Participation in Community Life

About this page

This page draws together all consensus decisions with respect to participation, as well as content on our website and given to new members in the community.

Participation

10/15/00

Cascadia Commons Home Owners Association is a cooperative venture, not unlike a co-op grocery store. In our case, we use our dues and labor from community participants to provide goods and services which make our community both possible and worthwhile.

Approved by consensus

Consensus/participation rights of tenants

5/13/01

Consensus/participation rights of tenants will exclude condo doc amendments, leases, easements, or matters with significant implications for HOA and/or homeowner finance and property values. Implementation: meeting facilitators can invite anyone to participate in any discussion. This policy is for times when the process gets bogged down or tenants hold the only red cards.

Approved by consensus

Work Hours Proposals (aka Participation Proposal)

9/9/01

All work counts. People work as they are able. If necessary work is not getting done, then umbrella groups or the full HOA meet to address the issue.

Each umbrella group – Admin, Facilities, Community Life – organizes the work that needs to be done. How this is done is up to each group; however the Admin group has these suggestions for groups to produce:

  • task list,
  • prioritized;
  • schedule
    • what needs to happen on a regular basis?
    • What needs doing daily, weekly, bi-weekly, monthly, annually, every 5 years, 20 years?
    • Similarly, what can be done ad hoc, but needs review every so often?;
  • calendar ( a visual reminder of both the above and place for people to be able to jot down their initials, notes, etc. when a task is complete).

Amendments:

  • We try this approach for six months and re-evaluate it at that time;
  • An umbrella group can bring the proposal back to the HOA if it proves to be untenable before the six months is up.

Approved by consensus

Participation in work hours

8/14/05

CONSENSUS DECISION: Participation in work hours in Cascadia Commons is Expected. 

[ Presumably, “work hours” are as per the draft below. The word “expected” presumably replaces “required” as used in the draft.  – DC]

 

****************** Agreed to by HOA? ******************

Draft Work Hours Agreement

June 26, 2005

[ Copy below is excerpted from the Work Hours Proposal page that contains the background, preamble, and other HOA commentary on the issue.]

Draft Work Hours Proposal

  1. Cascadia Commons Home Owners Association (CCHOA) adopts a work requirement of a minimum of eight hours per month per board member (or designate). Just as each household pays dues and has one vote, the minimum work requirement applies per household.
  2. CCHOA affirms this guideline for determining which contributions are counted in the work hour total:
    1. All work required for CCHOA to meet legal obligations and 
    2. maintain property values takes priority over other work. Examples of such high-priority work include:
      1. clearing the wetlands of non-native species;
      2. managing CCHOA finances;
      3. maintenance to protect property values.
  3. Interpretation of the guideline described in #2 above is left to the three umbrella committees, which are responsible for prioritizing and organizing work within their respective spheres of activity.

HOA members may request exceptions due to hardship or to include certain kinds of work not “on the list.” In these cases, the umbrellas will make recommendations to the full group on hours that count toward the work requirement so that a decision can be made.

Membership in “user groups” will not count toward the monthly work requirement, though the leadership of these groups may. Examples include the meal program, shop use, hot tub maintenance, community garden. (See above paragraph.)

 

****************** End Proposal ******************

Work participation

01/08/06

Work done for HOA that counts toward the work participation standard includes the following:

  1. Work parties
  2. Responding to e-mail on the web site
  3. Steady tasks, e.g., cleaning, lock-up, recycling
  4. Committee meetings
  5. Maintenance
  6. Committee work/tasks
  7. Bookkeeping
  8. Childcare during HOA meetings and committee work
  9. HOA meeting support (facilitation, scribe)
  10. Giving tours

Approved by consensus

Updated Participation committee proposal

****************** Agreed to by HOA? *****************

Nov. 3, 2009

Our hope is that everyone living here will participate fully (i.e., attend HOA meetings and work parties and be active on one or more committees).  We need everyone to do the work of sustaining the community.  When we all participate, we can all thrive. We acknowledge that, due to a variety of circumstances, this ideal can not always be reached.  In those specific cases, when even the minimum of attendance at 3 HOA meetings and 3 work parties per annum has not been met, the HOA will ask for monetary compensation.  

When the minimum requirement of attendance at 3 HOA meetings per annum has not been met, members will be billed $150 at years’ end.

When the minimum requirement of participation in 3 work parties per annum has not been met, members will be billed $150 at years’ end.

Partial years of membership will be subject to a proportional requirement. Attendance at HOA meetings and work parties will be noted in the HOA meeting minutes.

Members may also request “inactive” status as per the HOA bylaws, in which case the HOA will decide on a case-by-case basis whether to require compensation.

Committee consists of Linda Scott, Gerhard, Judith , Minnette and Inger

 

****************** End Proposal ******************

Non-Owner HOA meeting participation

February 2013

REVISED PROPOSAL LANGUAGE:

It is proposed that all HOA meetings will continue to be referred to as “HOA Meetings” but will be conducted in an open meeting format whereby renters and non-owner residents may attend and participate in discussion at the discretion of the facilitator in the same manner available to unit owners. Renters and non-owners may participate in straw polls, and a straw poll may be done before all tests for consensus. Renters and non-owner residents may participate in discussion but not participate in a test for consensus or vote. – Approved by consensus.

Website participation text

There’s no apparent evidence in the Consensus Decisions with Policy Implications document that the copy on the website was ever agreed to by the HOA

From the FAQ page on the Cascadia public website:

How much time will it take?

It varies, of course, but a desirable level of involvement would be as follows:

  • Attend a two hour Home Owner’s Association (HOA) meeting once a month.
  • Participate in Work Parties (once a month for 3 hours)
  • Serve on a committee or two (3-8 hours per month) or commit to some on-going task, such as cleaning the Common House
  • Join the Meal Plan (roughly 2 work shifts per month, about 2 hours each)

This works out to 15-20 hours per month, which might sound intimidating as a lump sum, but actually you would be doing many of the tasks in a single family home. Some residents do considerably more than this. Some do less. We try to accommodate special needs and circumstances; communicating about your needs ahead of time fosters good will. Not participating at all hurts everyone.

Note that the above estimate includes work-type activities only. To enjoy living here, you have to have fun, too! Think about the ratio of socializing-to-work that you need in order to feel good, and figure that in when you estimate the time commitment that living at Cascadia might mean for you.

New Member Orientation

There’s no apparent evidence in the Consensus Decisions with Policy Implications document that the work expectation copy below was ever agreed to by the HOA. This excerpt is from Participation at Cascadia Commons Cohousing, which is part of the new member orientation.

At Cascadia, we all try to participate in our monthly Homeowners’ Association (HOA) meetings and monthly work parties. We also serve on committees, which usually meet once or twice per month. Participation in all of these is vital to the health of Cascadia.

Many of us also get together for meals once or twice per week. Although joining us for meals is not required, it is strongly encouraged, and is a lot of fun!

Before making your decision to live here, please try to come to our gatherings to see how we work together and relax together.

  • Monthly HOA meetings: Second Sunday of the month from 5:00pm to approximately 7:00 pm
  • Monthly Work parties: Third Saturday of the month from 9am to noon, followed by lunch
  • Community Meals:
    • Sunday brunch at 10am (On second Sunday of the month)
    • Sunday dinner at 6:30pm
    • Wednesday or Thursday dinner at 6:30pm

September 2011 Summary of comments relating to 

“Active” and “In-active” Status of Membership at Cascadia Commons

The assignment was to find descriptions what an Active member looked like to us and it seems to point to two types of descriptions;

  1. The tangible actions, needed to keep our HOA functioning: things like HOA meeting attendance, work parties, committee participation. This is “countable” and can be easily monitored
  2. The less tangible actions needed to keep our community vibrant and thriving as “intentional community”: things like eating together, helping each other with petcare, airport rides, grocery shopping, gardening, etc. This is vaguer and depends more on perception and feelings.

—————————————————-

When a member appears to be “inactive” it means that he/she no longer seems to demonstrate either or both of these types of behavior- which then would trigger a need to “check-in “ with that member, by designated or volunteering Board (HOA)  members.

Comments

Active members

This section is split up in “tangible/measurable” actions section and a ‘spirit of the active member’ section. 

  • Tangible/measurable actions of an “active” member:
  • Participation in community discussions with meaningful contributions
  • Attending all HOA meetings or explaining the absence
  • Actively serving on at least one committee
  • Working on all ‘work parties’ or accounting for equal work done at other times
  • Participating in the meal plan – ‘a critical part of healthy cohousing neighborhoods.’ If not participating in the meal plan, other forms of social engagements are required.
  • If a person has to withdraw from the community for a while (e.g. for travel, extra work, etc.) they should explain the circumstances
  • Suggestion: CH lockup participation become mandatory, exempting those that the community agrees should be exempt.

Spirit of “active” member

  • Spontaneously acts on behalf of the community
  • Responds to individual requests for rides, help with projects, use of privately owned equipment
  • Engagement with the community in your own way, using your particular talents and interests
  • Treating others with respect, even during a disagreement, will encourage mutual trust and may reduce withdrawal.
  • Active members attempt to reach out to people who seem in some way to be on the edge of the community. They also work to help newcomers and visitors feel welcome. Ask yourself: ‘What does the community need from me at this time?’, ‘Who do I feel separate from and why?’, ‘Can I do better than this?’

An inactive member

  • Fails to attend/participate/contribute to most obligatory participation: HOA meetings, work parties, and committee work
  • Routinely contributes fewer than 3 hours per month of the above activities
  • Anyone who stops paying HOA dues without communicating about it and making alternate arrangements
  • Not explaining absence from meetings or prolonged absence from the community (and not responding to individual requests for information).
  • Even when a community nurtures and appreciates meaningful contributions, thereby encouraging organic and sustainable participation, there are still people who don’t participate or contribute.

Contended issues

  • ”A household which requests inactive status is inactive for quorum purposes. I think the social/emotional issues are a matter for relationship and trust, and can’t be itemized, and also don’t need to be for the purpose of determining a quorum.”
  • One person commented that keeping aspects of private space that is visible to others neat and clean is a sign of an active member. Another person commented that this is not relevant to being an active or inactive member. ‘We don’t have community agreement about a standard for this, so there’s nothing to be participating in or deviant from. But even if we did have a standard, I don’t view upholding that as an active/inactive issue.’ However, this point may fall under the active member characteristic of ‘respecting others’. Those that are bothered by the private space in question may feel disrespected if the space is not cleaned upon request. Then again, this questionnaire was not meant to provide a forum for previous issues amongst community members and said members are therefore requested to resolve this matter amongst themselves.

Additional comments

Though baseline requirements are useful, participation is better if it is ‘organic and ‘sustainable’. Participation out of duty is ok, but natural motivation is better. A community that can nurture and appreciate meaningful contributions will encourage organic and sustained participation. This exercise feels both necessary and surprisingly uncomfortable (Sonja)