Today I had two things on my docket, and both of them had to be done in my male presentation. First was lunch with my Ex-Boss, and then my monthly Co-Op Board meeting. And I was wishing that I could have put on a dress and gone to a museum....
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Normally, I don't fully wake up until sometime between 8:30 and 10:00. Today, my journey to full consciousness started a little before 10:00, and I wasn't really moving until 10:30. This gave me about 2 hours to get dressed (as Mario), pick up my iPad (with its new battery), then drive to Rockland County to meet my ex-boss. And I barely accomplished all this in time.
Lunch with my ex-boss is always interesting, as we talk about the past, present and future. The past is usually business talk, and today was no different than usual. But today, I had job interviews to tell him about (without mention of going as Marian). And this was pleasant news to relate. Then we got into our usual political conversation - and we both have the same fears about the present and future. Neither of us like our president, and we both have concerns about what would happen if he stays in office, or is replaced by the vice president. We can't wait until 11/03/20, when we can exercise our right to vote....
Since we were expecting winter weather, we ended lunch a little earlier than usual. Luckily, none of the bad weather arrived before I started my drive home. And I was inside my apartment before 4:00. This gave me enough time to take care of some things and get ready for the co-op board meeting.
As usual, I won't go into details about the board meeting. But, compared with this time last year, everything was better than we expected. Everything was in order, and we were very happy with the way things had developed over the past year. Yes, there are some headaches that we (and other co-op boards) need to address because of New York State law changes that took place this summer. But we can now give them the proper thought required, an effort that would have been impossible at this time last year.
2 comments:
Issues like you have with your board service tend to make me less likely to want to serve on any of them in retirement. But it takes motivated folks such as yourself to make those organizations function, and I salute you for serving!
M
No - the headaches I have with being on the board are mostly time related. They take up an evening every month most of the time.
In the past, we had real problems. Since it would either be libelous or slanderous to mention what the major problems were or attribute them to appropriate people, I avoid saying things in detail. But I can say that there were some issues that were causing us distress, and we resolved them by switching to a larger, less expensive managing agent who uses more modern technology in the performance of its duties.
Using the right software can make all the difference. For example, being able to generate an aged accounts payable report at will makes it possible for the treasured to determine whether all bill payments are up to date. Digitizing all bills, invoices and associated payments makes it possible to track and reconcile expenses with services provided. Of course, we also benefit by being able to receive monthly maintenance payments via ACH, not having to wait for physical checks to be deposited at a local bank. Again, I can't go into details of what is and was going on. But having an up-to-date technology infrastructure makes a big difference in our ability to keep on top of things.
I can mention that due to the technology now used by our current managing agent and the people staffing their local office, that we have better understanding of our current financial position. This allows us to sleep at nights, as we are better able to deal with little problems before they become big problems.
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