Did you know? What happens at Board meetings?

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This is based on my experience at Frobisher Place.

Board meetings were normally held on the third Monday of each month. On the preceding Friday the Property Manager (PM) emailed Directors with financial statements for the previous month and her report. The report included an agenda. There were some attempts at different times to establish an independent agenda but most Directors seemed content to accept the PM’s.

The first order of business was approval of the minutes of the previous Board meeting. In recent months there was also approval of a redacted version of the minutes. The redacted version omits names of any individual owners. If owners request copies of Board minutes they would receive the approved redacted version.

Next business was the financial statements. They included reports on the operating and reserve funds, revenue and expenditures by category, specific payments and any units in arrears for condo fees.

The remainder of the meeting involved other business, mostly items brought forward by the PM. One disagreement I’ve had with other Directors is the decision to discuss issues only at Board meetings rather than cover matters in part via email ahead of meetings, understanding that any approval must wait until meeting time. The result has often been unproductive and time consuming discussion, especially when some of the items have only become known to most Directors through the PM’s report we just received.

Board meetings have usually lasted close to 3 hours. I believe that’s too long. Items discussed near the end of that time may not get the careful attention they deserve.

A proposed revision to our operating bylaw would permit Board meetings to be held by teleconference. Although this revision has not yet been approved by owners, the Board has nonetheless attempted to conduct some meetings with one or more absent Directors connected remotely. I’m in favour of such innovation but the technology has tended to be unreliable due to poor audio and connections interrupted or broken.

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