Boards can protect owners' email addresses
Q. Our condominium association is developing rules to implement the requirements in the Condominium Property Act regarding owner email addresses and phone numbers. We don't want an owner who sends an email to all owners, or to multiple owners, to include the visible email addresses of all owners in that email. Can we include a rule that would require owners to "blind cc," or hide from view, recipients of their emails if they send a single email to multiple owners?
A. You are referring to the new requirements in Section 19(a)(7) of the Condominium Property Act that requires associations to maintain owner email addresses and phone numbers for examination and copying by owners.
Just because an owner has met the requirements to examine and copy owner emails does not mean owners who are recipients of his email have met those same requirements. Consequently, it would be reasonable for an association to protect owner email addresses, which were obtained by an owner, from disclosure to other owners.
One way to do that would be to implement a rule such as you have described. That's very forward thinking!
Q. I heard legislation has been submitted to limit Section 19(a)(7) of the Condominium Property Act. Is that correct?
A. Legislation has not been introduced at the state level with respect to Section 19(a)(7). You may be referring to an ordinance introduced in the Chicago City Council under Home Rule. If adopted, the ordinance would permit associations located in the city to opt out of the requirements of Section 19(a)(7) by a two-thirds vote of all owners.
However, the issues raised by Section 19(a)(7) are statewide, and need to be addressed by the state legislature. But hopefully the actions of the city of Chicago will shed light on the issues and attract the attention of members of the General Assembly who can limit or repeal the recent changes to Section 19(a)(7).
Q. A board member is also a contractor. The board member also provides landscape services to the association. Does the insurance that covers the board member also cover his services as contractor?
A. I would suggest speaking with the associations' insurance agent here as to the types and amounts of insurance that any contractor should have. However, it is very unlikely that insurance that covers the action of a person serving as a board member would also cover that person acting in the capacity of a contractor for the association.
Q. The board of our association collected proxies over a year ago in connection with a vote on an amendment to the declaration. A meeting was finally called to vote on the amendment. Ballots were cast at the meeting using the year-old proxies. Was it proper to use proxies that were over 11 months old?
A. A proxy for a condominium or a common interest community association is valid for 11 months from the date it is signed by the owner, unless the association's declaration or the written proxy itself provides otherwise. Both the association's declaration and the proxy need to be reviewed to determine if they provide that the proxy is valid for more than 11 months. If they do not include this language, the proxies would not have been valid after 11 months from the date they were signed by the owner.
• David M. Bendoff is an attorney with Kovitz Shifrin Nesbit in the Chicago suburbs. Send questions for the column to him at CondoTalk@ksnlaw.com. The firm provides legal service to condominium, townhouse, homeowner associations and housing cooperatives. This column is not a substitute for consultation with legal counsel.