But Wait! There's MORE! Tennant Committees that work!

How can tenant committees transform your living environment? In our latest podcast episode, Bill Bateman from the Oregon State Tenants Association breaks down the essential steps to forming effective tenant committees in manufactured home and marina parks. From identifying the different types of committees, such as the Committee of Seven and social committees, to ensuring inclusivity and transparency, Bill offers a wealth of personal insights and practical tips. Discover how to navigate the complexities of community sentiment, legalities, and active listening to organize your neighborhood effectively and constructively address issues.

Bill dives into the significance of newsletters in keeping your community engaged and informed. Learn how consistent communication via email and physical copies can foster a positive atmosphere and relay accurate information. We'll walk you through the initial steps of forming a tenant committee, from small beginnings to ongoing member recruitment and practical strategies for presenting issues to management with realistic solutions. Whether it's knowing your neighbors or adapting to their technological preferences, Bill shares invaluable advice to help you create a harmonious living environment. Join us to uncover how you can organize your community and enhance your living experience!

Join OSTA Link
Comments or Questions for the Podcast
Email: bbateman@oregontenants.com

Copyright OSTA2045,2025 Not for rebroadcast w/o express written permission. Please share and download for educational purposes with attribution.

Music POND5
Item: 103334712
Format: Music
Title: Make An Impact (Stinger Intro) - Upbeat Corporate Inspirational Uplifting
License: Individual License, Commercial
Composer: juqboxmusic
Stock Music provided by inspiringaudio, from Pond5
Produced by Retired Guy Productions

Info Logo 6 (Breaking News) 196306063 Sound effect TTSynth 2025-01-25 Individual Info Logo 13 (Breaking News) 210545139 Sound effect TTSynth 2025-01-25

Chapters

• 0:00 Forming a Successful Tenant Committee
• 12:19 Effective Community Organization for Tenant Committees

Transcript

Bill Bateman: 0:00

I just finished writing an article about the different types of tenant committees and a committee we formed for our park, and I don't know about you, but when I'm done I always find a number of things that I wish I'd said there's more to include, but the article has already gone off to print. Well, welcome to a new segment. We call, but Wait, there's more. Hi everybody, I'm Bill Bateman. I am a member of the OSTA team Oregon State Tenants Association and we're beginning a new series of podcasts designed to help you enhance your manufactured home or marina park living. There's a lot of problems in the area and we're going to talk about positive ways to fix them.

Bill Bateman: 0:55

So I wrote an article and perhaps that's why you're here you got referred about the different types of tenant committees. There's basically three types in Oregon and they are the Committee of Seven, a Tenants Committee Associated with a Larger Organization, and Unaffiliated Tenant Committees. I went into detail on that in the article that is in the newsletter and I invite you to read that. Perhaps that's why you're here, because we included the link to the podcast at the end of the story. We talk about the advantages and disadvantages of both of them actually all three, and there's even a fourth which are social committees and that's like for pizza and bingo night and that type of stuff. So let's look at what else there is to say.

Bill Bateman: 1:47

I found when forming an association, when working on forming a tenant committee, having good information was really important to know what was appropriate, what was inappropriate, what was law and what was hearsay. So I did my research first. If you're going to go through this process, first do your research, and the Oster site is an excellent place to do just exactly that. When you get into the actual community armed with some pre-information, with a good idea of what is appropriate, assess the temperature by that. I mean, are you walking into the end scene of Frankenstein with villagers with pitchforks and torches ready to storm the castle, or are you in a quiet park that's got some problems but not quite reached the boiling point yet? I know in our park we were the latter. Our swimming pool was supposed to open on July 1st I'm sorry, on June 1st and for the third year in a row. It looked like a swamp, it had mosquitoes, it had a dead rat floating in it, it had all kinds of vegetable matter and the health department won't let the pool reopen until the water is formally tested. In fairness, the new managers are doing all they can to correct that problem. So that's very good and we appreciate that.

Bill Bateman: 3:18

And that leads us to one of the things you need to do when you are working on getting an association, on organizing. First of all, find out all the facts, especially if you're dealing with new people. Folks, when they get angry, they tend to put a point of view in their head and leave it there. We found out our new managers here really want to work with us and that's a positive thing To go into them. Yelling and screaming, pounding on the table is just going to push them back.

Bill Bateman: 3:54

Know who you're dealing with and, more importantly, know what the actual problems are. Some people have major problems of their neighbor washing the car and the water spraying into their driveway. Okay, that doesn't quite qualify with no air conditioning in the break room or in the clubhouse. There's different levels of irritation. Know who your supporters are, know what their issues are, and to do that you're going to have to listen. I recommend small, even one-on-one, meetings, small group meetings three, five, ten people and basically listen and basically take notes.

Bill Bateman: 4:41

When you are meeting new people, you're going to meet several different types and know that in this process in our park, let's say, we have a hundred people we have five or 10 who are really gung-ho to make some changes. They're concerned. They're worried about the obvious rent issues, which is something we'll be talking about in future podcasts. They're worried about maintenance. They're worried about maintenance. They're worried about seeing the rents go up but no work being done. There's a lot of different issues.

Bill Bateman: 5:11

You've done your research. You know what you can and can't do with the various types of committees and you know what your options are, such as mediation, such as it's okay to put up leaflets and it's okay to talk to tenants and organize and use the clubhouse for meetings. If you're prohibited from doing that, that's illegal and not all of us know that. So find out what you don't know. Know what you don't know. Going through just one sheet in the OSTA handouts that I've been using gave 10 different things for forming a committee and it was what's legal, what's appropriate ways to do it. Please make sure also in the ways to do it department, you're including as many persons as you can.

Bill Bateman: 6:05

This can't be a gang of five. Ideally, you're putting this information out to the entire park and inviting. Be as inclusive as possible and know for a fact going in. Just put this at the top of your page. You're going to have some people who want to take over the meeting. You're going to have some people who want to take over the meeting. You're going to have some people who have an agenda. They have three items that they're really ripped up about and that's what they're going to talk about. You're going to have people sitting in the back just looking at you and you're also going to have I call them quiz links or reporters. They're going to go to the management and report everything you say. We're going for full transparency.

Bill Bateman: 6:46

This is not a secret coup attempt. This is organizing for an improvement in an unworkable situation. I always expect anything you say in those meetings will get carried back to someone. That's why I make sure I'm not negative. I'm not hostile. Now, if you have a hostile environment, that's illegal. To have someone crash your meeting and try and disrupt it no, that's wrong. So know who you're dealing with. Spend some time and this will save you hours. People, this is going to save you hours of time looking at the people in your group. Try and assess the personalities Now, when you get to the formation stage.

Bill Bateman: 7:35

You'll do that by first coming up with a clear list of specific concerns. Coming up with a clear list of specific concerns the rent, the break room, the clubhouse, the swimming pool, the driveway, the trees that are about to fall, anything that's an actual, measurable goal and issues. Prioritize them. Okay, folks, if we could only do one. What do you want to work on first? Well, the rent is going to be the first. What else is your second?

Bill Bateman: 8:08

Now, once you've got a clear view of what you don't know, once you've got a clear picture and this will continue to change People always surprise me, but a clear picture of the people you're working with. Folks will continue to show up at meetings and then all of a sudden become involved. Welcome that. Now there's going to be those who want to take over. There are going to be those who just want to vent, who want to be angry. They're excellent for subcommittees. You can't exclude them, you can't ignore them, because their anger has a base in real fact. But I have found it very useful. I'll actually meet one-on-one with them and we'll put together a list of specific things and then I'll ask them to do things like making sure the flyers are still up, put them to a positive use, where they're not just sloughed off, where they're not ignored that's a path to disaster but that they're doing something that supports the cause without causing major disruption. It's a balancing act and it doesn't always work, but it's really something you can do.

Bill Bateman: 9:19

So, looking back, if you are dealing with a large group of people for the first time, what are the things we need to do? We need to listen, we need to gather information, we need to find out what we don't know. Bear in mind, there's two sides to every story. Even if it's pretty crystal clear, a lime green swimming pool with dead rats floating in it is a big issue. There's always more to find out. When you have this information, start learning your people the bottom line to all of this make sure their expectations are clear.

Bill Bateman: 10:05

I have been to some meetings and people have all said, okay, we're going to form our committee, we're going to join OSTA, and okay, we've done that. Osta, get to work. Well, that's not how it works. We provide the tools and the resources to help you the homeowner, the resident of the park or marina do the work. We are not allowed to come in and take over everything for you. Our attorneys are consulting. They're not available on hire like you might find in other situations. This is an opportunity for you, the persons forming the committee or association, to get the work done. So you have to make that clear going in, you're not going to join, touch the pen, sign the application and sit back and watch the fun. This is going to be each of you having a job. This is going to have some of you, even if you're the person who brings the cookies or the soda to the meeting. I appreciate the cookies and the soda. Quite honestly, I do.

Bill Bateman: 11:18

And if you're not comfortable doing what I do talking on the air, talking to people in front of a large room, that type of thing I do that all the time. I've been doing that for 50 years, not a problem. There are some people literally will go into a dead faint at the thought of having to stand up in front of a group. For heaven's sakes, don't put yourself in that position if you're unable or uncomfortable doing something. You all know what your superpower is and I talk about this a lot.

Bill Bateman: 11:50

Back when I was at the university, we talked about finding your superpower. Well, each of us, every single one of us has a superpower. Maybe you're a people person. Maybe you like to walk the park and talk to people superpower Maybe you're a people person. Maybe you like to walk the park and talk to people. Maybe you like to dot the I's and cross the T's and can go over the newsletter and make sure it is spell-checked and accurate. Everybody has a skill. Utilize that skill to the maximum.

Bill Bateman: 12:19

And on the topic of newsletters, one of the best things we did we put out a newsletter at least once a month and the most recent month we put out several because of a lot of argle-bargle and forming the associations that we did, but normally once a month email or distributed in the mail area. We have a little box we put up at our own expense and we have that newspaper going by email or distribution to everyone in the park. There's obviously no cost. A team puts it together using that superpower thing we just talked about. We have somebody who coordinates the proofing and the printing. We have somebody who coordinates the email list as people move in, move out or have handwriting even worse than mine and you can't read the silly things, the emails. We have people all working to their strength to get this newsletter out Now.

Bill Bateman: 13:23

Part of organizing is a positive tone. We have not taken a flamethrower to anything. We have complained. We have documented. Before we said it has been three years since we've had a working swimming pool on opening day. We double and triple checked Before we took a picture. We double and triple checked Before we took a picture, we made sure it was dated, we made sure it was accurate and we made sure that that picture fairly represented the situation, both the one of the damaged pool and the one of the clean, under repair, highly serviced pool which we're seeing now.

Bill Bateman: 14:02

A newsletter doesn't really cost anything. I use Google Docs, you can use Microsoft Word, there's any number of ways, there is clip art that you may use to spice up your newsletter, and having it come out monthly is really valuable. Interestingly enough, we have new management and they say they too are going to begin putting out a newsletter. Excellent, the more information, the more positive, accurate information, the better. So what have we learned as we talk about this? There are different types of tenant committees. We saw that in the article.

Bill Bateman: 14:43

There's different steps to forming. You're going to start small, small groups, small discussions, gradually work it to larger and larger by adding identifying your assets and redirecting not excluding, but redirecting those people who may be disruptive or a problem. You're going to work on clear and accurate identification of the problem and stating solutions. Way, way, way too often I get people who are upset. They're angry Well, we got Okay, what do you want to do about it? And you hear cricket noises. Nobody's got a solution. You can't ask for help if you don't have a solution. Even when you call 911, you're saying I'm having this, I'm having that, I need to see, and they now have information to help you when they arrive. Okay, when you go to a meeting or approach your management, leave the anger in the back pocket and come in with positive solutions.

Bill Bateman: 15:49

We want to rebuild the clubhouse. Well, that's $75,000. That's not going to help. Okay, we'd like the air conditioning fixed in the clubhouse. That's not going to help. Okay, we'd like the air conditioning fixed in the clubhouse Better, that's realistic and it's been an ongoing problem and it's an amenity you pay for. So keep it realistic, keep it low-key and continue, continue, continue. You will find and this is my last point initially you'll get a group of 10 or 15 people and they'll be all cranked up and really ready to go and wanting to help, and that group will cut by 50% when the work starts.

Bill Bateman: 16:27

That's why I am constantly recruiting. We have just formed our tenants committee, our unaffiliated tenant committee. We're signing people up to OSTA, we're getting the newsletters posted, we're meeting with the new managers, we're working for a positive relationship and we're also continuing to talk to people around the park. I walk the park at least twice a day for health reasons, because I like to get my steps in, but it's also a good way. Know your neighbors, know what they're facing. Know that the person in that unit at the end is having problems making their rent and know that that person in the green trailer or green coach, if you will is on oxygen and can't come to meetings. I'm willing to put our meetings on Zoom and be advised. Not everybody in our communities are highly tech savvy. I've offered to do a Zoom meeting for people and a number of people just look at me very strangely. What's Zoom? Okay, that's learning your limitations.

Bill Bateman: 17:38

If you think of some other things that you found useful, please share them with me. You're going to find an email link where you found this podcast it's at the end of the introduction and let's share some ideas that you have found useful in organizing and let's share some problems that have come up. We're going to be doing this on a regular basis. We'll have an article and then we'll have some additional information to support it, and we hope you'll continue to join in. If you're not a member, we do want to see you join us. It's only $30 and you get an awful lot of good stuff and there's a membership link also at the front end for that. As always, these are my thoughts and my opinions and do not represent the organization or constitute legal advice. In any legal question, contact an attorney directly. These are for informational and reference purposes only. So, with that said, I'm Bill Bateman. Thank you for joining. We'll see you again soon.