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WHEREAS the Board of Directors is responsible to appoint officers and committee members and to solicit/involve other volunteers, and that the Board has the fiduciary duty and responsibility to set a standard and level of behavior that is in the best interests of the entire community.
NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED THAT the Board of Directors of the Whittier Community Association hereby adopts the following code of conduct, standards of behavior, ethical rules, and procedures that are applicable to all Board members, officers, committee members and other volunteers serving the community (together, the “Community Leaders”):
Section 1. "Association" shall mean and refer to Whittier Community Association, Inc., a Maryland non-profit, non-stock corporation, and its successors and assigns.
Section 2. Community Leaders will use their best efforts at all times to make decisions that are consistent with high principles and best interests of the overall Association.
Section 3. Community Leaders will seek to protect and enhance the safety and property value of the owners, including maintaining and supporting the unique character of the Association and its neighborhoods.
Section 4. No Community Leader shall receive any compensation for serving on behalf of the Association, except for expense reimbursements approved by the Board of Directors.
Section 5. It is the responsibility of all Community Leaders to avoid even the appearance of impropriety and to disclose any potential conflict of interest, to recuse themselves from Board or other decisions that relate exclusively or primarily to themselves, and to abstain from votes to approve supplier contracts in which they are the contractors or are employees or family of the contractors. The amount and nature of supplier contracts with Community Leaders will be noted in the annual financial statements of the Association.
Section 6. No Community Leader shall solicit or accept, directly or indirectly, any gifts, gratuity, favor, entertainment, loan, or any other thing of monetary value made with the intent of influencing a decision or action on any official matter, or from a person who is seeking to obtain contractual or other business or financial relations with the Association.
Section 7. No promise of anything not approved by the Board shall be made to any subcontractor, supplier, or contractor during negotiations.
Section 8. Confidentiality of all homeowners and residents’ personal lives shall be respected and protected by Community Leaders.
Section 9. Language at Board meetings and other meetings will be kept professional. It is understood that differences of opinion will exist. They should be expressed in a clear and businesslike fashion and will be noted in the minutes of such meetings.
Section 10. No Community Leader shall engage in any writing, publishing, or speech making that defames any other member of the Board, Community Leader, owner or resident of the community. Personal attacks against Board members, other Community Leaders, owners, residents, and the Association’s designated management company are prohibited and are not consistent with the best interests of the community.
Section 11. No Community Leader will knowingly misrepresent facts to the residents of the community for the sole purpose of advancing a cause or influencing the community to place pressure on the Board to advance a cause.
Section 12. No Community Leader serving the community may use his/her position to enhance his/her financial status through the use of certain contractors or suppliers or by advocating Association policies that benefit themselves but are not consistent with the interests of the overall Association.
Section 13. No Community Leader will seek to have a contract implemented that has not been approved by the Board.
Section 14. No Community Leader will interfere with a contractor implementing a contract in progress. All communications with contractors will go through the Managing Agent or be in accordance with policy.
Section 15. No Community Leader will interfere with the system of management established by the Board and its designated management company.
Section 16. Community Leaders will be given a copy of this Code of Conduct and will be asked to sign that they have received it, have read it, and agree to abide by it.
The resolution is ratified this 26th day of September 2017 at an open Board meeting where a quorum of the Board was present and will become effective immediately.