Cohousing-L Mailing List: Re: how tranparent should everything be?

[Dave & Diane (coho]

Hi all,
We handled this by having everything available on an internal listserv 
to everyone WHO HAD JOINED AS A MEMBER. You could either be an 
Associate or Full member and you had access to the intranet and 
listserv. Many of the more sensitive items, such as personnel 
decisions, were only discussed in committee, not at the general 
meeting. You might have to form an executive committee to discuss 
sensitive issues.

I just finished reading a book entitled "Questions and Answers about 
Community Associations" by Jan Hickenbottom, published by the Community 
Associations Institute. On pages 294-294 attorney Timothy G. Dallinger 
advises: "Be careful of any and all statements made at a meeting of 
members that are critical of another person or which expressly accuse 
another person of any dishonest, unprofessional, fraudulent, or 
potentially criminal act. While challenging the results of an election, 
one may create personal liability for oneself by having defamed or 
caused emotional distress to another."

The author was talking about challenging election results in this 
situation. However, you will be running a small business and you will 
have to discuss many sensitive topics. Some of these will have to be 
discussed in small committees of three to five people and then minutes 
with only the decisions will be posted on the internal listserv. As 
always, I advise all forming groups to hire an attorney before they 
hire any other professionals.

That's all for now, and good luck!

--Diane(:^]
JP COHOUSING  617-524-6614
P.O. BOX 420 BOSTON MASSACHUSETTS
HTTP://WWW.JPCOHOUSING.ORG
"Buildings framed and only one unit left!"








On Saturday, October 30, 2004, at 04:13 PM, Mary Anne Joyce wrote:

> Hi We are a forming cohousing  group and are beginning to have harder 
> discussions.  We want to be transparent but not ridiculous to 
> prospective members.  Some of us think there should be some 
> discussion, minute itemsthat are only available to people who are 
> members.  Others want everything available to everybody on the 
> listserv.