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"What Residents Want"

"What Residents Want" - Meeting Talking Points

8/11/22 PRE-MEETING DISCUSSION LIST - The bulleted items below are not a declaration of what members want,
but rather an intended survey of members to discover what they want.

Meeting Objectives

1. Discuss and test zoom remote participation

2. Establish rules and structure for meeting

3. Categorize types of wants from our residents, maybe by committee or function

4. Brainstorm a list of what residents wants, start to prioritize what to include in a survey

5. Discuss survey of residents, including timing and logistics (electronic vs paper)

6. Discuss ways that our community can help the board and the office

Meeting Rules & Structure

A list of communications will be discussed and agreed upon by those in attendance, including:

• This is a working meeting - please make notes to organize your thoughts, say "pass" to skip

• Stay on topic for each major topic area, 1-2 minutes per speaker, order as follows:
  (1) inner circle, (2) outer circles, (3) zoom hands up, (4) live hands up

• No cross-talk (interruptions, outbursts, side conversations)

• Direct comments to the group, not individuals, "add-on" but don't reply

• No public shaming of individuals (refer to management, board, neighbor, maintenance)

• Turn off or silence and put away your phones

• Anything else? Do we agree?

INTRODUCTIONS - state name (maybe street, how long -- no topics / issues yet)

What We Want - Living Conditions

• I want... A better approach to ridding our units of roof rats

• I want... A better approach to finding and remediating mold issues

• I want... A plan for sharing and addressing potential sewer issues

• I want... More shade trees

• I want... The corporation to pay for all HUD-required repairs inside our units

• I want... The corporation to return to paying for:

  • 100% of HVAC repairs and replacements

  • 100% of water heaters

  • 100% of toilets and other plumbing fixtures

• I want... Cooperative approach to air duct and other maintenance

• I want... Honesty from management about HUD inspections

• I want... Access to detailed property needs assessments

• I want... Better enforcement of litter and pet waste issues

• I want... More enforcement of trespassing, loitering and vagrancy

• I want... Ability for emergency responders to easily find our unit numbers

• I want... Address the fire hazards associated with aluminum wiring

What We Want - Cost Controls

• I want... Members to be able to review and comment publicly on annual budgets

• I want... To review and ask questions about monthly expenses vs budgets

• I want... All non-routine or unbudgeted expenses over $5,000 approved by the board

• I want... Board minute explanations of any budget line item that deviate more than 10%

• I want... Board minute explanations for all changes in reserve funds between two meetings

• I want... Cost analysis of the impact of crime on residents

• I want... Explanations for higher utilization of attorneys

• I want... An honest analysis of what HUD oversight costs us operationally

• I want... A reserve analysis that takes into account the HUD payoff and related cost reductions

What We Want - Meetings / Governance

• I want... Monthly board meetings that follow Arizona open meeting law (rich)

• I want... Detailed operational and financial transparency (rich)

• I want... Definitive member involvement in any rules/govdoc changes (rich)

• I want... Well managed and civil open meetings

• I want... More experts, assistants to officers to share the work load, such as:

  • Assistant secretary for newsletter

  • Assistant secretary to take minutes

  • Assistant secretary for regulatory compliance

  • Assistant treasurer for budgets and audits

  • Assistant treasurer for insurance

  • Assistant VP for construction and maintenance

• I want... No changes or interpretations of governing documents without explanations before implementation

• I want... Access to video recordings of zoom meetings

• I want... Members to be able to interview candidates prior to elections

• I want... The board to NOT be involved in who gets electronic board ballots

What We Want - Communications

• I want... Full time staff able to post to official social media channels

• I want... The office to be able to share info quickly without board review / approval

• I want... A newsletter

• I want... Committee updates

• I want... Active announcements / notifications (not passive)

• I want... Consistent response times to resident issues

• I want... Staff email signatures with real names

• I want... Annual list of unit transfers (as in the past)

What We Want - Office

• I want... Empowerment of office staff to make more decisions without going to the board

• I want... Better training of office staff on HUD and other admin issues

• I want... Phone calls prior to written enforcement actions

• I want... More confidentiality in individual resident issues (stop the rumor mill)

• I want... Logs maintained for all member requests not immediately addressed

What We Want - Committees

• I want... The following standing committees

  • Newsletter (better communications)

  • Governing Docs (#3 on Rich's list)

  • Beautification / Landscaping (involve our community experts)

  • Finance (expenses, insurance, budget, reserves)

  • Welcome (for new members, or members who have never participated)

  • Activities (weekly and monthly scheduled social gatherings)

  • Technology (IT infrastructure, websites, phones, social media)

• I want... Any member to be able to join a committee

• I want... Committee chairs to be able to make reports at every board meeting

What We Want - Finance

• I want... Monthly raw financial statements compared to budgets

• I want... Access to fully audited financial statements

• I want... Explanations for all withdrawals of reserves

• I want... Less capricious engagement of expensive attorneys

• I want... Access to all reserve studies and maintenance/replacement plan

• I want... A proactive approach to keeping insurance costs low

What We Want - Security

• I want... An openly shared emergency plan

• I want... The vehicle and pedestrian gates repaired

• I want... To re-hire patrol security

• I want... Cameras at entrances

• I want... Better lighting in some places

• I want... More privacy, cameras not pointed at my doors/windows

• I want... Better partnership / education

• I want... Neighborhood watch program

• I want... Sharing of crime / incident report summaries

• I want... Periodic member security surveys

• I want... Vigilantism and amateur sleuthing discouraged

What We Want - Activities/Social

• I want... Active notification of new info (not just passive or web sharing)

• I want... A place where members can safely comment or just vent

• I want... Residents to be able to organize social events without giving a deposit

• I want... Common area surveillance feeds to be accessed only by independent security/police

What We Want - Rules & Enforcement

• I want... An opportunity to address the board prior to any enforcement action

• I want... Better parking ideas, rules and enforcement

• I want... Reconciled pool rules

What We Want - Other Governing Docs

• I want... Openly shared interpretations and definitions ("immediate family," etc)

• I want... A Governing Docs committee to review/updating docs from 1960s

• I want... To discuss Bylaws changes to remove HUD in 2027

• I want... To network with other coops and/or get involved in coop associations

• I want... Easy access to documents promised in bylaws (financials, membership records)

• I want... Easy access to documents promised in state law (financials, member list, etc)

What We Want - Leadership Ethics

• I want... Officers and committee chairs to sign an ethics pledge

• I want... Officers to sign a conflict of interest pledge

• I want... Officers and Managers to sign a confidentiality document regarding private member information

• I want... Officers to disclose whether a board or office action benefits them or related "insiders"

Volunteers Skills & Expertise

The goal is to create a survey of expertise that the community can lend to the board/office/committees. The goal would be to create a checklist of skills

☐ Finance ☐ Insurance ☐ Lending ☐ Budgeting ☐ Newsletters ☐ Legal
☐ Construction ☐ Real Estate ☐ Landscaping ☐ Meetings ☐ Architecture ☐ Technology
☐ Events/Social ☐ Maintenance ☐ Security ☐