The following are highlights of the Bylaws and Policy Committee meeting as held on 9/7/2011 at GAR conference on Memphis, TN.
Action Items
In addition to approving the minutes of the previous meeting, there were two Action Items: 1) Approval of the revised document “Now That You are On the Board of Directors“. 2) Approval of the following language to be added to the Georgia Association of REALTORS Bylaws.
Good News
Not that either of these Action Items are all that interesting but the implications of the latter will actually save our Association funds now and in the future. The reason this language has been added to the GAR Bylaws is that the Cherokee Association of REALTORS, along with 48 other GA Associations, opted to allow the state association to manage and operate our local grievance process and the enforcement of the Code of Ethics.
On many occasions throughout the state, local boards were exclusively handling the management and cost of grievance hearings and in some cases, the expenditures were exceeding $20,000 or more. Furthermore, finding qualified arbitrators, locating cases in other jurisdictions, and finding an “unbiased” perspective was proving to be difficult. As a result, the CAOR decided last year to move responsibility and “potential” expenses to the state level in an effort to protect its financial strength.
