Education for condo board members and managers - by Bob Keegan

Bob Keegan, DIRIGO Management Company

Around New England, condominium association board members and their professional managers continue to be challenged with increasing demands on their time and resources, but are now also seeing a variety of new and even more complex questions. Legal questions around rules and regulation enforcement ranging from owner requests for emotional support animals to smoking tobacco and marijuana in communities, and governance issues like amending condominium documents to comply with new state condominium statutes or establishing rules to address new and before unheard of services like AirBnB or electric car charging stations are now becoming more common place.

And while some of the issues confronting communities may be unique as a result of a changing industry driven by new technologies and the demands of a new generation of condominium unit owners, many stay the same including finding volunteers to serve on association boards and committees and educating new condominium homeowners about their role and responsibility in a common interest community.

Board Member and Manager Education CAI and the New England chapter continue to develop programming that addresses these and other evolving questions and issues for condominium boards and owners as well as the professionals who manage and work with them. In the coming months association volunteer leadership training programs and workshops will teach association board members how to communicate with association residents, hire qualified managers and service providers, develop enforceable rules, interpret governing documents and more. The workshops will provide a comprehensive look at the roles and responsibilities of community association leaders and convey information to help create and maintain the kind of community people want to call home.

In addition to the workshops, a series of live webinars presented by industry professionals including attorneys, engineers, accountants, managers and others will offer best practices and an opportunity to ask specific questions. Convenient and easily accessible, these webinars will compliment other conferences and expos scheduled throughout the year where volunteer leaders, managers and business partners can meet, network and exchange in person their best practices in association governance and management.

Professional manager education will remain another priority with eight Professional Management Development Programs (PMDP) scheduled in 2017. Ranging from the popular M-100 Essentials of Community Association Management, a comprehensive course providing a practical overview for new managers and an essential review for veteran managers to the advanced M-310 Management Company Administration to help owners and senior managers build the skills and knowledge to increase the efficiency and effectiveness of their management companies, there’s valuable education for all manager levels of interest and experience.

Peer Networking In addition to formal education, the CAI New England chapter continues to offer invaluable opportunities for peer networking. Making connections and building a strong network of industry professionals and like-minded colleagues, can offer yet another opportunity to find resources and answers. With more than a dozen New England chapter committees including the managers’ committee, attorneys committee, CEO manager forum and more, as well as a variety of annual social gatherings including the chapter dinner in March and golf tournament in June, the Emerging Leaders Network (ELN) also hosts popular quarterly receptions and outings around the chapter.

In 2017 CAI and the New England chapter will bring to industry professionals, condominium homeowners and board members, dozens of opportunities to find the important information they are seeking to better manage and govern communities around New England.

Bob Keegan, CMCA, AMS, PCAM, is the 2017 CAI-NE Chapter president.