Cohousing-L Mailing List: Condo Bylaws

[Peggy Blum (peggyblum]

At Cambridge Cohousing, we are working on developing our condo documents,
including Bylaws.  We've had some discussion about the best size for the
Board of Trustees or Management Board.  Some of our members have read Katie
McCamant's article on "CC&R's" in "Cohousing," Winter 1997, and are
interested in getting some feedback from cohousing communities where the
Board is made up of one member from each household (Muir Commons has a Board
of 26 persons).  Some members (and we are only three members away from our
full complement of 41 households) believe that a board of 41 will not be
able to deal with  issues expeditiously, that it will be too unwieldy.
(Somehow, I think we've had a lot of practice with more to come as we have
struggled with forming a group and building a community, purchasing land,
designing, building,etc.)  We would love to hear from cohousers with
experience in various sizes of Boards.

1. Does 26 work in Muir Commons?  Elsewhere?  Would 41 work? Pros? Cons?
2. What are the real advantages and disadvantages of the typical size condo
Board: i.e. 7-9 members?
3. Can a non-owner occupant be a trustee?  We will have at least 2 units
owned by the local housing authority.
4. Are there any communities which wish they had done their Bylaws
differently?  What pitfalls should we avoid?

Thank you from Cambridge Cohousing in Cambridge, Massachusetts where we are
anxiously awaiting the excavation and foundations so our "boxes," which
we've watched being factory built in New Hampshire, will have a place to go
as they come off the assembly line.   

 

                                                  --Peg Blum
                                                    peggyblum [at] 
worldnet.att.net