Articles Posted in Current Affairs

Sandra Gottlieb, partner of SwedelsonGottlieb, and President of Association Lien Services, was also nominated by the Channel Islands Chapter for its Speaker of the Year for her program on boards of directors’ fiduciary duties and responsibilities. Sandra is a new member of the Channel Islands Chapter’s Board, was elected President Elect for the 2010 year and will be President of the Channel Islands Chapter for 2011.

ALS and SwedelsonGottlieb are committed to CAI and the Channel Island’s chapter, and are proud of Sandra’s nominations.

On February 24th (this Wednesday), David Swedelson, along with Tim Cline of the Timothy Cline Insurance Agency will be presenting a program on how technology can help you, as a board member, manager or community association vendor, to be more productive by taking advantage of new computer technology. They will be talking about Outlook and similar programs, scanning options for an almost paperless office, dictation and transcription programs, programs to help you stay organized, recording devices, video cameras, PDAs and more. Who knew that David and Tim were computer and technology geeks?!

David Swedelson and Sandra Gottlieb were recently nominated for the Greater Los Angeles Chapter of CAI’s Excellence in Education Award. Sandra was nominated, along with Karen Kokowicz, Manager of Westview Towers HOA (our client), for their program entitled How to Say No and Keep Your Job. David was nominated, along with Candace Gottlieb-Clark (of Mediating Solutions), Michael Huffman (Management Professionals, Inc.) and Dick Preuss for their program, Building Community
Through Reasonable Rules.
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We have all heard stories about accidental e-mails. How about accidental voice mails? I guess it can happen. The Los Angeles Daily Journal reported that a lawsuit is moving forward based on a voicemail that was accidentally left on an attorney’s system. The article states: “The three men thought they had hung up after leaving a message for one of Jasmine’s in-house lawyers, but the voicemail continued to record as they openly discussed the theft of trade secrets on speakerphone. Marvell fought all the way to the California Supreme Court to get the voicemail erased based on attorney-client privilege, but the court punted the case back to the 6th District, allowing to stand its ruling that the lawyers waived the privilege by discussing possible fraud.”

If you are discussing confidential matters, it is best to make sure that you keep it confidential. Be careful out there.
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By: David C. Swedelson, Esq.,
Senior Partner at SwedelsonGottlieb
Community managers have been telling us over the last year that much of their time has been consumed by matters relating to delinquent assessments. And they are not just referring to the basic mechanics of the collection process. They are also referring to the many questions that come up, the calls and emails from owners and board members, the foreclosure notices, the bankruptcies, and the list goes on. They lament that this is taking them away from doing their core responsibilities relating to maintenance and repair, etc.

Managers and board members alike are concerned about the impact that this recession is having on the communities they govern or manage. They are concerned about the deficit in the budget that is caused by their associations not receiving all of the revenue that was expected when the annual budget was prepared and the resulting lack of money to do all of the maintenance and repair that is required.

Because of the impact the recession is having on our client base, I have been monitoring articles and reports from experts regarding when we might reach the end of what is now being called the “Great Recession.”
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We see it on the web all the time, articles highly critical of politicians, actors, pop stars and others. Then come the highly inflammatory comments from readers using anonymous names. There are websites where you can critique restaurants, shops, services, etc. Sometimes these criticizers write some of the nastiest things. We are now seeing this type of nastiness on websites set up by disgruntled community association owners.

I recently read an article on the internet that addressed this very phenomena, calling it webtribution. Click here to read the article.

The author comments on people who write nasty reviews for a restaurant or book, “not because they dislike the product, but because they dislike the person who created it. Or signing up an acquaintance for email advertising lists. (I can assure you that if your inbox suddenly fills up with ads for male-enhancement treatments, someone is out to get you.)”

SwedelsonGottlieb is proud to announce that our firm’s senior and managing partner Sandra Gottlieb has been elected to the Board of Directors of the Channel Islands Chapter of Community Associations Institute (CAI). She will serve as President-Elect in 2010 and as the Chapter’s President in 2011. Sandra looks forward to leading the Chapter to continued success and furthering our firm’s committment to supporting California’s community associations and all that serve and work with them. She will continue to serve CAI’s Orange County Chapter as a Board member in 2010.

If you would like to learn more about Community Associations Institute, visit them at www.cai-online.org

The Channel Islands Chapter has its own website at www.cai-channelislands.org

You have most likely received emails regarding proposed new legislation that would allow California community associations’ Boards the power to enter into long term contracts for water or energy efficiency programs. After considering the pros and cons as expressed in these emails, we have let the Governor know that we support this bill. We urge you to let him know that you do as well, and you need to do that now, as he will soon be finalizing his decision on this bill.

Here are the facts: The California legislature recently passed Assembly Bill 1328, which is now on the Governor’s desk, awaiting his approval or veto. AB 1328, if enacted, would allow an association to enter into a contract for a water or energy efficiency program for a term of up to five (5) years, if the board reasonably anticipates that the contract will result in savings to the association. The members would not have the right to vote on the contract, but would be given notice of the proposed duration of the contract on the agenda for any meeting at which the contract will be discussed or voted on.
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On July 30, 2009 the California Association of Community Managers (CACM) awarded SwedelsonGottlieb’s senior partner Sandra Gottlieb with the organization’s coveted 2009 Vision Lifetime Achievement Award. This is only the second time in CACM’s history that it has awarded an affiliate (meaning a member who is not a manager) the Lifetime Achievement Award. This Award was presented to Sandra for all of the time and effort she volunteers to CACM, including her involvement for many years as the editor of CACM’s Law Journal, sitting on the Professional Standards Committee, teaching CACM’s core courses and all of the other things that she does. To see and hear what the presenters had to say:
 

 

Click here to read an interesting article from the Wall Street Journal about complaining entitled “From Attitude to Gratitude.” We all do it. And we know that homeowners at community associations like to complain a lot. They complain about management. They complain about the board. Heck, sometimes they even complain about the association’s legal counsel. They complain about the landscaping, the paint color, the temperature of the pool and the list goes on (and on and on). The attached article talks about owners complaining as “nitpicking in paradise.”

Many of us complain we have so many calls or e-mails to deal with; we complain because there is so much work to do. Some board members complain about the homeowners, about all the delinquencies, about the high cost of insurance, etc., and the list goes on.

How about this: instead of complaining, why not say (or feel) how grateful we are for what we have. If you are employed, stop complaining because 10% of Californians are out of work. If you still have some money in the bank or invested in stocks, stop complaining because some people invested their money in Ponzi schemes.