Some Board members put in a significant amount of personal time each month fulfilling their responsibilities. Given your current schedule, how much time do you expect to reasonably devote to Board matters?
Cesar Caceres: The quantity of time a Director must spend is dependent on the issue at hand and can be quite variable. Directors are fiduciaries for both the short term and the long term of all residents' rights, so they need to spend as much time as needed on an issue. The resolution of any issue cannot be based on time but on finding a resolution that is satisfactory to a consensus of WEI residents.

What policies and procedures should be followed in response to offers to buy parts of our property or assets? Should the membership expect the Board to take all responsibility for making the decision or should they expect that their own views be binding?
Cesar Caceres: A recent By-laws change allows the Board to sell up to $500,000 in assets. This should be used, for example, only if the Cooperative ever became the owner of an individual apartment through default, or some similar circumstance. Our commercial property yields, as the Delaware Chancellor noted, a substantial sum yearly. This is about $96,000 a year, which defrays a large part of our maintenance costs. We must consider both the short and long term outcomes of any sale of our “estate property” so that only with a consensus of WEI owners can decisions regarding offers of sale of such property be made.
When one has income producing land or space and the price is going up in the way D.C. Real Estate has, even since the last election of Board members, the prudent thing to do is to consider leasing for appropriate purposes, which is a usual method used in commercial deals. Our own Watergate development was based on leases, and has worked for the last 39 years.

Should all Directors monitor the operating budget? Or, should
the Treasurer flag problems when they come to his attention?
:Cesar Caceres: All Board members should monitor the operating budget, a copy of which should be given, at least quarterly to the membership with a line-by-line explanation, as is done by some other Cooperatives in D.C. (For example: Van Ness). We should expect that the Treasurer should be our “quality control” in this area to catch or flag problems before the Directors, or members find them and also present various solutions. Last year a Treasurer's report had 5 quarters, with the error found by an observant WEI member. It is notable that the Annual report makes several notations of large savings in areas where FEA, our consultants in the overall renovation, said costs would be much higher. Yet we have had a significant increase in our maintenance. Where did the savings go?

Seventy percent of our operating budget is comprised of fixed costs: fuel, taxes, insurance, and payroll leaving us with no or little control over cost increases. The first three of these expenses rose substantially last year leading to an increase in our assessment. Is WEI operating in the most fiscally prudent way possible or are there areas in which we could improve?
:Cesar Caceres: It is true that there are unpredictable costs such as fuel. But D.C. taxes have a cap so are determinable in the short term. Insurance costs increase, but as our Annual report says we replaced all storm drainpipes “at the expense of our insurance company.” In the prior year we replaced the carpets on the Penthouse floors at the expense of our insurance carrier and then discarded them in several months time. We had already been told that our insurance costs had been driven up by loses beyond what the insurance company considers usual. Is there any reason to expect lower insurance premiums if we frequently have claims that exceed the usual or the premium itself? There is no Insurance Committee listed in our Annual report.
Payroll is currently difficult to control because our accounting system lumps salaries and benefits in ways that make it difficult to determine the cost-effectiveness of some of our costs. Closer monitoring by all the Board members, and interested members, not just the Treasurer, should yield useful results in cost control and efficiency. But, without a line-by-line explanation of costs it is sometimes guesswork to try to answer if there are “areas in which we could improve”. Indeed, there is no House Operations committee report listed in the Annual report to explain any payroll costs.
The Annual report indicates that six of the eleven members of the Board were the officers and had all Committee assignments. Among them were those that received funding from Monument to sue the minority. Lack of Board Member utilization by lack of appropriate recognition of their talents may explain why overruns happened and deficits were not caught earlier. Further there appears to have been less committees with fewer members involved than in past years. Did the majority Board Members overextend themselves and realize problems too late so that there was no solution left except to dramatically raise our maintenance? Better use of our resources: the Board, membership, and employees would likely yield greater efficiency and cost effectivness.

What should be the Board's policy on the extent to which Co-op members can attend or even participate in Board meetings?
:Cesar Caceres: All Board meetings should be open to members except for certain personnel issues. The expected agenda should be distributed to the membership in advance. But, the current size of the Board Room imposes a limit so only 2 or 3 WEI members can be in attendance at any one time. A fair selection and rotation process could be devised. In the past the long hallway between the North lobby and the North elevators has been used for various affairs, and does not add to costs as use of the hotel does, so that is a possible location for some meetings if a substantial number of residents want to attend a session with an agenda item of interest.

This last year, details of WEI's operating budget and the Finance Committee's efforts were distributed to members. Residents proffered questions and recommendations in three 2-hour meetings, phone calls and memos. Is this effort at transparency appropriate as a policy? Should other areas of Board activity be opened in the same way?

Should all Directors monitor the operating budget? Or, should
the Treasurer flag problems when they come to his attention?
Ron Cocome: As a great priority, all Board members have the obligation to inform themselves and involve themselves in the budget process. However, each Board member brings specialized skills to his or her service. With that in mind, I believe it is the job of the Treasurer to provide factual information to the Board and the membership and to offer initial analysis and opinion. Further, I am very pleased that our President, Dan Sheehan, has reinstituted the Finance Committee, broadly made up our members with specific expertise. This committee has been of enormous help to me; I am glad that Dan, if reelected by the new Board, has promised to keep this committee alive.

Some Board members put in a significant amount of personal time
each month fulfilling their responsibilities. Given your current schedule,
how much time do you expect to reasonably devote to Board matters?
Ron Cocome: As you observe, a significant commitment of time is required
. I will never agree to any responsibility for which I am not willing
to expend whatever time and energy is required.

This last year, details of WEI's operating budget and the Finance Committee's efforts were distributed to members. Residents proffered questions and
recommendations in three 2-hour meetings, phone calls and memos.
Is this effort at transparency appropriate as a policy? Should other
areas of Board activity be opened in the same way?
Ron Cocome: This cooperative is a business; it is also our home. People must be made to feel comfortable in their ability to participate in decisions which effect all of us. I was happy with the community participation during the recent budget discussions. I voted with the Board majority to offer ongoing and regular meetings between the Board members and our neighbors.

What policies and procedures should be followed in response to offers to buy parts of our property or assets? Should the membership expect the Board
to take all responsibility for making the decision or should they
expect that their own views be binding?
Ron Cocome: The membership has made its will known. A new Bylaw now requires membership approval of any sale of WEI property. That Bylaw, however, does not require the Board even notify the membership of any offer to purchase our property. All of the candidates on the Offiicial Slate, of which I am a part, have committed themselves to bring any offer to purchase WEI property to the membership for a binding vote. Afterall, WEI property belongs to all of the shareholders.

Seventy percent of our operating budget is comprised of fixed costs: fuel, taxes,
insurance, and payroll leaving us with no or little control over cost increases.
The first three of these expenses rose substantially last year leading to an increase
in our assessment. Is WEI operating in the most fiscally prudent
way possible or are there areas in which we could improve?
Ron Cocome: There is always room for improvement. For example, we now have a new Insurance Commitee to review all of our insurance policies and our needs. I thank you, Jo Ann for agreeing to serve on this important committee. However, I am convinced that during the most recent budget submission, there was no ability to make significant budget cuts without seriously and adversely affecting our quality of life. The budgetary problems were simply swept under the rug under the last Board majority. Dan Sheehan had us face that reality. Again, the formulation and the approval by the membership of the new budget was a credit to our current Board leadership. I am most proud to associate myself with that responsible leadership.

What should be the Board's policy on the extent to which
Co-opmembers can attend or even participate in Board meetings?
Ron Cocome: I have served on coop/condo boards where such participation was permitted. I have seen both positive and negative effects of such participation. Again, I joined with the Board majority at our last meeting, wherein we approved the creation of ongoing and regular meetings between Board members and our neighbors. I would like to use that opportunity as a first step to discover the interest and the will of the membership which we serve.