CTC Board: July Update

Greetings, Everyone!

Annual Meeting (2019-2020)

First and foremost, we greatly appreciate CTC member’s participation for the online CTC's Annual Member Meeting on the evening of Wednesday, May 27, 2020. We successfully held the first online annual meeting, and we saw the possibility that future annual meetings could be held virtually. After the annual meeting, board members expressed appreciation to the CTC management team for their support to adopt the new format to ensure the annual meeting is still held despite the challenges of the pandemic.
 

During the annual meeting, the five open CTC board seats for the year 2020-2022 term were successfully filled through online voting. Brook Demissie and Tamara Walsky were elected to continue as board members. While Laura Eckhardt, Senanur Avci Tosun, and Tanner Deeds were elected as new board members. Please let us all welcome the elected board members.

Miss the Annual Meeting?

Access all materials from the Virtual Annual Member Meeting (May 27, 2020) on RentCafe under the governance tab, including the annual report, audit, and a video recording of the live meeting.

Wrapping up Fiscal Year 2019-2020

Since April, our monthly board meetings evaluate COVID-19's financial impact on the co-op. New changes listed below:

1. Regardless of the COVID-19 Pandemic, the CTC occupancy rate has not much changed compared to the last year and other graduate students residential at the University of Minnesota. Also, the 2019-2020 fiscal year-end projection is still positive with a possibility of the co-op break even in its financials.
2. During the new fiscal year 2020-2021, CTC will continue to keep the rents of all residential households as per the 2019-2020 rates. This is a decision from the Board of Regents at the University of Minnesota. However, as of July 1, 2020, CTC has enacted new fees to types of parking permits, additional appliances, and some replacements to accommodate financial needs in the future. View Rental Rates + Fee Schedule (2020-2021).
3. The Board also reviewed Investment Portfolio with Morgan Stanley in April. YTD Operations Account down 11.07% and YTD Rent deposit account is up 3.27%. While general performance is down of the month, the sustainable criteria that CTC uses and invests in are companies that have weathered this crisis well. (Regarding theme selection, Board members have agreed on the Affordable housing theme in which it aligns with CTC mission.) According to a recent report, for the period May 1- May 31, 2020, the total values are rebounded. Even though the recent bound, the market will be rocky and it will be likely dropped down again. We will request more information from Morgan Stanley as needed.

Onward and Upward

At the June Board meeting, Board members elected new executive board members: Brook is the new Chair, Tanner is the new Vice Chair, Senanur is the new Treasurer, and Sofia remains as the Secretary. We appreciate executive members taking the roles on the board. 
 

We all have unprecedented hard times with the occurrence of COVID-19. Many neighbors miss how residential life in CTC was beautiful and social in the previous summers. Typical CTC summers are a great time to get to know our neighbors after Minnesota chilly seasons, with the community highly active in social gatherings and outdoor sports. We also typically host our biggest community festival annually in May, which was greatly missed this year. Even though we consider reopening some of the co-op's facilities by State and University of Minnesota recommendation, we know this summer is not the same as our previous summers. CTC's board members, committees, and management team tirelessly and continually work toward keeping our community safe and thriving with a new format. As the CTC mission reminds us, let us all strive to keep our community safe, active, and connected no matter the differences in our society.

Thank you!

Doyeon Hwang , Board Treasurer

Antony Maikuri​, Board Representative