You might say it's a job that carries the weight of the owners on its shoulders.

A board is born within 90 days of the sale of half its units, when a condominium plan is filed. The developer calls the first meeting of the owners.

Using the bylaws, directors are elected and how many depends on the size of the project.

Who do you want on a board? Sandy Cameron, Partner with Cameron Horne Law Office, says, “You want a cross section of people. You need people with financial acumen. You need people who are people. You don't need wildly theoretical. You need practical people. You don't want people who are on there for a vendetta. That, however, usually shows up later in the life of a condo, not normally for the first board. If you have people with construction experience, it would be very helpful because you are dealing with a new project. Engineers, architects, contractors would be useful.”

Ideal board members might take a course on running condominiums. “Call for help when you need it,” adds Cameron. “If you have an issue you're not sure of, call your lawyer - not the developer's lawyer. A good manager should know when to call for outside help. Too many of them don't.”

A board must know its own bylaws - the rules that govern the corporation. It must be fair to all owners. More than one board has come to grief because it gave preference to one group over another or personalities were involved. Decisions have to be for the good of the whole project.

For the first couple of years, common issues will be everything from initial budgets to working with the developer to get minor deficiencies corrected. Having someone liaise with the developer would be an asset.

The starting budget is the developer's budget, but if the developer has done their job right, the numbers should be fairly close. You need to hire someone to do a reserve fund study in the first two years then compare the results with existing budgets. Cameron warns, “If you don't have the accounting in order, it will affect everybody's property value. If I know I'm going to get nailed for $5,000 down the road for a special assessment… If the board has done its job right, the buildings are nicely maintained, the property value is going up. To make sure it's well maintained means you have to have the money to do it.”

There will always be board members who don't want to spend money and keep the fees down, but you need enough money to run it properly. If you starve it, everybody is going to be affected.

Bernie Winter, co-author of “10 Secrets to Surviving Life in a Condominium” and founder of Condo-Check says there is an expectation of perfection when it comes to deficiencies and that the budget allows for any kind of service. “It's based on an average service - maybe vacuuming the hall once a week instead of five times a week. If you're going to go out and look for a Cadillac service, you're going to pay a Cadillac price. Owners don't correlate the caliber of service is related to how much they are paying in fees.”

The board's professionalism might reflect on a new buyer coming in. For example, taking minutes, Winter reports. “You need to know what decisions were made. When you're reading those as a buyer coming in, you're seeing all these problems. You have no idea if they've been resolved.

“We see where people take their roles too seriously, where they have  people assess an issue, and it takes six months to study it. Just do it. I saw that example with security. There were several car break-ins in an unsecured covered parkade that was ongoing. Once the board started dealing with it, it took about a year before a decision was made about security cameras or a guard. They studied it to death while people continued to experience damage. Collect the owners. Put them in a room. Take a vote. Too often there are people so afraid of making a decision they never make one.”

Getting involved with a board is a learning experience. If you've served on a board at some point, you understand the problems boards face when you meet with other corporations. You might even take more pride in the condominium property yourself. But be prepared to put in two or three years and then step aside for others. Boards are all about teamwork.