Cohousing-L Mailing List: Re: an executive board for a coho community? -- dealing with closed or executive session material?

[Sharon Villines (sharon]

> On Jul 14, 2015, at 3:55 PM, Sue STIGLEMAN <sstigleman [at] bellsouth.net> 
> wrote:
> 
> Piggybacking on this question, for those of you who have an executive board 
> and especially those of you who don't, how do you handle closed or executive 
> session issues, such as lawsuits, contractor issues, or owners with unpaid 
> assessments?  
> 
> Our lawyer recently advised us to include a brief note in the regular board 
> minutes (e.g. "The Board went into closed session to discuss unpaid member 
> assessments"), and to keep separate minutes of the closed sessions, which are 
> accessible only to Board members and legal counsel. 

I believe this point of view is antithetical to a community that has shared 
responsibility for finances, and each other. It is standard practice in 
condominiums but also leads to condo commandos. Boards that dictate because 
they know what is really going on.

In a community, why should some members have more information about the 
community finances or the people in it than others? What are the assumptions 
behind the idea that knowledge should be only available to certain people? 

If the financial condition of the community is born equally by all, why 
shouldn’t everyone know what the finances are?

And if only some have the information, aren’t they telling others that it is 
none of their business? If you tell them it is none of their business, how do 
you expect them to assume responsibility for it?

If a member is having difficulty, how will others be able to help if they know 
nothing about it?

With the pat legal responses, we have to look at the assumptions and the 
results. 

Sharon
----
Sharon Villines, Washington DC

"Behavior is determined by the prevailing form of decision making." Gerard 
Endenburg