Monthly Archives

August 2021

CondoVoter
In Condo Law, Condovoter, Electronic Voting, Remote Voting, Virtual Meetings

The Post-Pandemic Road: Leaders Share their Perspectives

CondoVoter - Team - Electronic Condo Corporation Voting

Left to right: Angel-Marie Reiner; Darryl Fulton; Catharine R. Beatty; and Shawn Pulver.

It’s mid-summer hot in Ontario. After months and months of stops and starts, you can begin to feel a difference in people’s outlook and demeanours. Most Ontarians have received at least one vaccination and many have now double dosed. Businesses are slowly reopening following the Government of Ontario’s Roadmap to Reopen. There has been a collective sigh of relief that perhaps the worst is now behind us.

So, what does this mean for the condominium industry? Will condo corporations return to the status quo pre-pandemic and hold in-person AGMs and owners’ meetings? Will each corporation choose its own path forward? We reached out to several condominium industry leaders to gather their thoughts. We hope you enjoy their observations.

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In my opinion, as we slowly experience the easing of restrictions, invariably meetings will shift back to in person. Already many meetings are being held outside to meet with contractors and for exterior inspections to name a couple. Many board members naturally prefer in person and the same with property managers. The effectiveness of meeting in person versus virtually will have an organic effect on this change in the industry. For owners’ meetings, most feedback seems to be a vocal anticipation of being able to meet again and make those connections many of us in the industry are missing. Owners’ meetings are often as much about business as they are about the social and community aspect of the corporation. Residents with language, technological or other hindrances may have been adversely affected throughout the past two annual general meetings. I do expect that people want to go back to in-person meetings to have that personal touch and interaction. Not to be forgotten, virtual meetings are quick to set up, easy to hold, allow for good communication and eliminate attendance challenges. Many corporations likely experienced a nice feeling of knowing that their quorum numbers were met well ahead of the meeting. I feel that some buildings/boards will want to have a hybridized meeting of some sort to assist better to achieve quorum. I foresee larger buildings being able to support the hybrid meeting platform with the extra costs that would be associated. Small corporations will likely fall back to meeting in person for cost reasons mainly. Some may opt for virtual just to ensure quorum. For board meetings, I anticipate the virtual meeting will become another tool in the tool box to be able to have quick meetings set up or even become an alternating meeting style. It has been a difficult road but, amongst other efficiencies that have been ferreted out in this pandemic, the virtual meeting is here to stay … but in a more useful, helpful way rather than the now vanishing forced obligation it has been.


Darryl Fulton
Regional Condominium Manager

Goldview Property Management

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I opened our Condominium Management Division in 2019; I was surprised at how dated technology was, how heavily “papered” the industry was/is. I heard from my peers in the industry who seemed to fear change, saying, ‘we have just always done it that way.’  

Can you imagine if we lived in a society where the above statement was acceptable and we didn’t grow professionally and, for that matter, personally?

I knew there had to be better ways. Before COVID-19, I could not understand why board meetings were being held in person, particularly those after hours. The mere suggestion of holding a meeting virtually was not well received.  

Board members are volunteers; many of the members work during the day, why after a full day of work, would they want to drive to our office or another location, take the meeting, and then drive home? Would it not be nicer to be home when the meeting is done, save the drive time? Plus, it would be a better solution for our property managers to save drive time and promote balance.  

We tried in 2019 to introduce virtual meetings with little success. Then the pandemic changed our lives. Virtual meetings became the norm and not the exception to the rule.    

It took time to get used to these meetings, to get a rhythm going, there were many “Bob, we can’t see you”, “Susan, you are on mute”, “Everyone, please mute as the background notice is distracting.”  

After an adoption period, our boards now prefer the virtual experience from virtual meetings, e-voting and automated payment processing.  Further the response from virtual AGMs was overwhelmingly positive. Even with the thoughts that we may be able to have AGMs in person, in the future, we have booked most of our corporations for virtual AGMs because they are more efficient and who doesn’t love efficiency!

 
Angel-Marie Reiner
President 

Onyx Condo Management

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There is no doubt that the ability to hold virtual meetings has been a saviour for the condominium industry throughout the pandemic. It has allowed unit owners to continue to stay informed about key operational and financial aspects of their corporation. As the restrictions are lifted, boards of directors will need to make decisions on whether to continue with these virtual meetings.

One of the major positive aspects of virtual meetings is their inclusiveness. As the auditor, we attend the annual general meetings for our condominium corporation clients to present the financial statements. Prior to the pandemic, some in-person meetings for buildings with over 400 units would only have 10 people in attendance. Now, when held as a virtual meeting, that same building may have over 100 people in attendance.  Virtual meetings allow many people to participate who would otherwise be unable to attend. For example, parents with young children, individuals with disabilities when a meeting is offsite and owners that do not live in their units. This increased attendance has tremendous value to a board, as it allows them the opportunity to communicate directly with more unit owners, address their concerns and share ideas to improve the management of the corporation.

From our perspective, we believe that our presentation of the audited financial statements has been greatly improved through virtual meetings. At in-person meetings, we have found that few unit owners have the financial statements with them; however, at virtual meetings, the financial statements are displayed on screen, so unit owners can follow along as we review them. This has allowed us to more effectively educate and inform the unit owners, and we have received positive feedback on the experience over the past year. 

These are just two of the positive aspects of virtual meetings, but there are many more.  For this reason, we believe that virtual meetings will continue for many corporations, in particular, the larger buildings or those that need to hold meetings offsite. The benefits of holding virtual meetings will be hard for many of the boards to ignore post-pandemic.

Catharine R. Beatty, CPA, CA
Client Service Manager

Rapkin Wein LLP

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It is clear that virtual condo meetings are here to stay for the long term. The pandemic has forced service providers in many industries (including legal) to look at other ways to provide strong services, by relying more on technology and innovation. The days of paper proxies and paper ballots are clearly numbered. As someone who has litigated election-related disputes, I can see first-hand the benefits of having electronic votes that avoid the possibility of human error, and provide owners with the opportunity to change their vote at any time. I have seen far too many situations where owners attend a meeting where the outcome of an election has already been predetermined before any candidate has even spoken. Owners may have wanted to change their vote after hearing from certain candidates, but it was too late. I am thrilled when I see condo voting and condo elections back in line with the current technological environment. 

Shawn Pulver
Founder and principal

Pulver on Condos

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CondoVoter
In Condovoter

Meet the CV Team: Sarah Pilon, Client Intake

CondoVoter - Team - Electronic Condo Corporation Voting

Educate, Inform and Guide

Q: Sarah, you’ve been described as a Jill-of-all-trades at CV. What’s your favourite part about your day-to-day role?

A: I think my favourite part of the day comes down to a toss-up between being given opportunity for inventive endeavours and client interaction. I enjoy building something from concept to completion, which helps with intake. I especially enjoy when a client calls with an issue and I can help design a simple solution – that’s the best of both worlds.

Q:  What are the steps you take to build great connections with new CV clients?

A: I’m quick to pick up the phone. We’ve missed a lot of human interaction during COVID, so if I receive an email deserving a phone call rather than an email response, I will call them. Emails are a wonderful tool, but often lack personable effort. I try to find a way to put the client at ease with reassurance and confidence, but I’m always happy to take the time to hear about what you did for dinner last night. People often tell me I’m easy to talk to; I guess it just comes naturally (although my dad would say I get it from him).

Q: If a client has specific questions or concerns, how are you able to address these and bring about a successful outcome that puts the client at ease?

A: You have to just address the problem presented. If you come home from a long day lamenting a specific work task you don’t want to hear about the leaky faucet. Addressing the problem head on gives people confidence that we have the solution. I’m also good at creating solutions on the fly. I’ll attempt to build a service on the phone with a client if I know we can do it.

Q: Finish this thought – One thing I believe I do really well is …

A: Making connections anywhere. We will be out for dinner and, suddenly, I’m best friends with the server. I genuinely don’t know how this happens, I have no strategy or intent, it just is. I’ve been asked before how I do this; the only thing I can think of is that I try to connect with people by relating to their interests.

Q: What have you learned about yourself during the pandemic?

A: I think I knew this before, but many pandemic circumstances have proved to myself that I can handle anything, mostly stress-free. It’s been a challenging year and was quite tough at times, but I’ve learned I’ve got grit and an extremely loving support system.

Q:  What’s your favourite part about working with people?

A: I think it’s just interesting getting to meet so many different people with so many different needs. I also want to promote efficiency and simplicity. So, even if it’s just helping to book an AGM, if I can do it as efficiently as possible and take a minimal amount of stress away from someone, I feel good about that.

CondoVoter
In Electronic Voting, Remote Voting, Virtual Meetings

Passing Bylaws the Virtual Way

CondoVoter - Team - Electronic Condo Corporation Voting

Condominium corporations are complex legal entities governed by the Condominium Act as well as their Declaration, bylaws and rules. Some bylaws, such as a bylaw to add electronic voting and virtual meetings, require a majority vote from only those residents present at the AGM or owners’ meeting (present can be in person, virtually, electronically or by proxy). Other bylaws, such as a Standard Unit bylaw, require a majority vote in favour from all voting units in the condominium. In this case study, we explore the process one corporation is undertaking to approve three different bylaws.

Overview

One year ago, a Standard Unit bylaw (SUB) was to be introduced by a Toronto area condominium corporation to residents at their AGM. While the appetite for a new SUB gained traction among residents, voting did not meet the threshold of a majority in favour from all voting units. And so the meeting was adjourned to reconvene at a later time. This process of adjournment/reconvening continued for a number of meetings.

At the reconvened meeting held in April 2021, two other bylaws were introduced: 1) Directors’ Qualifications, and 2) Telecommunications bulk metering bylaw combined with a Section 97 Substantial Vote change. Again, there was insufficient participation to reach quorum and the meeting was adjourned to allow more time for owners to review the bylaws and information about the Substantial Change vote for their next vote.

Virtual Adjourned Meeting Process

The steps involved to adjourn meetings and to reconvene at a later date can be cumbersome. The process requires the same timeframe as for AGMs: 35 days’ preliminary notice to owners and 15 days for the notice of meeting.

Tuan Tran is a Regional Manager with City Sites Property Management Inc. Tuan retained CondoVoter on behalf of the condo corporation to provide virtual meeting and e-voting services. It was Tuan’s first time working with CondoVoter who had been recommended by managers from his team. The first step was to reach out to owners by email to send the preliminary notice of the meeting. The next step was an email to the owners sent approximately 17 days before the meeting date with the notice of meeting package which also contained a unique encrypted link to the electronic ballot for owners to cast their vote in advance of the meeting. “This part of the early process went very well,” explains Tuan. “Logistics can be challenging, especially reaching offsite owners, where we have had to coordinate hard copy delivery. We saw benefits right after the first preliminary notice email notice that was sent to owners.”

Next steps included explaining meeting preparation and training for management and the board. “We really appreciated the pre-training, which included how to deal with specific elements such as raising hands, muting and other features within the platform. It was very useful.”

One specific area that CondoVoter addressed for the board was how would owners voice any concerns. “The virtual moderator took care of addressing all these concerns in meeting – working with the chair of the meeting in asking for motions and second motions,” said Tuan. “The virtual moderator also took professional control of the Q&A at the end of the meeting employing chat, virtual hands, mute/unmute. In my experience, virtual meetings allow management and boards to have more control. Meetings get less out of hand or aggressive.” Tuan adds, “These are all good features to have!”

Because of the introduction of two new bylaws and the Substantial Change vote it was important to include panellists on the agenda and add them to the Q&A. “It was crucial to have their input especially in light of the new bylaws and this was very successful.”

Finally, as a value-added service, CondoVoter offered a professional minute-taker. “One less headache to deal with for us!”

Results

Adjourned meetings have been known to take one or two years to get the necessary majority of voting units to vote to pass a bylaw.

Tuan is extremely pleased to report their corporation’s Standard Unit bylaw passed successfully! “Electronic voting was easy to track,” he adds. “We didn’t have to start over or wait for more residents to vote. We were made aware of the number of votes after each adjournment and the live feed was great.” He also appreciated the weekly reminders to vote that CondoVoter sent to owners. “This helped us get the majority vote to pass the SUB. No doubt!”