Ethics
“Action indeed is the sole medium of
expression for ethics.”
—Jane Addams
“I am not interested in power for
power's sake, but I'm interested in power that is moral, that is right
and that is good.”
—Martin Luther King, Jr.
I not talking about the same ethics that the lawyers and property
managers talk about; ethics that deal mainly with keeping board
activities secret from the owners. Instead, I am writing about ethical
concerns that the condo industry’s “Codes of Ethics” or “Codes of
Conduct” seems to deliberately ignore.
All directors must realize that their personal conduct on the
corporation’s property must set a role model for all the other
residents and owners.
It should be a corporation policy that no director, employee or
contractor will gossip about any resident, especially to any other
residents.
Conflict of
interests
It should also be a policy that any work that a director has done in
their private units that is done by contractors that have contracts
with the corporation, must be fully disclosed in the board minutes.
No director should have the free use of amenities for which the owners
need to pay a fee.
No director should accept free services or goods from the corporation
or from any contractors or suppliers that have dealings with the
corporation.
Nor will they accept “commissions” or “finder fees” from any contractor.
No director should park in the visitors parking area when the owners
are not allowed to.
When it comes to the condo’s instruments, policies, rules and
regulations, all residents or owners will be treated equally.
Spying on
owners
The directors, management and the security staff should never use the
security video camera system to spy on the owners. They especially must
not use the cameras to spy on their opponents’ legitimate political
activities.
Condo
elections
The board should never engage in any form of condo election fraud nor
should they allow the management staff to do so.
The board should make it a policy that no employee or contractor is
allowed to stick their noses in the condo’s internal politics or be
allowed to solicit proxies from the owners on behalf of any candidate.
This policy protects the contractors. When the majority on the
board changes, the contractors should not be fired on mass but need be
able to work with the new directors.
All candidates and their supporters should have full access to the
other owners to conduct legitimate internal condo campaigning or to
collect signatures for a requisition for an owners’ special meeting.
The corporation’s policies will spell out the rules for when and how
all persons active in the condo elections will follow.
Whistle blowing
The corporation's policies should state that all directors, employees
and contractors are expected to report all legitimate safety and
security concerns, violations of any city building code and health
issues or violations of any residents legal or human rights or any
other government legislation if the board has been made aware of these
concerns and did not take any timely action to correct them.
The
whistle blower may report any and all such legitimate incidents to the
proper authorities or the owners if done in good faith, with no fear of
retaliation
by the corporation or by any of its contractors.
Contractors
Your contractors and service providers will be paid, in full and on
time. That by itself will make you a valued client. When push comes to
shove, that is so important.
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