First 100 days
“If history repeats itself, and the unexpected always happens, how incapable must Man be of learning from experience.”
—George Bernard Shaw 

The board consists of four owners and one resident who, along side but not with several others, campaigned for several years to get rid of the administrator.

Then they ran a very successful political campaign to be elected—as a slate—to the board of directors. Yet, it seems that they spent little time planning on what they needed to do once they were given the responsibility to manage the corporation.

First hundred days
This phrase was first used when the exiled Napoleon landed in France on 26 February 1815 and within 100 days he formed a government, regained control of France, raised an army and fought two major battles; winning the first and then losing the second at Waterloo.

Napoleon showed that a new government, intending major changes amidst many obstacles, needs to move fast. This was a lesson that was learnt and implemented by Lenin in October 1917, FDR when he was first elected in 1932, Hitler in 1933 and Mike Harris in 1995.

All of these leaders knew what they wanted to do, planned in advance what had to be done and then made their most important moves within their first 100 days of assuming office.

However, even though they had years to think out what they needed to do, the new board at YCC #42 got off to a shaky start.

Security
The board was elected on 27 September 2012 and Intelligarde resigned and left the site by the end of the month. A few days later SSG, another security company, replaced them.



At first, the gatehouse was manned from 3:00 pm to 12:00 pm; nine-hours a day but that didn't last. There are still security guards on the premises, 12 hours a day, but the unmanned gatehouse was a concern to some residents.

Management
Vero Property Management resigned. Their last day was on 31 October 2012. For the remainder of 2012, there was no management company. Anver Karim took on the property management responsibilities.

Employees
The board stopped paying the corporation employees; the cleaners and superintendents. The unionized employees called their union and the board faced union grievances.

The board resumed paying the cleaners and superintendents but it appears that they then violated the union contract by not deducing union dues and that they fired a superintendent and two cleaners without going through the progressive discipline procedures.

The board had no such problems with their two office clerical staff as they quit as soon as they learnt who was on the new board.

Nepotism
There are reports that relatives and friends of the board members were working for the condo corporation as contractors and office employees.

Maintenance
Apparently, the board was informed that there was a leak in the boiler room that needed to be repaired. However, the leak was ignored and a few days later, two units were flooded. Only then were the boilers fixed.


The security arm on the driveway exit that is designed to prevent unauthorized visitors from driving onto the property was missing.

Two of the three buildings have intermittent hot water shortages and the units on one riser in 340 Dixon had no heat all winter. Apparently, the board bought electric heaters and distributed them to the residents.


If you are tall, this broken Exit sign may have hit you on the head.

Banking
With Vero gone, the board changed the bank accounts so the bank could not accept pre-authorized payments from the unit owners for their November maintenance fees. A notice was posted asking the owners to bring their maintenance fee cheques to the condominium's office. New void cheques were required to continue pre-authorized payments.

Core Committee
The board had set up a Core Committee that was made up of the directors and a few unelected owners that acted as a cabinet to discuss the issues and vote on policies and resolutions.

Just what actual powers the Core Committee had as a body compared to the board itself was not clear. It was equally uncertain how long this body will be able to function. (Not long.)

Transparency and accountability

Aside from a couple of notices posted in the lobbies, the board did not communicate with the owners until they held an information meeting with about 15 owners on New Years Eve.

The bulletin board is now being put to good use and it looks cheerful and shows that the community is alive and activities are flourishing.
Unsuccessful candidates
The board's lack of transparency and refusal to allow owners to get involved caused one unsuccessful candidate to send a written request to examine
the minutes of the October and November board meetings. His requests
were ignored.

Another candidate, John Beechy, stopped paying his monthly maintenance fees because the board had stopped paying some of the suppliers. He is also circulated a requisition for a special meeting to remove Shah Jahan Khan, the president of the board.

ACO
The Association of Condominium Owners held a meeting on 16 December 2012. More than 70 residents attended which is an impressive turnout when you realize that only 77 owners attended the election meeting held three months earlier.

On 28 December 2012, ACO sent a list of recommendations to the board.
1.
 The directors should exercise authority only during a duly called board meetings.
2.
 The board needs to work all all segments of the community and without privilege for any religious/ethnic/national group.
3.
 Keep the owners informed of the board's decisions.
4.
 Publish monthly financial statements.
5.
 Pass a 2013 budget with a 20% reduction in maintenance fees.
6.
 Hold an owners meeting so the owners can ratify the budget.
7.
 Form five advisory committees to work on issues such as security.
8.
 Form five standing committees, open to all owners, to meet monthly to work on specific issues.
9.
 There are several maintenance issues that need to be resolved. Certain risers have no heat, there are water leaks, broken windows, dirty parking garage, broken lights and fencing and potholes in the driveways. All of these should be repaired.
10.
 Serious security and safety issues need to be fixed. The board needs to have a professional security and safety audit performed for the complete property.

Meeting with the owners
On New Year's Eve, four board members held a five-hour long information meeting with about 15 owners.

An owner asked why the fees have not been reduced and the meeting was told that the board needed the money because the previous management company did not pay all the bills. One director stated that the board was planning to reduce the condo fees by 30% starting in March.

The 2013 budget had not yet been finalized and distributed to the owners.

Property Management Company
Mareka Properties 2000 Limited was hired as the property management company effective 16 January 2013, three and a half months after the board was elected. Mareka replaced Vero Property Management Services.

Corporation lawyer
In January the board hired Derrick Fulton as the corporation lawyer. He replaced George Vella of Vella and Pratt PC.


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