Finance & Legal minutes: 2019-01-23

Minutes:

Please be advised:

These minutes are going out months after the meeting occurred.

Thinking about the topics has evolved considerably in the meantime.





Minutes of 1-23-19 GO Finance & Legal Committee Meeting



Present: Sharon Kardia, Debbi Schaubman, Becky Grover, Becky Hoort, Amy
Harris



1. Old Monkeys:

• Amy will talk to Mary King about contacting Paul Conahan, to get
started on the reserve study

• Becky G. will write to Tiffany to ask if we would get a discount on our
insurance premium if we had water sensors that would sound an alarm in case
of a leak, and will research the expense.



New Monkeys:

• Becky G. re: basement egress issue: There was interest in taking steps
immediately to protect the community from liability. We need to read the
minutes to research this piece, and perhaps ask Rick for guidance. Would
need a proposal to get an agreement, with a sunset clause.

• Amy will invite Process to join our next meeting. We think the
basement egress issue crosses over

numerous committees and we’re not sure how to proceed. Since Becky
G. will be away on 2-13-19, Amy

will invite them to attend on 2-27-19.

• Debbi will provide links to be included in the standard lease
regarding GO’s policies around pets,

parking, community work, membership, and sublets

• Becky H. will contact a household that will exceed $1000 in
arrears if they don’t make a payment this

month.



2. Debrief Basement Egress discussion at 1-19-19 Community Meeting and
determine next steps



* More emotional than we expected.

* Appreciated Elph’s comment that an either/or choice can be difficult,
good to hook it to values

* Surprised that so many people were moved by economic diversity

* The facilitators’ debrief was very helpful. Learned that at least one
person was upset about Pros and Cons, felt that they were actually feelings
and opinions, and would have preferred more facts. E.g. more people
walking around behind the walkout buildings=safety, or more people walking
around behind the walkout buildings=threat. Fact=more people walking
around.

* Suggestion to have a reminder about process at the beginning of every
meeting

* Stopgap: There was interest in taking steps immediately to protect the
community from liability. We need to read the minutes to research this
piece, and perhaps ask Rick for guidance. MONKEY: BECKY G. Would need a
proposal to get an agreement, with a sunset clause. Who will carry the
work forward, though?

* Is it GO’s resp. to pay for the paths, or the responsibility of the
owners in the building?

* This is an issue that really crosses over into the responsibilities of
many committees: F&L, Buildings, Grounds, Process, Work. It might make
sense to involve Steering.

* It might make sense to have another meeting where anyone who cares about
this issue comes together, to help enumerate what the issues are for each
committee, and then those committees could go off and do the research. Then
bring the reps back for a facilitated Steering meeting, to hammer out and
get a proposal to bring to the community. This would really string it out,
though. Spreading it out might mean that it would never happen. We need
someone who understands the legal side of things

* Compile the responses that Rick has had from our questions, and share
them. An FAQ. Becky noted that some of the information came from a phone
call with Rick. We could send him the compilation of notes to review.

* Maybe tackle this item during Skills & thrills in 2019?

* How about if we talk to Process about this? MONKEY: Amy will invite
Process to join our next meeting. We think this item crosses over numerous
committees and we’re not sure how to proceed.



3. Landlord leases – discuss Rick’s responses to our questions

a. He sent us a sample lease

b. He agreed that it would be good to include various cohousing aspects,
and that modifications are fine but subject to approval by GO, or he could
approve, or we could send the revised leases to him only if we think
there’s something unusual and want his feedback.

c. Are leases required for all situations where someone is paying to live
in a unit?

i. F&L thinks it’s best that there is a lease when you rent out all or part
of your unit, so that the GO parameters are conveyed to the renters. If
anyone is paid money, it’s a rental situation.

ii. Only need to file the first lease; if it stays the same for years
afterwards, no need to review again. But on an annual basis, we need to
ask landlords if they have changed the lease.

iii. What about rentals that are not for sleeping/living? E.g. for studio
space. No lease needed. If someone’s living there, and money is changing
hands, you need a lease.

d. Liability insurance: Yes, Rick thinks we can require it, there is
something in our legal docs that allows us to require it.

e. We reviewed the draft lease Rick provided.

i. The way it’s written, the landlord wants to push liability insurance
onto the tenant, but GO wants the landlord to carry liability insurance.
We thought the renter should carry property insurance. We thought we
wanted Rick to write into the lease that the tenant can’t hold GO liable.
Some kind of indemnification for both landlord/tenant and tenant/GO.
Similar to the way it’s written for the landlord – if not following the
law. Ask him to rewrite section #22.

ii. #31 – Tenant does not have any voting rights. But at GO, their
voting/consensus rights are spelled out in the Membership Agreement. Change
this.

iii. #20 – make it a choice. Any sub-lease holder would need to abide by
the same conditions as the primary lease. Debbi will look at our legal
docs about this.

iv. #21 – We provide a place for car repair. Strike this last sentence, or
modify that

v. What’s not in here is the question of primary egress. It needs to match
what GO decides. Ask Rick if we should write this in here. We don’t know
which way we’re going to land.

f. Should the whole community be part of the process, or just landlords?
Our legal docs say F&L should review leases. We should get community
agreement that landlords need to use this lease. Landlords can make
changes and have the attorney review the changes, and charge the landlord
for this.

g. Some changes we would not even send to Rick

h. One or two things we want Rick to reword and things we specifically want
to highlight/add:

i. Pets, parking, community work, membership, and sublets. MONKEY – Debbi
will provide links.

ii. Do a circle choice around pets: Does the landlord allow pets yes/no.
If yes, renter is bound by the BOA. Provide the links. We want the
landlord to print that out and attach it.

i. Once all shaped up, write up a proposal, 2 meeting process.



4. Bookkeeping Updates

a. MONKEY: Sharon will write a note to the household that owes $73. NOT
NEEDED – the household made a payment and is now in the black by $11.

b. Arrears:

i. There is a household that is going to cross $1000 if they don’t pay this
month. They plan to make a payment.

ii. There is another household in the same situation. MONKEY: Becky H.
will let them know. We will continue to waive late fees because F&L has
been in communication with the household.

c. Anything else

i. LeeAnn the bookkeeper left the CPA firm; a second person also left.
Susan has been doing everything on her own. She’s now training 2 new
hires. In a couple of months all should be normal again.



5. Matters arising

a. Water sensors / Insurance discounts (email from Dale)

i. MONKEY: Becky G. will write to Tiffany to ask if we would get a discount
on our insurance premium if we had water sensors, and will research the
expense.



6. Review of Priority Items

a. Master Deed & Bylaws – resume in January after budget

b. Reserve Study – MONKEY: Amy will talk to Mary about contacting Paul
Conahan, to get started on the reserve study

c. Basement egress issue – underway!

d. Truck Proposal – no news

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. Becky & Becky will work on this in the new year.



7. Ongoing items

a. Right of first refusal for unit sales. Debbi will write up some
language for Rick’s review, and to get clarity on whether this could be a
proposal or whether it has to be written into high-level legal docs.

b. 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. But first, Buildings should verify that the company
is still in business. Awaiting reply.

c. CH Com re: CH Leases and proof of insurance. Received front page of
Melissa Schuster’s lease. Waiting on proof of insurance and Syndallas
Baughman’s documents for the other office. Amy will send a new reminder.
Previous reminder: 11-28-18. Resent 2-10-19.



8. Matters arising

a. “From the paint in” – what does this really mean? Legal question from
Buildings.

Furnace is owner responsibility, ductwork is GO’s responsibility. We
aren’t sure about circuit breaker box. GO responsible for fixing drywall
and pipes, but not shower stalls. Anything that’s not visible is on GO.



9. Next meeting: 2-13-19



Cooler doc:
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1_dmnNJmHmrwwFIfnscnRbPK-_8_kmahfFsOTn_fEvTY/edit
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://gocoho.org/pipermail/finance-minutes_gocoho.org/attachments/20190818/0da3a94e/attachment-0001.html>