Cohousing-L Mailing List: Re: Getting Buy-In on Decisions

[Jean Reese (jeanreese]

Rather than going in the ratification direction, I would make a change to 
your bylaws.  Our bylaws say "a majority of Owners" which we have always 
counted as 13 owners present in a room (out of 24 units).  We have squeaked 
by on the quorum several times, and had a few meetings where we haven't had 
a quorum and so have been unable to make decisions (in which case we discuss 
the issues and are better prepared to make decisions at the next meeting).

We have a problem in that some of our owners do not live onsite, and to 
resolve that problem we have had them sign a statement saying that they will 
give their proxy for quorum -- they are counted as being present so that we 
can make decisions.  They are also allowed to vote by proxy, but we almost 
never vote on anything so that hasn't been used very often (mostly just for 
budget decisions and voting for the Board of Directors).

Jean
Westwood Cohousing
Asheville, NC


----- Original Message ----- 
From: "OCC611ng" <normangauss [at] charter.net>
To: "Cohousing-L" <cohousing-l [at] cohousing.org>
Sent: Saturday, September 10, 2005 6:06 AM
Subject: [C-L]_ Getting Buy-In on Decisions


> As time goes on, we are experiencing less and less interest in Membership
> meetings.  To practice the community consensus way of making decisions and
> have the decisions be representative of the wishes of the community, it is
> best to have a quorum.
>
> Our bylaws specify a quorum of 75% of households.  We are lucky to get 51%
> at our membership meetings.  Sometimes, when less than 51% are present, 
> any
> decisions we make are not really representative of the wishes of the
> community.  Some have said that any decisions made at such meetings are 
> not
> valid.
>
> We are technically a condominium, a Non-Profit Mutual Benefit Corporation.
> Under the laws of these corporations, the Board of Directors makes most of
> the decisions, not the Membership.  However, even if the Membership were 
> the
> major decision making body, the fact that we often do not have a majority 
> of
> households represented at meetings makes such decision-making potentially
> invalid.  Corporation law recognizes the Board of Directors as the
> responsible party whenever decisions are officially logged or when
> challenged in court.
>
> To solve this problem, we have adopted a procedure whereby all decisions
> made in our Membership meetings, whether or not a quorum is present, are
> sent to the Board of Directors for ratification.  Does anybody see any
> reason why this is bad thing to do?
>
> Norm Gauss
> _________________________________________________________________
> Cohousing-L mailing list -- Unsubscribe, archives and other info at:
> http://www.cohousing.org/cohousing-L/