Finance & Legal minutes: 2010-02-23

Minutes:

Minutes of F&L Meeting
2-23-10
Present: Aaron, Cher, Mary, Amy
Guest: Debbi


1. Update on Households Significantly in Arrears

We've received several payments toward reducing these debts since the new
late payment policy went into effect. The new balances will show up on the
next community financial report.

To bring everyone in accord with the policy, we expect to have written
repayment plans in place with all households still in arrears within
about the next 30 days. In each case, we are reviewing whether any
short-term transitional grace period would be in the best interests of the
community. We're also working on standardizing an agreement letter format.
Next, we will apply the policy with respect to filing liens in any cases
where that is indicated. We understand that at least one family has
expressed appreciation for being re-contacted.

We talked about whether funds from Caring Committee could be provided as a
loan to families in arrears and without other resources, to shift the debt
away from the community. It appears that there is no community agreement
about how Caring funds may be used, and we felt that this is something that
should be looked at. Caring is under the auspices of the Membership
Committee.

MONKEY: Aaron will ask Membership if they will take on the task of
developing and getting community agreement on how Caring funds are used.

F & L discussed how long is it appropriate to structure a payment plan?

For example, if realistic monthly payments on a large arrearage would take
nearly three years to pay off, in addition to remaining current on each new
month’s association dues, is this too long? Could the agreement be written
like a balloon loan? For example, an agreement could be written with
realistic monthly payments over 9 months with the remaining balance due at
the end of the 9 months. During that time, the household could look for
other ways to pay off the balance (help from family, loan from a credit
union, etc.). We would still have to place a lien during the payment plan,
per community agreement.

We talked about the implications to the community of carrying large debts
over time. Would this cause the same problem we had last year around
rebating association fees? We need to get clarity on this, and communicate
it to the community. We need to find out where things stand for this year.

MONKEY: Find out the year-end status of GO’s 2009 books, and determine
whether there will or will not be a rebate, and communicate the reasoning to
the community.

Cher has drafted a proposal for F&L and Finops procedures for handling late
dues payments in general and specifically in the cases discussed above; we
are reviewing these and the will coordinate with Finops to finalize them.

MONKEY: Aaron, Mary, and Amy will read Cher’s draft and send comments.

2. Next meeting: Second Monday of March (March 8) at 8 p.m. at Mary’s
house.
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