CONDOCENTRIC: Beyond The Boardroom

Mr. Erwin E. Hart and Mr. Harry Bhalla have 30 years and 12,614 kilometres between them, yet they remain the best of friends.  Before Mr. Bhalla left Canada in 1997, he and Mr. Hart were both owners in the same condominium corporation. Out of a mutual concern with respect to how the condominium was run which included questions as to why their common expenses doubled in 5 years time, they each got involved in their community and were successfully elected to the Board of Directors. 

Getting to know each other as they served on the Board together, Mr. Hart and Mr. Bhalla developed a mutual respect for each other.  While they found that they shared similar visions for their condominium, they appreciated each other's differing views and enjoyed friendly debates and discussions.  Inevitably, such conversations went beyond the context of their community and Mr. Hart and Mr. Bhalla quickly found themselves enjoying their time together, developing a friendship that would last a lifetime.

Their condominium corporation undoubtedly benefited greatly from Mr. Hart and Mr. Bhalla's involvement.  In the 5 years that they served on the Board together, each serving as the Vice President to the other's President capacity during this time, Mr. Hart and Mr. Bhalla utilized their engineering backgrounds and ability to think outside the box to ensure that the condominium's common expenses did not increase.  They instituted cost cutting measures such as using off peak electricity to heat the building's water and swimming pool, re-organizing the staff and security personnel servicing the community to make working for the condominium both more challenging and more rewarding and by getting involved in the particulars of service arrangements to find cost saving measures in places that were not usually considered in the industry.

While Mr. Hart and Mr. Bhalla started spending time together to serve their community, it has been over a dozen years since they “retired” from their careers as condominium politicians.  They still speak to each other on a daily basis and see each other with frequency in spite of the ocean between them. Neither sought election to the Board of Directors to make friends, if anything they both expected the opposite, but their commonality brought them together to enhance their community with the end result being a strong friendship.

Mr. Hart is now 94 years of age and Mr. Bhalla 64. This article was published with their permission.

From “Common Elements” Fall 2008

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