Welcome to the new world of training for board members in our resident-owned cooperatives!

Annual meeting season has begun and new board members are being elected.  As you know, Florida Statutes now require that newly elected or appointed board members either certify in writing to the co-op’s secretary that the new board member has read the association’s bylaws, articles of incorporation,  proprietary lease, and current written policies, that the board member will work to uphold those documents to the best of his or her ability, and that the board member will faithfully discharge his or her fiduciary responsibility to the association’s members—or, instead of providing that written certification, a newly elected or appointed board member can submit a certificate of having satisfactorily completed a seminar approved by the Department of Business and Professional Regulation (DBPR) for training co-op board members.  This must be done within 1 year before or 90 days after the new board member’s election or appointment. 

I’m pleased and excited to announce that my course materials were approved by the DBPR late last year and I’ve scheduled my three hour program for 4 separate locations in the next few months:

  •  Wednesday, February 12, starting at 9:30 a.m. at Westwinds Village in Bradenton
  •  Wednesday, February 19, starting at 9:30 a.m. at Country Club Estates in Venice
  •  Tuesday, March 18, starting at 10 a.m. at Hammock Estates in Sebring
  •  Tuesday, April 8, starting at 10 a.m. at Molokai in Leesburg

My program is specifically designed for board members in co-ops and is NOT approved for certification of board members in condominium associations or homeowners associations governed by Chapter 720 of the Florida Statutes.

There is no admission charge and light refreshments will be served.   All co-op board members, whether or not newly elected or appointed, are encouraged to attend.  Even if those board members don’t need to be “certified,” I’m sure they’ll find the three hours worthwhile.  The price is right and everyone will have an opportunity to meet fellow board members from neighboring communities.

We do need to have a good idea of the number of current or new board members (or candidates for the board if your elections have not yet occurred) in order to make sure our host communities have enough refreshments and seating, so please RSVP to Karen Midlam (kmidlam@lutzbobo.com() or Kathy Sawdo (ksawdo@lutzbobo.com) at your earliest convenience.

Depending on the needs of our friends in Lee, Collier, and Pasco Counties, we’ll schedule either a board training program or one of our regular community association “roundtables” in those areas in the very near future.

I look forward to seeing many of you at one of these board training sessions in the next few months and I hope all of you are enjoying a very happy and healthy beginning to 2014.