not need to be further educated and never reach out for answers or advice. I know a lot of our community board members and when we have an educa- tional seminar (such as the recent legislative updates) I pan the room to see who’s attending. I see the regular faces that I see at a lot of our educational presentations and I also notice that a lot of the “know everything” boards elect not to attend. These boards also do not insist that their man- agement staff attend and can, at the very least, report back to the board. This is poor governance to say the least. In addition to our education programs for our board members and homeowner leaders, several of our business partners offer either in-person or on-line seminars usually on specific topics. These are also a great way to increase your knowledge base and keep current on relevant issues con- cerning our common interest communities. I find it alarming that board members do not at the very least attend the legislative updates. There is so much happening in Trenton that affects our everyday decisions and operations in our communities. I get dozens of calls asking me about the changes in the bathing codes, the pending foreclosure reform bills, mandated mediation and believe it or not, I still get calls on “What is this Radburn thing all about”. I usually ask who their professional team is and more times than not, they have an attorney, accountant or management compa- ny (or manager) who is not a member or involved in CAI. Here’s a quick story that I usually tell to support the impor-

tance of building the correct team of professionals. I was in a small community visiting a friend when I saw a copy of the monthly community newsletter sitting on the kitchen table. I started reading it and came across the notes from a recent open board meeting. There was a paragraph that stated the manager contacted the association attorney to see if their pool would qualify to be “exempt” under the new bathing code regulations. Their attorney charged them $1,800 to investigate the new code requirements and pro- vide his opinion to the board. I have three issues with this. 1. If the attorney was a true “association attorney” he would have already known about the “exemption” pro- visions and would not have charged the community for his time to investigate and report back to the board. 2. The manager and pool company should have been current on this topic and gave advice to the board con- cerning the legislation. I checked, and the management company is a CAI-NJ member, but the manager is not a member and is not active with CAI. I’ve never heard of the pool company so I’m assuming they had no idea about a community association being classified as an “exempt” facility. And 3. If the board had taken their roles seriously and attended one of our legislative updates (and we held 2 informa- tive sessions just on the new bathing code changes), they would have been better equipped to handle this matter. So, to wrap this up and I will give my usual pitch for CAI — hire professionals that specialize in homeowner and condominium associations. Look for professionals who are ACTIVE members of the CAI-NJ chapter. Believe me, your role as a board member will be more rewarding and you and your community will be much better off if you stay “In the Know”. n

6

M A Y , 2 0 1 9