At the 2013 Annual General Meeting, a resolution was approved to have the  Spadina  Condominium Corporation purchase a membership in the local chapter of the Canadian Condominium Institute (CCI). The board was rather reluctant to support the purchase of this membership, however residents were overwhelmingly supportive of this membership which had been rejected by the board for a number of years. Contrary to the position of the board, the CCI is a very strong and well respected organization, representing the many interests of condominium owners across Canada. The benefits of membership are many.

Since obtaining this membership last fall, there have been a number of written communications issued by the local chapter to its members, some of them being of an urgent nature and requesting the input of condominium owners. Unfortunately, our residents received none of those communications that would have been received by our Board of Directors.

Fortunately, we have several residents in our building who contacted the CCI on their own and were able to obtain a copy of these communications and provide a response to the CCI’s request for input from residents. These residents met personally with CCI board members and voiced their opinion on a number of matters of interest and concern to our building’s residents.

These residents, having discovered on their own what the southern Saskatchewan  chapter of the CCI had accomplished for its members, voiced their support to our Chapter to obtain the same benefits for residents in our northern chapter. This includes:

Obtaining a refund for garbage removal services for which unit owners pay for in our taxes but do not receive because  we contract and pay for this service ourselves.  This refund is estimated to be $25 to $50 per unit per month, which would result in a substantial cost saving to our building.

The CCI has agreed to pursue this cost saving measure.

The local chapter of the CCI, has also been an active participant in the preparation of new and amended Regulations to the Condominium Property Act.  Unfortunately, our residents did not receive any CCI materials from our board which included an invitation to residents for their participation in the review process. However, several of our residents were able to find this information through their own efforts and did in fact participate directly in the review of these Regulations. Through both meetings with and written submissions to the Justice Ministry, our residents had an opportunity to provide their input.

The efforts of our residents who have participated in these matters on their own initiative, have ensured that their voice has been heard and will continue to be heard in the future. It is through such efforts, that benefits such as those previously mentioned can be realized for the benefit of all unit owners.