September 2020 - Ucol-shareholders

Agenda 24.9.20 with attachments
by Sandy Ross 23 Sep '20

23 Sep '20

Please see the updated agenda with attachments. See you all in person or by Zoom tomorrow evening.

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Fwd: Information for insurance
by High Street Cohousing 22 Sep '20

22 Sep '20

---------- Forwarded message ---------- From: *Tina Gillan* <Tina.Gillan(a)rothbury.co.nz> Date: Tuesday, September 22, 2020 Subject: Information for insurance To: High Street Cohousing <ucoldunedin(a)gmail.com> Hi Anne In respect of your queries: - Public Liability Insurance, yes this needs to be maintained. - Adding decks, wardrobes etc, - If these are being added once the building is completed - yes definitely, I need to know what is happening and the associated value. Within *all* policy wordings, including home insurance, there is an exclusion that anything under the course of construction or alteration becomes an exclusion (sometimes they will allow up to $10,000 to $25,000 as a small amount) - If these are being added during the contract phase, again it wont necessarily be covered under the current Contract Works because this work is not part of the Contract Thank you Tina *Tina Gillan* *Senior Commercial Broker* QIB *DDI:* +64 3 470 3668 <+64%203%20470%203668> *ext* 3908 *M:* +64 21 988 159 <+64%2021%20988%20159> A referral is the best compliment I can receive. If any of your friends, family or business associates require assistance with insurance, please get in touch. [image: https://mail.rothbury.co.nz/rothbury_logo.gif] *Rothbury Insurance Brokers Otago* Level 2, Public Trust Building, 442 Moray Place, Dunedin 9016 <https://www.google.com/maps/search/442+Moray+Place,+Dunedin+9016?entry=gmai…> PO Box 1321, Dunedin 9054 *T:* +64 3 477 8217 <+64%203%20477%208217>* F:* +64 3 477 6478* W:* www.rothbury.co.nz A disclosure statement is available on request or view here <https://www.rothbury.co.nz/images/uploads/brokers_pdfs/Tina.Gillan.pdf>. <https://twitter.com/RothburyNZ>[image: Linkedin] <http://www.linkedin.com/company/497926?trk=tyah&trkInfo=tas:rothbury> [image: twitter] <https://twitter.com/RothburyNZ> Download the My Rothbury app now [image: Google Play] <https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.rothbury.android> [image: App Store] <https://itunes.apple.com/nz/app/my-rothbury/id928128044?mt=8> [image: Youtube] <https://youtu.be/0HHk590lua8> [image: Best Workplace] This email is confidential. If you are not the intended recipient please notify the sender by email and delete this email from your system. *From:* High Street Cohousing <ucoldunedin(a)gmail.com> *Sent:* Wednesday, 16 September 2020 2:13 PM *To:* Tina Gillan <Tina.Gillan(a)rothbury.co.nz> *Subject:* Fwd: Information for insurance Hi Tina See below the information you requested, so that you can look for an indication of what our insurance costs as body corp might be. On the matter of the split between residential/non-residential in the common house, I have been asked to let you know that the whole of the common house should be regarded as residential, because it is an extension of our residential properties held in common. Rather like a whare kai or whare nui on a marae - this is where we cook and eat and socialise and do workshoppy things and have guests together, so is an extension of each of our units. There are restrictions on the use to which the space can be put beyond our own community use, specified in the resource consent. "Consent is granted on the basis that the common house is readily available for the use of all residents at any time..... The Committee does not expect that the common house will be used for home occupations..... nor will it be hired out as any kind of function centre as a means of raising finances by the cohousing group." The group has also asked the following questions: - Do we need Public liability insurance? - Do we need to notify the insurance company about adding decks, wardrobes or other minor improvements? (under contract works) Before we need to make the decision on insurance, we will invite you to come and talk to us all, if that is possile, so we have a clear idea of what our insurance needs will be and how it will all work I hope this is all you need for the moment. Let me know if there is any further information I can get for you Warm regards, Anne ---------- Forwarded message --------- From: *Tim Ross* <tim(a)architype.co.nz> Date: Tue, Sep 15, 2020 at 4:00 PM Subject: Re: Information for insurance To: High Street Cohousing <ucoldunedin(a)gmail.com> Hi Anne, See answers below. I have amended a couple of them. Tim. Please would you confirm the following description of construction materials: - Light timber frame with structural insulated panel SIPS external wall Correct - Floors: Concrete slab, timber framed upper floors, Correct - Walls: Structural Insulated Panel / Fibre cement cladding on cavity Correct - Roof: Timber framed/ profiled metal cladding Correct - Ceilings: Plasterboard Correct - 3 floors - 3 floors on High St, 2 floors on Alva Street Also could you give me details for the following*:* - Fire Protection in the individual units (if any?) e.g. fire extinguisher, smoke alarms (monitored or battery operated) Type 1 wired smoke alarms - Fire Protection in the common house Type 1 wired smoke alarms - % floor space split of residential versus non-residential for the common-house Common House Total - 552m2 / Unit-titled units total 220m2 = Common House 60%, separate unit titled units 40%

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Re: [Ucol-shareholders] Body Corp Rules v7.0 from the workshop - Sept 2020
by Y Lee 21 Sep '20

21 Sep '20

This copy of the Body Corp rules, v7.0 is the product of the two recent workshops in August and September. Several schedules are still incomplete, including Schedule 4 - Long Term Maintenance Plan Schedule 5 - List of Operating documents to be read alongside the Body Corp Rules Schedule 6 - Mediation and Dispute Resolution Process Regards Min

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Choosing an Electricity Supplier (aka Power to the Co-housing People)
by Pauline Taylor 21 Sep '20

21 Sep '20

Hi everyone Alex, Anthony and I met on Saturday to begin the process of finding some suitable options for supplying our electricity to Toiora. We started a list of what might be important to us in a supplier and invite anyone who would like to, to bring there ideas to the meeting this week or email them to us. Our list is as follows 1. Cost 2.Environmental/Carbon Footprint 3.?Local Supplier Many thanks Pauline

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Cohousing for life book available to read
by mariannequinn＠xtra.co.nz 20 Sep '20

20 Sep '20

Hi team: this book was donated to us by Anna Maxwell; its Robin Allison's account of the building of Earthsong. Both Donald and myself have speed read this; would anyone else like to pick it up from me ahead of this coming meeting? Otherwise, I can bring it to the meeting. I work from home on Mondays so could leave it in my letter box or someone could uplift it from my office tues onwards. NB: when I started to read this book, I was expecting a much more 'ra ra' account of the marvels of cohousing. In fact, much of it is a very personal account of Robin's struggles with her dual roles and the groups difficulties around managing conflict and process. It's eye opening and makes me grateful for the building company we've had, the foresight of the bank in insisting on a project manager separate from the group, and for all the skills and openness we've been able to draw on through this process. We've done well - and I hope we keep doing so! Regards, Marianne Marianne Quinn Level 3, 115 Stuart Street, Dunedin P.O. Box 20, Dunedin 9054 ph +6434773115 or 0211612050

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7pm Sunday Zoom Link for Toiora talk
by Jan Burch 20 Sep '20

20 Sep '20

If anyone wants to join in tonight on the zoom our small group has organised with Cathy from Earthsong, they are more than welcome. Details below: Join Zoom Meeting https://zoom.us/j/93142425262?pwd=SElOOUdOMHplVktieXFnNEVlUERPdz09 *Meeting ID: 931 4242 5262Passcode: connection* ---------- Forwarded message --------- From: Cathy Angell <cathy(a)earthsong.org.nz> Date: Sun, 20 Sep 2020, 11:59 AM Subject: RE: 7pm Sunday Zoom Link for Toiora talk To: Jan Burch <jrb5050(a)gmail.com> Dear Jan, In preparation for this evening’s Zoom meeting, and really just in case you have not already found them, I am sending below some of the resources on our website, which I can talk about this evening : *Communication Agreements/Guidelines* : https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B83z3bYhMF_VWjZrc2ZuSk1CV0k/view *Consensus Process – Our Colour Card system* : https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B83z3bYhMF_VWkw4RVQ0NW9BLU0/view *Our Body Corporate Rules – Dispute Resolution* : See Clause 15 in particular of https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B83z3bYhMF_VWkw4RVQ0NW9BLU0/view I am happy to send more links or details after we talk, if that is useful. I see that Vesper has said she is keen to participate, which I presume is ok with you and your group. Please let me know asap if that is not ok. I have already sent her your Zoom link, but don’t yet know if she is available to join in. See you 7 p.m. Cheers Cathy *From:* Jan Burch [mailto:jrb5050@gmail.com] *Sent:* Thursday, 17 September 2020 3:55 p.m. *To:* Cathy Angell *Subject:* 7pm Sunday Zoom Link for Toiora talk Hi Cathy I've done the zoom link below with my work zoom account, so you initially go into a "Waiting Room" with branding. You're not in the wrong meeting! I'll pop you through into the meeting as soon as I see you arrive. The meeting will be recorded (it's another automatic thing from my work zoom account) and if it is OK with you, I'll send the link out to all Toiora members so that anyone else who is interested could join in. Thanks Jan Join Zoom Meeting https://zoom.us/j/93142425262?pwd=SElOOUdOMHplVktieXFnNEVlUERPdz09 *Meeting ID: 931 4242 5262Passcode: connection*

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Draft Agenda for 24.9
by Sandy Ross 20 Sep '20

20 Sep '20

Hi everyone, Here is the basic agenda for this week’s meeting. Please get any other items or extra information to me by Tuesday evening. Thanks, Frances

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Invitation to the beach this Saturday
by Rosemarie Smith 15 Sep '20

15 Sep '20

Hi folks rather a late invitation, but then surprises seem to be in season. Like the fact we won’t be in this lovely house in fabulous Karitane for as long as hoped. So if anyone would like to come and visit, we suggest this Saturday, 19 September. All welcome, whatever time you can make it, but coffee at 11, shared lunch at 1pm and walks, fishing or swims whatever time you like. Low tide appears to be 10am https://www.fishingreminder.com/NZ/charts/tide_times/Otago_Harbour_Entrance… Water temp is 11deg so intending swimmers/surfers should bring their wetsuits (!) — two boogie boards on offer. More likely you’ll want to go for a walk. So long as the rain isn’t pelting down there’s always a sheltered side to Karitane for a walk out of the wind. Replies appreciated to rose(a)voland.co.nz but no commitment necessary. Just text when you’re on your way. As for our future plans, after we figure out where to store Maurice’s big black chair again, we intend packing ourselves into the Jazz and going on a Grand Tour round family and friends for however long it takes til our house is built, appearing in Dunedin every so often to inspect progress. Isn’t life interesting… Rosemarie 021 335153 14 Rawhiti Street, Karitane (behind 16 — do not park in their space)

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All painted now...
by Maria Callau 14 Sep '20

14 Sep '20

Site photo. All painted now... Maria Callau 021 1847490 Sent from my iPhone

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Summary of answers to the questions we asked Rowena of Sunward Cohousing
by Jan Burch 13 Sep '20

13 Sep '20

Kia ora koutou Below is a summary of the topics we touched on when we spoke to Rowena of Sunward Cohousing. Attached are their mediation policy and copies of relevant decisions from their "Book of Agreements". *Cathy Angell from Earthsong has offered to have a zoom with any of our group who are interested in quizzing her on the same sort of questions - "how to avoid division". Our small self-selected group will now be known as the "Getting Along" group (GAG!) and we will let you know as soon as we've agreed a zoom time with Cathy.* *Governance at Sunward CoHousing, Ann Arbour, Michigan* We started the community with consensus unanimity – ie decisions must be unanimous but we allowed up to 2 “standasides” (equivalent of our orange cards). If there were 3 or more standasides the policy would need to come to another meeting After many years we had slowed down so much it felt like we’d ground to a halt. There were difficult patterns entrenched. As long as people can block a decision, it allows the situation where you have people who don’t go to any of the meetings to have input into the policy, but turn up to the final meeting and block it. Groups would put off presenting policy, because they knew that it would be blocked at the full meeting. We sought outside help and did a workshop with Tim Hartnett (who is highly recommended) https://www.consensusdecisionmaking.org/ . From this work we caught the idea of a consensus building process rather than consensus requirement. Now we work towards consensus, but when it is time to call for decision then rule is …. And your community can choose whatever; unanimity, or 90% or whatever you choose. For us we had unanimity, but now we have 66% required for the ordinary decision-making process. If we end up having to vote (after attempts to reach consensus, run expertly by their specialist facilitators have been unsuccessful), those who vote against the policy are invited to give a succinct statement of the reasons for their opposition – and that statement is recorded alongside the ‘passed’ minute. *We operate a number of committees; which include* · Coordinating committee (responsible for maintaining panoramic view of community life) · Board of directors (our legal and financial team – they’re a nimble group who interact with outside agencies as required) · Budget team (they develop annual budget and each year take community through process of building and approving it) · Buildings and infrastructure · Common house committee · Land use committee · Membership committee · Work committee · Facilitator guild · Mediator guild All committees report back to whole group. Whole community meets monthly. Ideally the larger community gives empowerment to the more specialised committee, delegating authority to that group, and this has happened in many cases (recorded in our book of agreements) however for some committees it hasn’t when it probably would be easier if it had, so they operate with status quo. *Toiora people asked for more detail about three of these groups:* *Work committee * We’ve been through a whole variety of different approaches. First when we started we said every adult will give 10 hours of work a month, but we soon realised that was too much. We came down to 4 hours adult give per month. We then tried a move to a credit system because some work can be more challenging, so maybe should be given higher value. Now we are on another iteration looking at carrot vs the stick. Under every system you have people who don’t do it and how shall we respond? We’ve been together a while now and it is the same people. Do you get all upset about it because it is not fair? Do you publish their names to shame? Do you have the work committee knock on their door each day to hassle them? At the moment we’ve decided to make our work parties so much fun, put on great food and all have get a lot of enjoyment out of it – using carrot rather than a stick. That’s been going for about two years now and maybe due for another look. *Facilitator Guild* These are the people who are willing to lead the community meetings. They learn about facilitation and gain skills but they need to have a basic orientation towards the role. For example they need to be an ally to everyone, be neutral and know when to stand aside if they’re not neutral. They start with some basic tools eg knowing when and how to call for a decision, but as they gain more skills, they get more tools, for instance ability to take on a conflict management role during the meeting. They start the meeting by asking everyone if they agree to the agenda and the ground rules. Then they begin the first topic, manage the questions, ensure everyone is heard, notice if the emotional level is getting too high and people are getting so emotionally activated that they’re not thinking and can’t participate effectively. Individuals will often go outside the community for training to get more skills in this area. The agenda items come to them from the groups such as the ones already listed. *Mediator Guild* The skill level of the mediator guild is higher than the facilitator guild. They can work at all levels; from a minor disagreement between two neighbours to a major split creating factions within the community. We initially started a mediator guild with self-selected voluntary membership, but that wasn’t effective. It is now our only elected group. That learning came from our outside trainer who talked to us about managing conflict. Our mediator guild system grew from a community process. We had Tim Harnett in and did a bunch of work over the weekend, but that weekend group were not empowered to be decision making. That material was brought back, and we went through our usual decision making process to get it set up. Our mediator guild is made up of 5 people. That gives us enough diversity so that everyone in the community has someone in the guild they feel comfortable approaching, but keeps the group small enough so that they can find a meeting time and work together easily. *Election process*. Two community members who do not wish to serve as mediators are chosen to run the ballot. It is critical that they promise to run the process and keep all information confidential (because there is the potential for people to get feelings hurt if voting results are leaked. The poll could be seen as a popularity contest.) These two prepare ballot with all adult residents other than themselves. On the ballot papers all community members are asked to check the names of all any people who you feel comfortable doing mediation. Prior to this going out, the group meeting will have collaboratively identified the skills that would be needed for a mediator, and people know it is coming up so that if someone wants to be a mediator, they can indicate that well before the voting. The ballots get distributed and collected by the team of two. They tally them and approach the person who got most votes to ask if they would be willing to be a mediator. If they say yes, they are then shown the next name or two on the list and asked “Would you be comfortable serving with that person?” so they have chance to decline and go down to the next person. If the first person is happy with the next-highest scoring person, the ballot team then approaches that next person to ask if they would be happy to serve with the first person picked, and so on. A new election is held every two years. Our book of agreements has policy for conflict resolution*. For example at the first level, if you have a disagreement with someone you could work it out yourself and live with it, or if that doesn’t work you could talk directly to the person involve, or at next level you could go seek trusted counsel with a friend to get feedback and prepare yourself for conversation …. And so on … if it gets to higher levels then the policy is to involve the mediator guild. The mediator team is on reserve for when their help with conflict is requested. Our community agreement specifically tells us ways to work on conflict resolution and to use a mediator when needed. However sometimes in the muck of a conflict, when you lack trust in a person, you might not reach out. If the conflict is harmful to the community the guild may be proactive and reach out. They would meet and ask “what conflicts are in the community?” Initially training for the guild was provided by a member of our community who was about to move out. Our neighbour-consultant was a facilitator at the university and it was brilliant to be able to use him because a lot of available mediation training is very specific, eg couples, business, families. As time has gone on, we have developed a lot of institutional memory. The people in the group are so remarkable that we are always building skills by working together. There are no exact roadmap or details of how meditation will work. It’s more of a toolkit that is available. We have no idea how often the guild is called upon. It is so secret! The guild is a steel trap. Nothing gets passed on! There have been times when part of the mediation process has been making a statement for the community to let them know how something has been resolved, but that is only done with permission from everyone involved. There have been a couple of occasions where we have gone for an outside mediator. Normally the people in the group identify a couple of mediators who have the available time and the right relationship with the people involved. However sometimes we have found that there is no one trusted enough in the mediator guild, so outside mediation is the next option. *Rowena kindly forwarded this policy, perhaps inadvertently, to the whole UCOL group. I’ve attached it again to this email.

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Ucol-shareholders September 2020