✨ Governance of CCRC/LifePlan Communit

I'm curious about how other communities handle amendments to by-laws. Are they amended by the council or does an amendment go before all residents for a vote?

By way of background, all residents are members of our Residents' Association (incorporated, 501(c)4). There is a 9-member elected group that is the board of the association and the residents' council.

Currently, the board/council can amend the by-laws, and does so frequently. The council has gotten into the habit of amending bylaws whenever they are inconvenient or limit something they want to do. It almost seems as if each year's council is trying to make more amendments than last year. A recent issue uncovered contradictory bylaws, one that is flat-out illegal, and one that was important to some residents, which was deleted.

Several residents, myself included, are pushing for bylaw amendments to require a vote of the Association. This would improve transparency, increase resident involvement, and frankly, simply slow down the process so changes get thought through.

The association already meets quarterly, with good attendance, so the necessary quorum would not be an issue.

You have a big job ahead of you. You need to institute a culture change as well as bylaws changes. My guess is that you don't have a board handbook, a document that people can happily alter at will. Do consider drafting one, taking some of the trivial "good ideas" that are nice but don't belong in bylaws, and moving them to a board handbook. Remove clutter and restrictive language from the bylaws, and when you've gotten the board to agree to all those changes, then add the amendment that says bylaws are to be amended only by vote of the membership after proper notice before a quarterly meeting.

You are spot on about the culture change. There are "standing rules" in place, so the basic structure exists, although not as effectively utilized as it might be.

The common way of amending bylaws is by vote at a meeting of the membership. My community's residents' association bylaws require membership approval. There are two paths to achieve this. One is for the Board to recommend changes and submit them for a membership vote. The other is by petition from a specified number of members. The latter usually happens when the board declines a request for change. When a petition is received, the Board may seek to mitigate unwanted change by negotiation, so that what gets presented to the members is acceptable to the petitioners and the Board.

When these issues arise, there is usually an insider group that is stonewalling an outsider group. The culture change needed is begun by those in office actively listening to those who have concerns and objections to the status quo. Our national political system creates winners and losers. Our community governance systems should seek to serve all and find common purpose. We want our forever homes to be harmonious. The most important word in "CCRC" is the final "C."

Richmond Shreve

NaCCRA Board Member & VP

Forum Moderator