A Brief Introduction to the Hopkinson House Owners’ Association Council
By David Roberts

Hopkinson House is a typical condominium. The owners of its apartments also jointly own the whole condominium. Each owner possesses not only an apartment, or apartments, but also a proportional share of all the building’s common elements – the elevators, the corridors, the outer walls of the building, etc. An apartment plus its share of the common elements is known as a unit, and the size of the unit determines the size of its owner’s vote to elect members of the governing Council.

A condominium is controlled by an association of all its owners, who elect a board or council to see that their wishes for the building are carried out. The job of the council is not management but governance. Our Council, typically, is like the board of directors of a company, which hires managers to conduct the daily business of the company. Council members are not expected to be expert in the operation and management of the building. Instead they are responsible for seeing that a competent manager or management company is in place, and that the management is caring for and operating the building according to the best interests of its owners. The Council decides how much money the owners must pay for the care and operation of the building, and how much the management may spend in doing its job, as set out in each year’s budget.
Note: This article was excerpted from a supplemental issue of On The House, published March, 2011

David Roberts served on the Council from 2005–2006 and was President from 2007–2009.