WHEN IT COMES TO the repairs and restoration of our facility, we seldom know in advance what a project’s final cost will be. Unforeseen circumstances — otherwise known as surprises — are so common in poorly maintained older buildings. Consequently, it is not practical to ask the board of directors to authorize a precise amount (as would fit the purchase of a commodity item). That approach would probably result in halting the project in midstream, in order to get a reauthorization. And that requirement, in turn, would risk not only the success of the project, but also alienating our hard-working vendors.
So how can the board carry out its fiduciary (stewardship) responsibility to maintain the facility in good order? Find out below the jump.…
The procedural answer was taught to me by Melissa Tarsky, one of our past presidents. It’s called an enabling motion, which is imprecise by design. It includes an allowance for contingencies by specifying an upper spending limit, rather than a precise dollar amount.
An enabling motion is the normal — and necessary — vehicle for seeing to it that the necessary restoration work gets done in a timely manner.
In May 2021, the first restoration-oriented enabling motion in recent memory was presented to Mishkon’s board. Since then, it has passed four such motions that I proposed, based on my sense of the evolving priorities. The adopted resolutions cover 16 project categories so far.
To date, $382,800 has been authorized. Of that amount, $77,060 has been spent (20% of the total).
In tomorrow’s post, I will list those 16 categories and give a status report on the spending in each one.
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