Sun City Anthem
Director
Suggests
Initiation of Unit
Owner Legal Services Committee
Motion
I move the Board
approve the creation of a study group, including interested owners and Board
members, to be charged with investigation into the possible establishment of a
Legal Services Support Committee under the authority provided in Article V of
our bylaws.
Background
A committee similar to the concept
proposed herein has been in place for a long while at Sun City Summerlin, which
has been self-managed for 30 years.
Sun City Summerlin’s Master Bylaws
section 8.8 describes its purpose, composition, and general scope of
functions:
Legal Services Committee – Sun City Summerlin
Model
The Legal Services Committee shall
review and oversee the Association's Governing Documents, hearings, and related
affairs.
The Committee
shall be comprised of members with legal or general business oversight skills
that may include a working familiarity with managing updates to Governing
Documents and knowledge of dispute resolution, mediation, and arbitration
processes.
Neither the
Committee nor its members shall render legal advice to the Association or render
any services constituting the practice of law.
The Committee may review and provide
recommendations to the President, the Board or Executive Director regarding
SCSCAI involvement in Ombudsman intervention, mediation or arbitration cases or
on issues where an independent review is requested.
The Committee's functions may
include, but are not restricted to the
following:
a. Review
of Governing Documents and recommending updates or revisions to
the Board.
b. Review
of pending or adopted state and federal
legislation.
c.
Determine the impact upon the Association and make recommendations to the
Board.
d.
Provide recommendations regarding the Complaint and Hearing Protocol and serve
as the hearing panel when necessary.
Members may be appointed by the
Chairperson to serve as Hearing Officers.
e. Review
and provide recommendations on strategies to keep legal costs at a
minimum.
f. Upon
request of the Board of Directors or Association management, provide training
and seminar services in areas where they have
expertise.
g.Upon
request of the Board of Directors, develop, review, and recommend selection
criteria for new legal counsel.
Analysis
Establishment of
the committee would be with the goal of saving the association money by
reducing the amount of work that is related to legal issues, but does not need
to be performed by an attorney.
It is my understanding that
Summerlin has saved substantially, and this savings could be verified by the
task force investigating it.
Possible
activities/services for inclusion in the charter of a Legal Services
Committee:
The legal services committee could
help the board with various matters involving legal issues as desired by the
board.
The committee would not give legal
advice but can save considerable costs by performing many paralegal or
administrative tasks currently done by our attorney’s staff or CAM,
e.g.
a. review of potential amendments to our governing
documents.
b. review of the impact of adopted or pending state and federal
legislation impact on SCA.
c. review and provide recommendations on strategies to keep legal
costs at a minimum.
d. upon request of the board develop, review and recommend selection
criteria for association legal counsel,
etc.
Composition
The
legal services committee could be made up of owners who are experienced (active
or retired) attorneys not necessarily ever licensed in Nevada.
Other owners with relevant expertise and interest should also be
included as they would not be doing anything which would be construed as the
practice of law.
States
Director Tobin:
"I'm not just asking for feedback. This time I
am trying to get a sense of interest by asking for
volunteers."
"Who among you
would like to be on the group to study the
issue?"
"Would you like
to serve on a Legal Services Support Committee at some
time?"
"This motion is
intended to address what I consider to be an excessive use of attorneys which is
not only costly, but it creates an adversarial context for issues that can
better be resolved internally with more of a neighbor helping neighbor approach.
Right now, if someone has a dispute with the Board or the staff, they are forced
to get an attorney."
"Common sense
and reasonableness are missing from our current model, and I think it is because
attorneys are used now in areas far outside their expertise for issues which
would be avoided if proper management systems and internal controls were in
place."
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Got a comment? Your thoughts? Additions?
Deletions?
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Kudos to Ms. Tobin for her idea about a Legal Services Support Committee.
I have long maintained that SCA has a wealth of retired expertise (legal, financial, etc.) that could be tapped for free.....AND possibly save us a lot of money.