My condo's board presidency rotated around to my apartment's line, and the elderly folks now have this idea of foisting the work onto younger (by their standards, under 40 or even 50) owners. And I found myself being "volunteered" (though words like "shanghaied" and "dragooned" come to mind, I must confess). So for the next 12 months, I'm president of the building. Might as well make the best of... [more]
My condo's board presidency rotated around to my apartment's line, and the elderly folks now have this idea of foisting the work onto younger (by their standards, under 40 or even 50) owners. And I found myself being "volunteered" (though words like "shanghaied" and "dragooned" come to mind, I must confess).
So for the next 12 months, I'm president of the building. Might as well make the best of it.
The five board members each have old dumb-style cell phones issued to them and the president in particular is expected to answer it at any time; both calls and e-mail.
Because I work the graveyard shift and sleep during the day, I really, really don't like this setup. Even with the ringer turned down to zero, it still makes noise when someone is leaving a message, so I want to turn it off when I'm sleeping, and the other members don't like that idea.
I want to have professor-style "office hours" where the condo board has priority and I'm ready to answer e-mail, make calls to places like the company that cleans our halls and the neighbor with whom we're in the middle of a dispute, and the like. And I *don't* want to take phone calls at other times. The total amount of work I need to do only takes an hour a day; it's the "could come at any time" aspect that makes it stressful and miserable.
What have some of you presidents done? Am I stuck carrying this phone 24/7 like some kind of electronic house-arrest monitor? How do you keep your sanity? I'd love to hear some thoughts.
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Response by Triple_Zero
over 11 years ago
Posts: 516
Member since: Apr 2012
I should add that this isn't in NYC. I'd love to be able to tell the other residents, "Well, back in New York they do it like this..." and have my wishes win the day.
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Response by alanhart
over 11 years ago
Posts: 12397
Member since: Feb 2007
No, you should add that this isn't in the western hemisphere.
But the answer is to do what you want ... they expect non-conformity from you, a westerner.
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Response by drdrd
over 11 years ago
Posts: 1905
Member since: Apr 2007
What others do, I cannot say. However, you need to take care of yourself; nobody else is doing so. Set up the system as you want it (it sounds perfectly reasonable to ME) & tell them, in the nicest way possible, this is how it needs to be OR BLOODY DO IT YOURSELF. They're paying you how much?
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Response by gothamsboro
over 11 years ago
Posts: 536
Member since: Sep 2013
>I should add that this isn't in NYC.
What city is this in?
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Response by Triple_Zero
over 11 years ago
Posts: 516
Member since: Apr 2012
@Alan - To *some* extent they expect non-conformity. But what they *want* is for me to do things exactly as they have previously been done. (Exhibit A: the 2003-vintage phones that we carry around.) So any changes I want to make, either for just my term or for future presidents, are going to have to be small and incremental.
I've already set up a web-based e-mail address for the building (which I will pass down to the future president) so that I can answer e-mail using a proper PC and keyboard rather than the outdated telephone number pad. I've got the monthly meetings moved from 1 PM to 4 PM. I've eliminated the need to physically greet the cleaning staff when they arrive at 7:10 AM each morning, and am having them place their daily report copy in the mailbox.
Really it's just the phone calls at arbitrary times from other residents who expect me to always be at the ready. Would a NYC apartment president/super even take these calls? A paid super probably would. But an unpaid board president?
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Response by crescent22
over 11 years ago
Posts: 953
Member since: Apr 2008
Who has leverage if you decide to change the rules and do something shocking like telling people to communicate complaints via email - Them because they can say you've violated some weird by-law or you because you can just say there is no written rule and you can cite market convention as justification. I suspect it's the latter.
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Response by alanhart
over 11 years ago
Posts: 12397
Member since: Feb 2007
"Would a NYC apartment president/super even take these calls?" ... NO!
"are going to have to be small and incremental" ... NO!
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Response by Riversider
over 11 years ago
Posts: 13572
Member since: Apr 2009
Is this building self managed? This could be the problem. Hire a managing agent and offload the work to a super and managing agent. The board should be over-seeing the process and not turning unit owners into porters and engineers.
The board should be accessible by email or in person at reasonable hours.
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I should add that this isn't in NYC. I'd love to be able to tell the other residents, "Well, back in New York they do it like this..." and have my wishes win the day.
No, you should add that this isn't in the western hemisphere.
But the answer is to do what you want ... they expect non-conformity from you, a westerner.
What others do, I cannot say. However, you need to take care of yourself; nobody else is doing so. Set up the system as you want it (it sounds perfectly reasonable to ME) & tell them, in the nicest way possible, this is how it needs to be OR BLOODY DO IT YOURSELF. They're paying you how much?
>I should add that this isn't in NYC.
What city is this in?
@Alan - To *some* extent they expect non-conformity. But what they *want* is for me to do things exactly as they have previously been done. (Exhibit A: the 2003-vintage phones that we carry around.) So any changes I want to make, either for just my term or for future presidents, are going to have to be small and incremental.
I've already set up a web-based e-mail address for the building (which I will pass down to the future president) so that I can answer e-mail using a proper PC and keyboard rather than the outdated telephone number pad. I've got the monthly meetings moved from 1 PM to 4 PM. I've eliminated the need to physically greet the cleaning staff when they arrive at 7:10 AM each morning, and am having them place their daily report copy in the mailbox.
Really it's just the phone calls at arbitrary times from other residents who expect me to always be at the ready. Would a NYC apartment president/super even take these calls? A paid super probably would. But an unpaid board president?
Who has leverage if you decide to change the rules and do something shocking like telling people to communicate complaints via email - Them because they can say you've violated some weird by-law or you because you can just say there is no written rule and you can cite market convention as justification. I suspect it's the latter.
"Would a NYC apartment president/super even take these calls?" ... NO!
"are going to have to be small and incremental" ... NO!
Is this building self managed? This could be the problem. Hire a managing agent and offload the work to a super and managing agent. The board should be over-seeing the process and not turning unit owners into porters and engineers.
The board should be accessible by email or in person at reasonable hours.