The tragic events at the Chaplain Towers that now all the world has witnessed remind us that there is a first time for everything. These things do not usually happen in the USA and are not supposed to happen in South Florida however, IT DID!!!

First and foremost, my condolences and prayers go out to all the families of the Chaplain Towers South. This tragedy is still unfolding, and not everyone is accounted for. As if loss of life is not enough, these families now must deal with the loss of home, loss of personal possessions, financial hardship, and the emotional and psychological trauma associated with this entire tragedy. This is indeed a moment for the community to come together and help each other.

Secondly, we should all pause in our innate human need to know why and a cultural instinct to assign accountability for this. All the reasons why and how will certainly come to light with experts from every corner to tell us every detail of the events that led to this tragedy. However, let us be clear that the attention should be on the families and provide as much support to them and the first responders that are still undergoing recovery efforts.

The reality is that if we put aside all the complex engineering discussions and insightful legal debates... we all have already felt the core weaknesses that could give rise to events such as this:

Professional Guidance:

The professional advice of Community Association Manager, Attorney, Engineer are sometimes not regarded and sadly not even sought. Many associations are self-managed, believing that it is more cost-effective to forgo the involvement of professionals partially or wholly. This may leave the association with a vacuum of knowledge, standards, and resources in every conversation dealing with physical security, quality of life, and financial stability.

Budget & Reserves Preparation:

Association budgets are frequently the moment to have a discussion on not increasing monthly association dues and how to engage in a race to the bottom for a bid to the lowest-cost provider. It is rare to see a thoughtful conversation about a professionally prepared budget with accurate cost projections, the inclusion of preventive maintenance programs, and contingencies for emergency/disastrous events. Fundamentally to really draft and approve a budget that provides for ongoing care (preventive maintenance) of the common areas, quality professional services (i.e., management, legal, engineers, etc.), and YES……. reserves. All too often contributing to reserves in the annual association budget becomes a conversation about how to pick up enough proxies to prevent its inclusion in the budget, or that paying for a reserve study would be simply too much, or that if there no reserves increasing the budget to accommodate for a bank loan would also be cost prohibitive. Leaving the association with no plan or resources for the future and exposed not only financially but delaying and expanding much needed capital repairs.

Board Responsibility:

There is major fundamental confusion in what the role of the Board is. Certain board members join this volunteer role with the mindset that it is their primary mandate to cut expenses at all costs. Cut preventive maintenance contracts, cut lawn maintenance visits, cut management staff, cut legal consultation hours, delay, or forgo major capital projects, etc. The role of the Board is to PRESERVE AND ENHANCE the association's common areas.

Well, this certainly does not mean cutting staff hours only to have a board member volunteer sitting at the management office or front desk picking up calls, handling management matters, or servicing the front desk. It also does not mean creating or feeding into political frenzies that eliminate vital professionals in a bid to cut the budgets to unsustainable levels that will never meet the operational and capital needs of the association.

In its role to PRESERVE AND ENHANCE the common association areas, the Board needs to bring together the very best professionals, have intelligent conversations about the budget and reserves, and know that it should be setting an organizational vision for a better and safer association and NOT chipping away at its foundation and future.