Configuring Your First Council Meeting Agenda Template

The strata council meeting is a gathering of the administrators (e.g., strata council members, community manager, etc.) of a multi-unit community. Owners, special guests or committee members may also be invited to attend to observe the meeting. This meeting is essential for a well-running community, and properly setting up a strata council meeting agenda can help you to reach consensus faster and make decisions more efficiently.

This premium template is provided compliments of Bazinga. Use this template to quickly and easily create your first strata council meeting agenda.

Configuring your first council meeting agenda template

1. If you would like to include your own community logo, replace the default logo provided in the template with an electronic file of your logo. 2. Go through the template. Review and replace highlighted sections, substituting these generic details with specific items for your first meeting agenda wherever applicable. 3. Save the completed file and store it in a secure area. Bazinga offers cloud- based, confidential document storage for convenient anytime, anywhere access.

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The Strata Council, Corporation #

FIRST COUNCIL MEETING AGENDA

DATE: Day, MM DD, YYYY TIME: Time LOCATION: Location

1. Roll Call 2. Call to Order & Declaration of Quorum 3. Introductions 4. Council Roles 5. Code of Conduct 6. Regular Meeting Agenda Review 7. Decision-Making Process 8. Mission and Values Statements 9. Set Date of Next Meeting 10. Adjournment

2 FIRST COUNCIL MEETING AGENDA CORPORATION #

INTRODUCTIONS

During this part of the meeting we will spend a few minutes going around the table to allow new council members to introduce themselves and the role they’re interested in holding.

Suggested points to cover:

 Role you’re interested in holding  Skills or certifications  Community management experience  Reason for volunteering

1. Avoid bringing up community business or specific issues during introductions.

COUNCIL ROLES

During this part of the meeting we will be assigning specific roles to our members.

Established council roles to be filled:

 President  Vice-President  Treasurer  Secretary

In addition to the established roles, the following roles may be filled:

 Maintenance  Bylaws and Rules  Resident Communications  Security  Landscaping  Amenities  Social  Other – as dictated by your community’s unique characteristics

Notes:

1. Members can hold more than one role. However, the same member can’t hold both the president and vice-president roles. 2. Council can form committees to help fill roles such as security, landscaping, amenities and social.

CODE OF CONDUCT

During this part of the meeting we will establish and agree to the Code of Conduct for our council.

Sample Code of Conduct:

 Maintain confidentiality around how and why decisions were arrived at.  Never divulge a council member’s personal positions.  Disclose a conflict of interest with respect to any issue.  Offer constructive input and solutions regarding the issue at hand.  Only make decisions in council or committee meetings where decisions may be minuted.  Communicate decisions in official meeting minutes.  Support the final decision once made. The group owns the decision. It is not attributable to any single council member or sub-group of council.

1. The Code of Conduct, once established, will be signed by all members and published for residents to view.

REGULAR MEETING AGENDA REVIEW

During this part of the meeting we will review and familiarize ourselves with the regular meeting agenda that we will use for future council meetings. We will also establish who will be responsible for creating and distributing future agendas and minutes.

Regular Council Meeting Agenda:

 Call to Order  Roll Call and Declaration of Quorum  Adoption of Previous Council Meeting Minutes  Approval of Financials  Review of Accounts Receivable  Consideration of Correspondence  Consideration of Unfinished Business  Consideration of New Business  Set Date of Next Meeting  Adjournment

1. Members are expected to lead the portions of the meeting pertaining to their portfolios. For example, the treasurer should lead the approval of financials and the landscaping chair should lead unfinished and new business items pertaining to landscaping.

DECISION-MAKING PROCESS

During this part of the meeting, we will establish and agree to a decision-making process for our council.

Building an effective decision-making process will help us make decisions faster and more efficiently. It will help us get things done and avoid revisiting the same agenda items from meeting to meeting.

Sample Decision-Making Process:

1. Be clear about what it is you’re trying to decide. 2. Identify the one situation or decision that needs to be made. Don’t get distracted by side issues. 3. Dissect the issue to gain clarity. Set parameters around the situation. 4. Determine what a good decision looks like. 5. Brainstorm options by encouraging diverse council input. 6. Evaluate the options presented. Look at the pros and cons. 7. Hold a formal vote on the best course of action. 8. Determine who will carry out the decision. 9. Evaluate after the decision has been carried out. Debrief and discuss anything that fell short of expectations. 10. Document discussion to help council improve its decision-making process.

1. The council president will ensure the decision-making process is followed and periodically reviewed by the group as necessary.

MISSION & VALUES STATEMENTS

During this part of the meeting we will be reviewing or starting the process of establishing the mission and values statements for our community.

This process will entail council building a general framework based on our understanding of the community and its demographic. Once we have a draft of our mission and values statements we will be taking it out for validation with residents.

To help define our mission statement, we should ask ourselves:

1. What is the purpose of the community? 2. Why does the community exist? 3. What common lifestyle characteristics do the residents have?

To help define our values statement, we should ask ourselves:

1. Who lives in our community? 2. What are their main concerns? 3. What are their personal goals? 4. How can our community address their concerns and goals?

Notes:

1. The goal of the draft isn’t perfection. There will be lots of opportunity for feedback and revisions before it’s finalized.

SET DATE OF NEXT MEETING

During this part of the meeting we will set the date(s) and locations(s) of our future meeting(s).

1. Setting a schedule of meetings several months or the whole year in advance should help us manage our personal and work schedules and optimize attendance and participation.

Meeting Adjourned!