So many issues to pick up on.
I'm also not sure just what you mean by #1, but I can't see any reason you would need a vote (is that what you mean by proxy?) to bring Beanfield in. If there is nothing about specific providers in your declaration (for example, if it said the building would only be served by Rogers -- although I can't see a declaration stating that), the board should be able to enter into a contract with Beanfield or any other provider. You aren't entering into an exclusive contract, you're offering an additional choice. You may want to have a lawyer review your contract with Beanfield (or any other contract though) -- sometimes lawyers pick up on little things in contracts that can cause a lot of grief down the road.
We have a deal with Rogers for TV that may well go back to Day One. Cable is specifically mentioned in our Declaration and it is included in our CEF. Everybody now gets all the channels (except TMN, HBO and all the premium pay channels) plus two digital boxes. Most people in our building get Rogers Internet. Many also switched to Rogers phone. We were on Bell since 2002 and didn't want to change for a number of reasons, including getting continuing service in a blackout. We renewed our 5-year Rogers contract last year and we had a lot of debate about it as the younger demo doesn't watch TV and is into streaming blah blah blah. Rogers did a major upgrade 3 years ago but I don't think it fibre to the unit. I see a lot of coax around. A few months ago, Bell offered us a very attractive deal to rewire our building. The Board split along age/tech-savvy lines with one director and myself wanting to take advantage of it. What was there to lose? He and I already were on Bell (not the others) and we were getting speeds of 100 MBps with super duper modems that crashed through our concrete walls. So, as always, we referred our questions to our lawyer and it turned out that, in order to do this, we had to call an official meeting of owners, get a quorum, and go through the full legal catastrophe.
We plan to do it but we haven't yet gotten around to it. Other priorities. Part of our reasoning for letting it slide: the Rogers upgrade was so messy, so invasive and so disruptive that a new upgrade would never pass a vote even though it would be far less intrusive. We need to let some time for the memory to fade and those who suffered through the Rogers mess to gradually move away.
COMMUNICATION:
I wish we could do e-blasts but, again, demographics. From our surveys, half the owners are not online. As for those who are, many "don't do" Facebook. I have a Facebook group I started as soon as we moved in for my friends in the building but other residents are not yet included.
I have noticed many buildings have FB groups and websites. Some are more active than others.
We are looking into digital screens but, part of the problem is, even when we put up giant notices in the bulletin board cases in the lobby, laundry room, elevators, on the parking garage levels etc., people either don't bother to look or they enter via a stairwell and skip them or claim to miss them. And when we do put out important notices nowadays, we do hard copies, leave them at the Front Desk where you have to sign for receipt. And even then ...
In announcing the last Town Hall, we did that. One of "The Dirty Dozen" as I call them (the complainers, gossips, pains in the neck etc.) cornered me in the elevator and demanded to know why he had to sign for the letter because it was "so officious." This was the exact same guy who, the year before that, berated us for not giving notice so that he could show up and berate us at the mic.
We always err on the side of covering our butts.
LIGHTING:
Our gym lights are on timers.
The pool lights are turned on and off by users. Same with our change rooms (LED) and laundry room.
During the day, the gym, laundry and pool lights aren't needed as there is a lot of natural light.
At night, most people are pretty good about turning the pool lights off. They're LED. Some of us, including myself, like to swim in the semi-dark with the light from outside spilling in.
We are re-doing both our gym and party room this year -- if all goes well -- and plan to find ways to save energy.
An energy audit is a good idea. Hydro also has some programs worth looking into for multi-residential buildings.
MAINTENANCE FEES:
That Toronto Star article last year about the Toy Factory was, to our mind, downright irresponsible. It was nothing but a plug for the guys who claimed that they could come in and reduce maintenance fees. I think that, if you Google, you will see their website is 404.
Here is what I know about maintenance fees:
(1) They should always go up, if only because most RFS that I know of add in an inflationary increase every year to the RF contribution.
(2) On rare occasions, or some surprise reason, there's a surplus from last year. This can be applied to reduce or eliminate the increase. But surpluses usually indicate bad budgeting from years past. Not always though. Say you planned to create a brand new amenity where before there was none -- saunas, for example -- and you overbudgeted for them. There's a surplus. Hanging on to large surpluses is not fair to owners.
(3) Boards that tend not to raise fees really just want to be popular, or get re-elected. That is always a reason to be suspicious. You can't afford to be cheap.
(4) Maintenance fees affect sales. The higher the fees, the lower the unit price -- as a general rule. But there's a catch. A few years down the line, they even out. Give equal units in two equal buildings, one at $500K with fees at $500 and the other at $600 with fees at $350, in 3-5 years, the amount invested is the same. (This is a very very rough example/guesstimate.) People seem to have a HORROR of maintenance fees and would rather pay more for a unit (the predictability?) with lower fees than less for a unit with higher fees.
CONDO MADNESS:
Love it.
ETA: Just saw DSC's message about communication. Agreed. Also: A PM has no interest in communicating anything that might put management in a bad light.
ETA2: Again, just saw another DSC post about fibre. That pretty much describes our plan.
