Finance & Legal minutes: 2019-02-13

Minutes:

Minutes of 2-13-19 GO Finance & Legal Committee Meeting
Present: Sharon, Debbi, Becky H., Amy
Absent: Becky G.


1. Monkeys from last meeting/past meetings are integrated into the relevant
sections below
New Monkeys:
MONKEY: Amy will:
• Add a job for Mary King for Reserve Study wrangling
• Talk to Mary and Dale about budget jobs and reactivate these
MONKEY: Amy will respond to Work Com re: length of work season and other
work-related questions.
MONKEY: Becky H. will ask Rick about several lease questions and
ask if he can get back on other items as well.
MONKEY: Debbi to talk to Dale about method of calculating reserve
contributions.
MONKEY: Amy will request time on the 4/15 meeting for an info/discussion
item on the Right of First Refusal concept. Debbi will present; we’ll need
20-30 mins.

2. Work Committee Questions
MONKEY: Amy will respond to Work Com:
1) The community recently began testing the length and timing of work
season. This experiment has involved a foreshortened 2018 Winter Season,
one November to April season and one May to October season. Does the
length and timing of 6-month season work for F&L? Will your committee
support the biannual operation moving forward? Your committee’s response
can be shared with Work committee in advance or at the scheduled 2/18 GO
Community Meeting.

Does not affect F&L’s work at all; but if someone on the committee
suddenly moved, we’d be in trouble.

(2) Great Oak Book of Agreements on Work System Credit for Committee
Participation (#162) establishes 6 credit hour for Committee participation,
i.e., 2 hours for Conveners, 2 hours for each of the two counted members.
Currently, operations of a few committees deviate from the 2006 agreement
(and perhaps for valid reasons that can be addressed). Work Committee does
not get into the business of committee operation. We are simply reviewing
the existing guideline and wanting to reasonably assume the awareness of
evolving deviations.

F&L has such a large backlog of work (see our list), and the work is so
complex, and we meet twice a month for 1.5 to 2 hours, so we do not see
potential for cutting back on the number of hours for the F&L committee.

The system has evolved. We recommend that you amend the agreement. The
Steering Committee information is incorrect (2 hrs) and should be corrected.

(3) Any changes to our jobs for summer season? Due by 2/25. MONKEY: Amy
will:
• Add a job for Mary King for Reserve Study wrangling
• Talk to Mary and Dale about budget jobs and reactivate these

3. Follow up on Basement Egress discussion at 1-19-19 Community Meeting and
determine next steps – Tabled until Becky G. returns and Process has been
invited to help.

4. Landlord leases project update – Becky H.

Becky sent Rick our comments and questions and is awaiting a response. She
also got a few copies of leases so she could compare them with Rick’s
standard lease. We may get some pushback on house share arrangements, but
we’ll see. Becky received two examples. One is based on the State of
Michigan version, the second one was a modification of the State version,
and then Becky also got a third. Most modifications are things the
individual landlord can make. One has something very specific about smoke
detectors: the HOA will regularly test them to make sure they are working
(which is not happening). One has a modification about the equipment for
fire suppression, which is in the unit. Another lease had a special clause
about disruptive renters. We liked this and will ask Rick to review it.
There was another lease with a clause we liked that explained that the
tenants can benefit from the many amenities of Great Oak Cohousing, and
that they also need to become familiar with and abide by the GO Book of
Agreements.

MONKEY: Becky H. will ask Rick about several lease questions and ask if he
can get back on other items as well.

5. Bookkeeping Updates
a. Arrears
A $500 payment was made by one household which now has a payment plan, two
more coming, to catch up.
Another household is close to the $1000 threshold. Will be over if no
payment is made in February.

6. Matters Arising/Updates
a. Amy wrote to Buildings on 1-2-19 to ask for documentation and a
narrative about what happened with Jenny/Polly & Drew’s roof so F&L can
follow up with Rick.
Amy talked with Mary King on 2-11-19. Mary has been trading phone calls
with the owner of Sryenergy. She will keep trying. She has a message that
Elph put together with all the relevant information, and will send it to
F&L to present to Rick.
b. CH Com re: CH Leases and proof of insurance.
We now have copies of both leases (at least the front page).
The 2-20-17 CH Committee Mandate says it will “… manage the Office rentals,
advertising for new tenants, ensure that new and continuing tenants sign
new leases each year, and that tenants comply with the terms of their
leases, such as by annually providing proof of insurance.”

7. Review of Priority Items
a. Master Deed & Bylaws – about to get kickstarted again. First thing
should be the piece in 8a below. This is a quick win. We need to make
sure the community thinks this is a path we should go down.
b. Reserve Study – Amy spoke with Mary. She has made initial contact with
Paul Conahan and will follow up to say it’s ok to move forward. Two
issues:
1) Are we going to change the way we calculate reserve contributions?
Debbi has taken a first run at this, and at first blush, it appears that it
won’t make a big difference if we change our method. She will investigate
further.
MONKEY: Debbi to talk to Dale about method of calculating reserve
contributions.
2). Are we going to change how we define the “envelope” of our units?
Debbi says it’s tied up with the same issue.
c. Basement egress issue – Next step: We have invited Process to send a
representative to F&L’s 2-27-19 meeting to help us think through the
process for moving forward.
d. Truck Proposal – MONKEY: Amy to check with Becky G. or Malcolm for
updates
e. Calendar of routine tasks – underway!
f. Landlord leases – underway!
g. Unit modifications/Documenting build-outs (Master Deed, insurance,
Buildings/ARC process) – the MD part has already been discussed in a
plenary conversation.

8. Ongoing items
a. Right of first refusal for unit sales.
Debbi originally planned to get official language cleared by Rick before
presenting to the community but rethought this plan and would like to bring
it as a discussion item to the community to make sure that everyone’s good
with this. She’ll present it as a concept, and get approved language from
Rick if there is support.

It is common for condo associations to have a Right of First Offer or Right
of First Refusal in their bylaws. The Membership Committee requested that
F&L investigate this possibility. The lawyer sees no problem with it as
long as the language is carefully crafted. We’ll have him write the final
language (for our approval) but the basic idea is:

Sellers must provide GOCA and current residents of GOCA with the option to
make an offer on a unit prior to the unit being offered or advertised
outside of GO. This right of first offer will extend for a period of 30
days. The seller is not obligated to accept an offer from GOCA or a GO
resident; the right simply affords GOCA and GO residents an early
opportunity to engage in good faith purchase negotiations.

MONKEY: Amy will request time on the 4/15 meeting for an info/discussion
item on the Right of First Refusal concept. Debbi will present; we’ll need
20-30 mins.

b. Water sensors / Insurance discounts (email from Dale)
i. MONKEY: Becky G. will write to Tiffany to ask about discounts, and will
research the expense.

9. Next meeting: 2-27-19
* We have asked Process to send a rep between 7-8 pm to discuss basement
egress item. They will discuss at their next meeting and advise as to
whether someone can come.
* Willie will come at 8 pm to discuss what would be involved in adding on
to his and Katie’s unit.

Becky H. gone from March 7-19.

Cooler doc:
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1_dmnNJmHmrwwFIfnscnRbPK-_8_kmahfFsOTn_fEvTY/edit
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