Cohousing-L Mailing List: Re: committee names and roles

[David Heimann (heimann]

Hello,

We have four standing committees, plus the plenary (legally called the 
Homeowners Association), which consists of all unit owners, meets monthly, 
and makes the top-level decisions:

        Building
        Community Life
        Grounds
        Board (Finance and Legal)

A question I have on seeing long lists of committees (for example, see the 
two posts below) is that our Building Committee is only of only four 
committees so doesn't compete for members with many other committees. 
Nonetheless, it feels overwhelmed with its tasks and various people want 
to depart from it.  Assuming that yours Building committees are sound and 
functional, how do they get the heavy load of keeping the buildings going 
done while having to compete with so many other committees to get members? 
Or do you have everyone responsible for getting the work done, with a 
Building Committee of only 3-4 members doing the coordinating (and their 
share of the actual work), but not more?

        Thanks for your insights.

Regards,
David Heimann
Jamaica Plain Cohousing

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Date: Sat, 23 Mar 2019 11:02:57 -0700
From: Lynn Nadeau / Maraiah <welcome [at] olympus.net>
To: cohousing-l [at] cohousing.org
Subject: Re: [C-L]_ committee names and roles
Message-ID: <66E51019-A203-490A-BED4-1237F92E0AFB [at] olympus.net>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii

RoseWind Cohousing, long built in Port Townsend WA

Steering- also for legal purposes our Board- meet 2x month to coordinate;  
works w Facilitation to plan monthly business meeting.
Facilitation- agenda planning, process, retreat
Common House-events, meals, repairs, upkeep
Grounds- agriculture, mowing, irrigation, garden, paths
Geek- electronics, projector
Development- tracking plans for others' projects on neighboring land
Outreach- inquiries, resales, orientation
Emergency Preparedness
Finance
Kid Stuff

plus Task Forces for specific shorter-term projects

Maraiah Lynn Nadeau
www.rosewind.org

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Message: 2
Date: Sat, 23 Mar 2019 15:41:55 -0700
From: Jack & Carolyn Salmon <2salmon [at] earthlink.net>
To: "cohousing-l [at] cohousing.org" <cohousing-l [at] cohousing.org>
Subject: [C-L]_ Committee Names & Roles
Message-ID: <09D942BF-D74A-4EAF-8FBB-760E904D6D2F [at] earthlink.net>
Content-Type: text/plain;       charset=utf-8

I?m very interested in this.  A year and a half into living in Quimper Village, 
we have an adhoc team, reporting to the Coordinating Team, considering whether 
we would benefit by creating, sunsetting, re-arranging our team structure.  
This is what it looks like now:

Board of Directors:  all members whose names are on a unit title.  They do make 
significant decisions - examples: community agreements, budget, changes in the 
built community that might affect owners? property values.

Coordinating Team: made up of Team leaders from Functional Teams (in bold 
below), officers, Process team rep.  CT generally doesn?t make decisions other 
than whether a decision should be made by the Board of Directors or the 
originating team.
        CT  has created some adhoc teams to address specific issues (such as: a 
member of 3 teams to develop a proposal for improved oven capacity in the CH 
kitchen or the team to design a memorial grove)  and then to disappear

Each team under a functional team has decision-making and management 
responsibility within it?s domain.

Community Life
Meals & Kitchen Management
Wellness & Emergency Preparedness:  Health & Safety, Cares & Concerns, 
Emergency Preparedness
Pets
Social & Events
Process & Governance
Negotiating Differences
Membership Development : marketing, new member orientation, sales assistance

Facilities Management
Building & Grounds: repairs, building exterior maintenance, mowing
Landscaping: landscape design and installation, Weed Warriors, Common House 
Landscaping
Community Garden (currently inactive)
Motorheads
Workshop
Bike Barn
Art Studio
Design Review
Chores

Finance & Legal
Budget
Records Retention

Common House
Housekeeping
Guest Rooms
Art Selection



Carolyn Salmon

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