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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