exercising the option to purchase Answerlink phone support from FAMLSS.
November 3, 2006 Board of Directors Meeting Summary
Action items included:
- to not purge expired, cancelled and withdrawn listings from the MLS system.
- to revise the Business Plan by eliminating the COO position and deleting scenarios 1 and 3.
- to refer the creation of a short summary of the Rules & Regulations to the Rules & Regulations Committee.
- to authorize staff to finalize the Vendor Display of Listing Agreement that provides for no cost to the member or vendor for IDX data feeds.
- to approve the Initial IDX Opt Out form for use before the startup of the system and the IDX Opt In/Opt Out form for future use.
- to authorize the President to sign an agreement with the Warren Group for bulk tax data and to exercise the option to pay FAMLSS the contract amount to host the tax data, provided that the tax data will be available for use at startup of the system on January 10, 2007.
Sample letters that Service Centers can use for Participant And Subscriber signup were also reviewed. They will be distributed to the Service Centers along with an instruction sheet and other supporting forms.
October 20, 2006 Board of Directors Meeting Summary
Action items included:
- acceptance of the resignation of Steven Calcagni as a Director with regret.
- affirmation of the November 17, 2006 return date for signing of the Service Center agreement by the Service Centers. In order to meet the anticipated January 10 launch date of the system, this date is necessary to provide sufficient time for the Service Centers to sign up the Participants and then the Subscribers.
- authorizing the President to sign an agreement with MMSI for membership database services.
- accepting the Eastern Connecticut REALTORS® Information Services offer to prepay the first two months of statewide MLS fees for primary members of the Eastern Connecticut Association of REALTORS®.
- approval the following service center one letter codes that will precede the listing number (requested by FAMLSS):
Greater Hartford Association of REALTORS® Inc. - G
Greater New Haven Association of REALTORS® Inc. - N
Middlesex Shoreline Association of REALTORS® Inc. - M
Greater Waterbury Board of REALTORS® Inc. - W
Litchfield County Board of REALTORS® Inc. - L
Eastern Connecticut Association of REALTORS® Inc. - E
Northern Fairfield Association of REALTORS® Inc. - F
Ridgefield Association of REALTORS® Inc. - R
Greater Bridgeport Board of REALTORS® Inc. - B
Greater New Milford Board of REALTORS® Inc. - A
Stamford Board of REALTORS® Inc. - S
Mid-Fairfield Cty. Association of REALTORS® - D
Valley Association of REALTORS® - V
Greater Fairfied Board of REALTORS® - T
- approval of the revised Frequently Asked Questions that can be linked to at the top of this page.
The Board welcomed Barbara Horvath as the first employee of CTMLS. Barbara will begin work on Monday, October 23rd as the Adminstrative Services Manager for the MLS.
The Board of Directors anticipates that an employment agreement will be signed with the CEO candidate that has been selected during the week of October 23. Once the agreement is signed, information regarding the CEO will be provided here.
October 6, 2006 Board of Directors Meeting Summary
Actions included:
- engaging Paychex for payroll and tax reporting services.
- amending 2. of the Service Center Agreement by deleting "synonymous and mean individuals who maintain active membership in a Connecticut Realtor® association" and replacing it with "Participants and Subscribers as defined in Article IV, Sections 1a and 1b of the Connecticut Multiple Listing Service Bylaws. The revised Service Center Agreement is posted above.
- authorizing the President to negotiate an agreement with MMSI for membership database services.
- authorizing the President to enter into negotiations to hire a CEO.
- approving the Rules & Regulations as amended by the National Association of REALTORS® The revised Rules and Regulations are posted above. The major change from the old rules and regulations is the replacement of the Internet Listing Display rules with Internet Data Exchange (IDX) rules.
- approval of ctmls.mlxchange.com as the URL for the MLS.
- approval to use "Source: CTMLS" as the watermark on photos in the MLS.
- offering MLX Wireless to users at an additional fee.
September 15, 2006 Board of Directors Meeting Summary
Actions included:
- amendment of the Service Center agreement, as proposed by the Management Council. The proposed amendments more accurately reflect the Board of Directors' philosophy that Service Centers must meet minimum standards in order to effectively serve the members. The revised version can be linked to at the top of the page.
- requesting that the Management Council recommend how the CTMLS office facilities should initially be furnished and equipped.
Committee reports indicated that
- the MLS vendor, First America MLS Solutions, is estimating a January launch date that will run in parallel with the MLS(s) that join at that time.. This is subject to the data conversion committee's meetings with FAMLSS in early October successfully completing the data mapping that coordinates the fields of the MLSs into one document.
- Three tax data programs are being evaluated.
- The CEO Search Committee will be interviewing candidates over the next several weeks and should have a recommendation for the Board of Directors at its October 6 meeting.
September 1, 2006 Board of Directors Meeting Summary
Actions included:
- approval of the Service Center Agreement, subject to review and comment by the Management Council.
- adoption of a liberal Subscription Waiver policy that would require the Participant to submit either a Subscription Application and Agreement or a Subscription Waiver form for every agent associated with the firm.
- referral of a proposal from Rapattoni to the Management Council for their review and recommendation regarding a membership database system.
The Facilities Committee is negotiating a lease for office space in North Haven.
The CEO Search Committee will be interviewing four candidates for the CEO position at the end of September and is actively pursuing the hiring of an Administrative Services Manager.
The FAMLSS Committee will be making a recommendation for a tax data vendor at the September 18, 2006 meeting.
August 4, 2006 Board of Directors Meeting Summary
This meeting was the first meeting of the Board of Directors new CAR Connecticut Multiple Listing Service corporation.
Actions included:
- approval of the Administrative Services Agreement with the Eastern Connecticut Association of REALTORS®, the appointment of the Goldman, Gruder and Woods as legal counsel, and the Service Center Policy. These items had previously been approved by the old corporation but had to be adopted by the new corporation.
- approval of the NAR compliant Rules & Regulations that will be sent to the Connecticut Association of REALTORS® for submission to the National Association of REALTORS® for approval. Once approved by NAR they will be posted here.
The Rules & Regulations contain a new Participation Agreement and a new Subscriber Agreement that reflect the flow of rights to use listing content. NAR has proposed the use of ten documents that involve the relationships between sellers and brokers, brokers and agents as well as a variety of third party relationships. The Board of Directors will be working on these documents and will be presenting them to you at a later date.
The Board also viewed space at 127 Washington Ave in North Haven CT as a possible headquater site for the statewide MLS.
July 21, 2006 Board of Directors Meeting Summary
The July 21, 2006 Board of Directors meeting followed the July 18, 2006 Connecticut Association of REALTORS® Board of Directors meeting at which the CAR BOD voted 78 to 32 to create a non-stock, not for profit multiple listing service corporation by adding an article to the CAR Bylaws. The CAR Board also adopted the Articles of Incorporation and the Bylaws
The CTMLS Board of Directors voted:
- to amend Article 1 of the Articles of Incorporation by striking CONNECTICUT MULTIPLE LISTING SERVICE, INC. and replacing it with OLD CTMLS, INC. and to replace any reference to the old name in the Bylaws and the Rules & Regulations with the new name. This was done to allow CAR to file the new corporation with the Secretary of State.
- to dissolve the OLD CTMLS, Inc. and transfer any assets remaining after payment of any outstanding debts or obligations to the new Connecticut Multiple Listing Service authorized by the Connecticut Association of REALTORS® Board of Directors on July 18, 2006, once it is created subject to the approval of a majority of the Participants. The motion was approved with a vote of 13 yes, 0 nos, and 0 abstentions. The current Participants who are 15 of the 17 members of the Board of Directors also approved the dissolution by a vote of 13 to 0.
- to keep the number of members of the management council at 5 members.
- to have the Management Council review the Connecticut Multiple Listing Service, Inc. Subscription Waiver and recommend to the Board of Directors/Incorporators an initial policy for issuing waivers for Subscribers in Participant offices based on geographic location/service areas.
The Board began reviewing the revised Rules and Regulations that will comply with NAR policy. It is anticipated that they will be approved at the August 4, 2006 meeting. Board will also readvertise the CEO position and is the process of searching for suitable office space.
July 7, 2006 Board of Directors Meeting Summary
The Board of Directors voted:
- to amend #4 of the Service Center policy by replacing Greater Fairfield with Northern Fairfield. Newtown members will, therefore, use the Northern Fairfield Association for their service center.
- to amend the last parapgraph of the Subscription Waiver Form by adding ", or intends to utilize" to the last paragraph. The revised form can be linked to above.
- to appoint John Bolduc as Chairman of the Management Council and Jeffrey Arakelian, Dawn Calvo, Richard Eimicke, and Robert Marinaccio as members of the Management Council. All members had responded to a request sent out to Connecticut Association Executives by Jerry Alaimo. The Management Council will advise the Board of Directors until a CEO is hired.
June 23, 2006 Board of Directors Meeting Summary
The Board of Directors voted:
- to approve the revised CAR bylaw addition, the revised Articles of Incorporation proposed by the Connecticut Association of REALTORS®, the revised Bylaws for the Connecticut Multiple Listing Service, Inc. proposed by the Connecticut Association of REALTORS® all of which contain changes required by the National Association of REALTORS®, subject to the approval of the CAR Board of Directors. The revised documents are prvided at the top to this page.
- to establish a Service Center policy with the following provisions: Current Eastern, Coop, and CMLS Participant offices will initially be assigned to the Service Center authorized in the Bylaws that they currently use. Those that either use CMLS headquarters will be assigned based on primary membership. Those Boards that are not Service Centers wil have their primary members initally assigned to a Service Center. (Participants with primary membership in New Canaan, Darien, and Greenwich will initially be assigned to the Stamford Board Service Center. Participants with primary membership in the Newtown Board will initially be assigned to the Greater Fairfield Board Service Center.)
Participants will have the option of changing Service Centers for entire offices after the initial assignment of a Service Center.
Your comments and questions on this initial service center policy are welcomed. Please Give Us Feedback, Ask A Question.
- to elect Eric Greenstein of Network Real Estate, Waterford, CT as a Director representing medium size firms, replacing David Nyman who had to resign because he was no longer a Participant..
- to invite all Association Executives who will be operating Service Centers to submit a request to serve on the 5 member management council if they are interested in serving.
- to initially promote the Administrative Services Manager (MLS Director) job opening through Association Executives and on
the web site.
- to send a letter to each CAR Director explaining the advantages of creating a statewide MLS.
June 8, 2006 CAR Executive Committee
The CAR Executive Committee unanimously approved recommending to the CAR Board of Directors the Articles of Incorporation of Connecticut Multiple Listing Service, Inc., the Connecticut Multiple Listing Service, Inc. Bylaws and the changes to CAR's Bylaws as they may be amended by the National Association of REALTORS® mandatory compliance review. Links to the documents are provided above.
June 2, 2006 Board of Directors Meeting Summary
The Board of Directors voted:
- to approve the CAR bylaw addition proposed by the Connecticut Association of REALTORS® that will authorize the creation of an MLS as a member service, subject to the approval of NAR and the CAR Board of Directors.
- to approve the Articles of Incorporation proposed by the Connecticut Association of REALTORS® to create a non-stock, not for profit corporation named the Connecticut Multiple Listing Service, Inc., subject to the approval of NAR and the CAR Board of Directors.
- to approve the Bylaws for the Connecticut Multiple Listing Service, Inc. proposed by the Connecticut Association of REALTORS®, subject to the approval of NAR and the CAR Board of Directors.
- to amend the Business Plan to include tax data under Scenario 2 and to modify the composition of the management council of up to 5 members composed of Association Executives and/or MLS Executives that represent all areas of the state.
The Articles of Incorporation, the addition to the CAR Bylaws and the CTMLS Bylaws will be posted on this site if they are approved by the CAR Executive Committee.
Jerry Alaimo and John Bolduc will be meeting with the CAR Executive Committee on June 8 to seek their approval of the new corporation that will fall under the NAR umbrella. Assuming that the CAR Executive Committee approves the plan, the matter will be considered by the full CAR Board of Directors at its July 18 meeting.
Prior to the CAR Board of Directors meeting local association Boards of Directors and their MLSs will be asked to approve the proposal.
The next meeting is on June 23, 2006 at 9:30 A.M. at the Greater New Haven Association of REALTORS®, 127 Washington Ave., North Haven, CT.
May 5, 2006 Board of Directors Meeting Summary
The Board of Directors approved bylaws for the creation of a stock corporation and unanimously voted to request that the Connecticut Association of REALTORS® create the stock corporation, Connecticut Multiple Listing Service, Inc., as defined in the proposed bylaws, and an Association bylaw addition and the Certificate of Incorporation to be developed CTMLS legal counsel by Michael Goldman.
The Board also voted to request that the Consolidated Multiple Listing Service and the five associations that are members of the Co-op:
- Appoint one Association Executive/CEO to the Management Council for CTMLS before June 1, 2006.
- Appoint one Association Executive/CEO and one REALTOR® to serve on the CTMLS forms consolidation committee as soon as possible.
- Each make a commitment to join the Connecticut Multiple Listing Service by July 1, 2006.
April 7, 2006 Board of Directors Meeting Summary
The Board of Directors approved a detailed Business Plan that includes association ownership with broker control. The plan is a consolidation of a plan prepared by the CTMLS Communication Committee as well as elements of the proposals received from the Co-op and CMLS.
March 17, 2006 Board of Directors Meeting Summary
The CTMLS Board of Directors met at the Connecticut Association of REALTORS® offices in East Hartford on March 17.
Representatives from the Coop to discussed their proposal and answered many questions from Board members. Following the Coop's presentation the Board met with Stephen Yanoviak of Management Advisors to work on a preliminary business plan. Forty questions posed by Yanoviak were discussed and answered. The Board expects to have the preliminary plan from the counsultant delivered by the next meeting on April 7. The plan will then be discussed with CMLS and the Coop before it is finalized.
In other action, the Board voted to authorize the President to sign the MLS vendor agreement with First American MLS Solutions (formerly Interealty). Due to other commitments that First American MLS Solutions has, it appears that September to November will be the launch date for the statewide MLS.
March 3, 2006 Board of Directors Meeting Summary
The CTMLS Board of Directors met at the Greater New Haven Association of REALTORS® offices in North Haven on March 3.
The Board again discussed the development a detailed business plan. At a previous meeting the board had voted to request proposals regarding the creation of the statewide MLS from all current MLSs. Although a proposal has been received from CMLS and is being evaluated, the board voted to request that the Co-op present a proposal in advance of the next meeting so that a wide variety of views can be considered when the Board meets all day on March 17 at the Connecticut Association of REALTORS® to develop the business plan with consultant Steve Yanoviak.
February 17, 2006 Board of Directors Meeting Summary
The Board of Directors met at the Calcagni Associates in Wallingford, CT
The Board continued it's discussion of developing a detailed business plan.
It voted to hire Management Advisors to develop business plan options that includes an option to hire a CEO and the use of other MLS staff and assets.
The next meeting is on March 3, 2006 at 9:30 A.M. at the Greater New Haven Association of REALTORS®, 127 Washington Ave., North Haven, CT.
February 3, 2006 Board of Directors Meeting Summary
The Board of Directors met at the Middlesex Shore Association of of REALTORS®.
The Board continued its discussion of developing a detailed business plan.
Action items included:
- accepting the resignation of David Nyman who is no longer a Participant.
- posting the CEO position on realtor.org.
- amending Section Article 3.1 to make it celar that Participants are responsible for paying subscription fees for all licensees in the office unless a waiver is granted. The wording is as follows and is contained in the revised Rules and Regulations that can be linkied to above.
"Participants shall be responsible for paying subscription fees in an amount equal to the current subscription fee as defined in Attachment A times the number REALTORS® affiliated with the Participant's firm who have access to and use of the service, whether licensed as a broker, sales licensee, or licensed or certified appraiser who is employed by or affiliated as an independent contractor with such Participant."
The Board also approved a Subscription Waiver form that can be linked to above.
- approval of a "Did You Know?" email that will be sent to all Connecticut Designated REALTORS®.
The next meeting is on February 17, 2006 at 9:30 A.M. at Calcagni Associates Real Estate, 924 North Main St. Extension, Wallingford, CT.
January 20, 2006 Board of Directors Meeting Summary
Representatives from the Greater New Milford Board of REALTORS® met with the Board. The following questions, submitted in advance, were discussed:
- Will you keep the satellite offices CMLS has established?
Yes.
- Have you come any closer to deciding which overlay to use? How are you determining this?
We are currently negotiating a contract with Interealty. The Board has relied on the extensive investigation of MLS vendors that was previously completed by the Work Group.
- What are the plans for lock boxes, specifically if there will be one lock box for the entire system.
As previously discussed, it will be some time before we will be able to coordinate a statewide lockbox system due to existing Association contracts that are currently in place.
- Cost to agents. I have heard that you may be going back to the pay per listing approach. How are you going to keep this affordable to the agents?
We have never considered charging on a per listing basis. The only ongoing charge will be the $26 per user per month.
Action items included:
- approval of the Service Center Agreement. This is the agreement that CTMLS will enter into with Associations with an MLS as well as the current Consolidated Multiple Listing Service Service Centers so that MLS services can be provided locally.
- Amendments to Sections 9.1 and 11.3 of the Rules and Regulations to accomodate appraisers.
- An addition to Attachment A , Service Fees, Charges and Fines, that provides for a fine of up to $5,000 if a Participant/User provides MLS data to an unauthorized person.
The next meeting will be on February 3, 2006 at 9:30 A.M. at the Middlesex-Shoreline Association of REALTORS®, 222 Old Boston Post Road, Old Saybrook, CT.
January 6, 2006 Board of Directors Meeting Summary
Representatives from the Greater Bridgeport Board of REALTORS® met with the Board. While no prepared questions were submitted, a variety of questions dealing with the following topics were discussed.
- The status of $500 donations received to date
- Eastern Connecticut's payment of Participant application fees for its members
- Features of the MLS system
- The vendor selection process
- The Supra key and lockbox system
Answers to these topics can be found below.
Action items included:
- Engaging the law firm of Goldman, Gruder & Woods, LLC as legal counsel for the corporation.
- engaging Management Advisors to develop and deliver a business plan by January 18, 2006.
- approving the Chief Executive Officer job description.
- approving Article 12 - Internet Listing Display of the Rules & Regulations that comply with Connecticut law. The Board is still working on a provision for this section that will allow Subscribers to have ILD web site with the Participant's permission.
- approving the Attachments A , B, and C of the Rules &Regulations.
The next meeting will be on January 20, 2006 at 9:30 A.M. at the Greater New Milford Board of REALTORS®,44 Old State Rd., Unit 7, New Milford, CT
2005 CTMLS Board of Directors Meeting Notes and History
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