Your death left a gaping hole in my life that I fill with the love we shared – Unknown.
Lynda was very busy with her Sorority. She used to attend weekly meetings regularly and then she used to meet some of them during the week over lunch or coffee. From time-to-time, husbands were also invited but most of the time they had their own agenda.
In the middle of the week, Lynda had a telephone call from Jenifer. Lynda was on the phone for a while and I didn’t pay any attention because I was working on something on my computer. I was in the middle of drafting when Lynda popped in the master bedroom where I had my computer located. She asked me if we can talk. I said, yes, and faced her. She said that was Jenifer on the phone. I said I knew that. She said I am so sad to tell you that she is leaving Adam. She continued – she said she will never stop loving Adam but she cannot live with him anymore. I said that is a standard statement for the person who decided to break the relationship. She said, Jenifer was genuinely upset and never stopped crying. I said, I don’t know how to break it to you. This is none of our business and I don’t want you to interfere with them. If they decided for whatever reason not to continue to live together as a husband and wife we should support them. I said, we don’t know anything about Couples Therapy and we should leave them alone. Lynda said, I want to talk to my baby. Too bad we are so far from them and we don’t have any clue what kind of lives they were leading. I said give Adam a day or two before you try to get in touch with him. At the same time I don’t want you to feel responsible for whatever is going on in Ottawa. She said alright, I will give him a day or two before I call him.
I wanted to get Lynda out of the house for a couple of hours. I suggested to go for Fish & Chips which she accepted. When we were out, I tried to keep talking about things which were not related to Ottawa but after every few minutes, Lynda would bring it up and ask me where did we go wrong? I said it had nothing to do with us.
When we got back, there was a message from Adam. He didn’t sound that great but asked his mom to give him a call back. When Lynda went in the bedroom to call Adam, I parked myself in the living room and turned TV on.
When Lynda got back to the living room, I turned tv off and asked her if everything is okay? She said, I offered to go there but he said there is no need for that. He said they made the decision together to go separate ways which he thought was the best way. He said they are going to stay friends but will not be living together. I asked did you get around to figure it out the main reason. She said, she didn’t ask that question directly but what she figured that he wanted to start having kids and she wasn’t prepared for that. I asked, if Jenifer has moved out. She said, yes. I said we should give it a rest, babe, and I turned tv on.
We were aware of the Condominium Committee in the building, and they used to meet every month, but we were not interested in sitting in a room and listening to those folks’ yapping. We used to get minutes of the meeting every month, and I used to browse it and file it.
The president of the Committee used to live on the same floor, and we used to bump into each other almost every single day. Her name is Joy. One day she asked us if we would be attending the meeting that afternoon. She said we have a Condominium Committee to look after our building, and we meet on the last Friday of the month to discuss what’s going on with the plans for the repairs, etc. in the building. She said I welcome you both to the meeting as well as our coffee and cookies chit-chat on Saturdays in the lobby. Lynda thought it wasn’t a bad idea to check it out.
The very first meeting that we went to attend that afternoon as observers was nothing but disastrous. They had hired a consultant who was supposed to be knowledgeable about building maintenance, and he was the one who was running the meeting. Joy, the president, was sitting there smiling and saying nothing. At the end of the meeting, he turned around to the owners who were sitting in the back and observing the process intensely. There were 27 units in the building and most of those units were represented there that afternoon.
The consultant asked if there were any questions that he could answer?
One of the owners asked why they were still waiting to hear about the problem they had reported last month about their kitchen? The consultant said he had contacted a contractor who happened to be his friend, and he was busy with other contracts to take care of your problem. The owner said hopefully he gets around to come to see us soon. The consultant said I will give him a call to remind him.
Another owner raised her hand and said I am still waiting for the contractor to come back with a new part to replace something in her washroom. The consultant said that the contractor is still waiting for the parts to arrive and as soon as he gets those parts, he will show up at your door.
Another owner raised his hand and said I was hoping to hear what we were doing about the removal of the tree in the back which we discussed in the last meeting. The consultant said, “You’re right. I forgot to report back to you that another friend of mine is going to look after that but currently, he’s out of town.
Lynda was looking at me when I raised my hand to ask a question.
The consultant said welcome to the building folks. I said we have been living here for a while but never got around to attend the meeting. My name is Mir and my wife’s name is Lynda. We never lived in any condominium building before, so we don’t know the process or traditions, but I have a question. The consultant said, please feel free to ask any questions you like. I said, is there any way I can have access to the financial statement (FS) for the building? The consultant said typically no other owner in the building appeared to be interested in FS, but of course, you can have a copy of FS, and I will make sure that I bring it along next month when I come for the meeting. I said perhaps you can tell me your address, and I will pick it up from your office. He turned around and picked up a business card from his jacket which was hanging over a chair and handed it over to me.
I said, “Can I ask another question?” He said, of course you can, please go ahead. I said, being new to living in a condominium building, I don’t exactly know what your role is? He said:
- In British Columbia (BC) we have the Strata Act and Regulations to manage condominium buildings. It provides a framework for the creation and operation of strata developments. The legislation provides for strata corporations to operate and make decisions based on democratic principles. Under the Act, the strata lot owners elect a strata council that manages the development and the strata corporation. Many strata corporations hire a strata manager to help the strata council perform certain tasks. Smaller condominium buildings don’t necessarily need a Strata Manager as such; therefore, they hire a knowledgeable consultant to help maintain condominium buildings.
I said, thanks, and now I know something about the Strata Act and Regulations, but I still don’t know what part you play as a consultant. He said my job is to make it easier for the property owners by handling paperwork, preparing for meetings, taking minutes, hiring qualified services, and things like that. I said, do you feel that you are fulfilling those requirements or expectations? He said, perhaps you should ask the president and turned he around to look at Joy.
Joy didn’t hesitate for a second and said, “Absolutely.” The consultant turned around and asked me if I had any more questions?
I said, yes, I do and the reason being that I am totally ignorant of this environment, and I also know what curiosity did to the cat. However, I like your attitude and patience to put up with me. He said, I don’t mind at all. Partly, because some of the owners may have the same questions but never got around to ask. Please go ahead.
I said, do you have to be licensed to be a consultant under the Strata Act? He said another good question and the answer is “YES”, and I am licensed to do what I am doing for you folks.
I said the final question – Is there any provision under the Act, to complain about your services, just in case we were not satisfied. He said, indeed there is a provision under the Act, designed specifically to deal with that aspect. Moreover, it also empowers the president of the committee to fire me if I am not providing adequate services to fulfill my obligations.
I thanked him and signaled Lynda to get out of the meeting.
When we were in the elevator, somebody said to me, finally somebody had “Gert” to ask those questions, I was dying to ask. I said to her, don’t tell me that you are from Bristol. She said, how did you know that? I said just a wild guess. She said we will be seeing you a lot, young man and thanks for asking those questions and she got off the elevator on the 3rd. floor.
When we got to our unit, Lynda said the consultant seemed to oversee everything and the president and other members who are the part of the committee appeared to be utterly worthless and futile. I said talking about taking care of everything by the consultant, I thought he was unavailing and abortive who is taking so long to get anything done simply because the contractors who happened to be his friends are also as incompetent as him. I continued, it appeared to me, it was a very poor way of managing the building. No wonder they have been raising monthly condominium fees almost every year. Lynda said, how did you know that. I said in one of the meeting minutes left on our door mentioned that the next year they may have to increase the monthly condo fee, again.
As soon as I completed my sentence, somebody knocked on the door and Lynda rushed to see who that was. Then I heard she was asking somebody to come in. The next thing that I saw was Carol, the accountant, was walking in with Lynda. Lynda said Carol wanted to talk to us. Lynda offered Carol a seat. We sat down in the living room, and I asked Carol if she cares for a drink. She said no thanks. I said, what can we do, Carol? She said I just wanted to talk to you and explain my role on the committee. She continued – I don’t get involved in the process of reporting any problem in any unit. That’s between the president and the consultant. It works the following way, the owners report any problems to the president directly and she gets in touch with the consultant. Typically, the consultant sends somebody to fix the problem and as soon as the problem is fixed, I get an invoice for the services rendered. I process the invoice by entering the ledger and writing a cheque to pay directly to the person or company who fixed the problem. I said I understood the process. I asked if she is the only person who has authority to sign the cheques? She said Joy doesn’t like to be involved in financial activities. I understand how we can help, Carol. She said, I understand why you were asking those questions. The truth of the matter is that most of the owners in the building are not happy with the annual increase in monthly condominium charges. I said, do you agree with the owners? She said in some ways I sympathize with them, but I have nothing to do with the increase or controlling the expenditures. I said, fair enough. Carol got up and said that’s all I wanted to say to you. She continued, listening to your questions made me feel as if you knew what you were talking about. Most of the owners living in this building have no interest in getting involved with the committee. I said, if we decided to get involved with the committee, would you support us? She said, of course, and left.
As soon as Carol was gone, Lynda grabbed a glass of water and came back to where we were sitting in the living room. She said what an afternoon.
Lynda said, do you think we rushed to buy our condo without looking into these things? I said, maybe we did but it doesn’t mean that we cannot solve the problem. She said but who got the time or energy. We thought we would live here in peace away from hustle and bustle, but it doesn’t look like we can afford not to be involved with the condominium committee, can we? I said, of course, we can. We need to learn how to ignore those things. We can afford to pay increasing condo fees. Lynda said I am not sure about that. It’s not that I am worried about the affordability to afford increasing condo fees; what bothers me is that the building is not being managed effectively. She continued – having a license to provide services to clients is one thing, but it doesn’t mean that he is qualified from a business point of view to help manage condo maintenance activities in an acceptable manner. I felt sorry for those owners who reported their problems a while ago and nothing was done. Lynda said the way you asked questions; I felt as if it gave some hope to those owners in the room who looked totally lost. I said, let’s not get carried away with this. Perhaps we should sleep on it. Lynda said, I agree with you and turned the TV on to check the weather.
