The future of the Commission on Common Ownership Communities (CCOC) is under imminent threat.  If enacted, Bill 50-15, now before the Montgomery County Council, could destroy the independence and integrity of the Commission by making it a political arm of the County’s Department of Housing and Community Affairs (DHCA).  In short, the bill would:

•     Move the CCOC to Department of Housing and Community Affairs (DHCA) where it would be swallowed up in a large bureaucracy whose focus is on code enforcement and landlord-tenant affairs, not the welfare of common ownership communities,
•          Make mediation a mandatory component of dispute resolution when complaints are filed with the CCOC,
•          Change the composition of the Commission to require that one-third of the Commissioners be selected from citizens who neither live in, nor have a personal stake in, the health and well-being of common ownership communities,
•          Replace highly skilled attorneys who currently serve the Commission with non-experts in community association law, and
•          Give the Director of DHCA unprecedented authority to intervene in CCOC pending cases, thereby potentially compromising the integrity and independence of the body and its decisions.

Tell the County Council and the County Executive to support the CCOC by:

•         Moving CCOC out of Office of Consumer Protection, but NOT to Department of Housing and Community Affairs (DHCA),
•         Preserving the CCOC as a strong, independent, Quasi-Judicial Body,
•          Increasing CCOC staff including both professional and clerical full-time employees,
•          Providing the CCOC with a modern case management and digital information system,
•          Granting CCOC authority to control its annual budget,
•          Stopping the diversion of CCOC fees to other County programs and ensuring that ALL fees collected for the CCOC go ONLY to support CCOC programs,
•          Increasing funding for CCOC education and training programs, and
•          Ensuring that licensed attorneys remain an integral part of the CCOC panel hearing process.

If this bill is not voted down in its ENTIRETY, it is likely that the CCOC, a unique and vital part of our community, will be irrevocably harmed or forced to shut down. 

                                       Why YOU Should Care

Whether you live in an HOA, Condominium or Cooperative community, YOU have a vested interest in a well-run, independent and experienced CCOC.  The Commission is the principal advocate for common ownership communities (COC’s) in Montgomery County.  It also is a primary source of education and training in good governance, community management and best practices for the over 1,100 COC’s in our region, 40 percent of the County’s residential housing stock, or 340,000 citizens. 

The Commission is composed of fifteen volunteer residents and professionals, fifteen volunteer attorneys and one paid county staff member.  The Commission’s mission is to assist communities in the resolution of conflict, fairly, efficiently, at the lowest cost possible and without most of the complexities of a formal court proceeding.

IT IS A FACT: Good governance contributes to well-run communities.  Well-run communities increase property values, help citizens live the American dream of home ownership, provide for the education of their children and the comfort of parents as they age.

Support the CCOC

Sign this Petition

Demand that the County Council VOTE DOWN Bill 50-15 

WRITE YOUR LETTER AND SIGN THE PETITION  TO

•          Vote Down Council Bill #50-15.
•          Ensure ALL fees collected for the CCOC go ONLY to the CCOC.
•          Protect the independence of the CCOC. 
•          Provide the CCOC with the staff, information technology (IT) and funding it is requesting. and desperately needs to appropriately serve the citizens of Montgomery County.