Cohousing-L Mailing List: Re: Role of outside consultants in group-based decisions.

[Sharon Villines (sharon]

On Aug 19, 2014, at 10:50 AM, Ivan Greene via Cohousing-L <cohousing-l [at] 
cohousing.org> wrote:

> My response on August 14th was the first response. I responded to the group 
> raising my concerns that (1) the suggestion was being presented as an "only 
> option" (i.e. no competitive bids were included); (2) the contract was 
> retroactive to March 1 and billable hours were included only for July, and 
> descriptions of the work were not very specific; and (3) finally I raised my 
> biggest concern which was conflict of interest both financially and based 
> upon decision making power.

Generally managers do not make decisions independently unless specific clearly 
defined decisions have been delegated to them. They work with a Board or 
managing team.

My question would be the qualifications of this person. Do they just work like 
a maintenance or repair person? Just over-see contractors? Who approved the 
contracts?

One of the advantages of a manager is the cross-pollination of ideas from other 
communities. What does the condo down the street do? Which recycling companies 
actually recycle? Is this a reasonable charge for this or should be we get bids?

So first would be to be clear what the job is and who supervises the person. 
WHAT IS THE END DATE OF THE CONTRACT? And what community process was used to 
prepare this contact. Back dating it doesn't seem appropriate unless the 
concept had been approved but the policy and contract needed legal review or 
word-smithing. I think you need both a policy that says the membership/owners 
have agreed to do this and a contract that specifies roles and responsibilities.

And how this relates to the work requirements of others in the community.

Some communities have done this with some success. 

I think it may be on a limited scale. Sharingwood, for example, has an 
agreement by which each household is responsible for cleaning the CH on a 
rotating basis -- or they can hire someone to do it for them. One member in the 
community volunteers to be hired on a regular basis.

Sharon
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Sharon Villines
Takoma Village Cohousing, Washington DC
http://www.takomavillage.org