Responsibilities

The problem with most condo board of directors is that they do not function. Nothing shows this as clearly as the boards, which in law are the governing organs of the condominiums, are the last to realize that the corporations are in serious trouble.

It is to be expected that many condo boards will be ineffective. With approximately 10,000 condo corporations in Ontario, each having an average of five directors, it means that we need a total of 50,000 directors who have the skill, time, experience, grit and the courage to competently fulfill their duties.

Requirements
A condo requires directors that have:

1. Skills and experience
A competent director has knowledge and skills in management and decision making that they picked up at work or at other non-profit organizations. Company managers, trade union leaders, small business owners and professionals have experience in working in large complex environments that is necessary to make good decisions.

2. Time
It takes a lot of time and attention to direct a condo corporation. Many directors do not want to put much effort into an unpaid volunteer position.

Some come right out and say that all they want to do is put in two hours at a monthly meeting to vote on decisions. That's it. They don't want to attend extra meetings, don't want to review contracts or the financial statements, don't want to read engineering reports or tour the condo's common elements to see for themselves what shape the corporation is in.

These directors are next to useless. They are rubber stamps approving every decision that the manager puts in front of them.

3. Courage
The directors must have the courage to stand up to the management company, the employees and the owners when necessary.

The board must replace a poor performing manager, superintendent, contractors and its auditor or lawyer if they are not performing or are not acting in the best interests of the corporation.

The directors must be able to make unpopular decisions. If the condo needs an increase in fees or a special assessment, then the board must stand firm when the the owners resist. Verbal abuse comes with the position.

If the owners, through the calling of a requisition meeting, are determined to harm the corporation by ignoring necessary fee increases, major repairs or safety issues, then the board may have to ask the courts to appoint an administrator.

4. Willingness to learn
It would be impossible to find volunteers who have all the attributes that are listed above so the directors need to find candidates that are teachable. If a board brings on one new person at a time, teaches the rookie the ropes, then all should be well.

However, if a new director is not willing to put in the effort and the time that is required to learn the required skills, then the rookie should be asked to resign and a search made to find a replacement.

The board and management
The board must not try to manage the condo corporation. That is a full-time job. If they do, they will get bogged down in minor day-to-day issues that the paid management should be dealing with. The board has to focus on only a few important duties.

Often management companies sees a competent board as a constraint, an interference with "management prerogatives".  Some management companies cannot work with an effective board and will quit because a competent board: 

•	demands management performance and will remove ineffective management. That is its duty.
•	will ask inconvenient questions.
•	insists on being informed before the event.
•	will not unquestioningly accept management decisions but will want to know why.

Too many managers prefer to work with ineffective boards as they know less and question less.

The board & the owners
The board needs to stay in tune with the feelings and aspirations of the owners and the residents. They are the ones that the owners will turn to if they feel that the management company's employees have done them a wrong.

Playing Solomon, the board must back up the manager when he is in the right and correct wrongs when they occur.

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