We had our monthly condo association meeting on Monday. It’s always on Monday at 6:30 pm. A notice is posted on both of our elevators, in case residents are interested in what’s going on. Most aren’t.
This wasn’t always the case. I’ve been here for seven years and lots of folks used to get up from their couches and make it to the meeting in the community room on floor one. Perhaps we’d have 30 attendees back in the day. A few days ago at our monthly meeting we had five. Me, another single lady, a married lady without her spouse, and a loyal couple who never miss a beat. He used to be on our board.
We sat on straight-backed chairs facing the table behind which the board members sat. They outnumbered us. Pity the board members. Theirs is a thankless job, and all of them have other full-time jobs, so the meeting is just another coffin nail. All but one are men. The lone woman is (naturally) the secretary. This makes my blood boil for some reason.
Anyway, once the minutes are approved from the prior meeting (yawn!), the president launches into the real tough stuff.
This month’s topic was dogs, as it seems several have far exceeded the weight limit of 65 lbs. Also, each resident is to have no more than two pets. A trio of big brindle boxers has been seen riding the elevators. The biggie bulldog exceeding the 65 lb. weight limit lives on my floor. I’ve heard it bark. It has a BIG bark, but so far I haven’t seen it. Someone did though, and wrote a letter protesting the size of said American Bulldog. It belongs to new renters, Stephen Jackson and spouse. You know who he is don’t you? He may be perfectly within his rights having this dog. Who knows?
So now the board must shape a letter and send it to the dog’s owners. Of course all the “pet rules” are clearly stated in a packet that each resident receives, but who knows if it’s ever read? For years now, I get big laughs when I come to the meetings and ask, “Who weighs the dogs?”
Okay, so we deal with the dog problems and move on to the escalating problems in the underground parking garage. The rules for storing things in the individual parking spaces prohibits anything but cars, bikes, motorcycles and other wheeled devices. It does not include storing golf clubs, tennis rackets, horse saddles, chairs, shelves, etc., etc. Because the list of okay items was more or less ignored by everyone, including the board, quite naturally things got out of hand. Not everyone is guilty, but one of the more industrious board members came to the meeting with print-outs of parking spaces overflowing with a diversity of objects. Another letter now has to be written.
Will these letters fix the problems? I don’t think so. I asked one of the board members, an attorney, “Well now, let’s just imagine one of these big over-the-weight-limit dogs lunges at me on the elevator. Who is responsible? The owners of fido, the board, the association?”
Living the condo life isn’t exactly stress free. No sirree. A former board member told me he often had a big shot of cognac following these monthly meetings….
I’ll vote for that.
