Improve Action Items to be able to associate with multiple work items

I am using the Action Items and Quick Task Import app from the Clarizen Apps Marketplace. 

I tried to use Action Items as a checklist that a developer should complete in order to build a configuration, but they do not have the same functionality as other relationships (like a Resource link), that exists independently of both the resource and the task. Basically the issue is - if I create an action item project that I want to reference from a project template, then if one person marks something on the checklist complete, it is complete across all projects, instead of just in that one instance where the action item is marked as complete. 

Also, if I link the action item to more than one task, it does not stay linked to the original task. 

I thought it would be like a new Related Item (or module) that is basically a Checklist – that way one checklist could be associated with multiple tasks, because we are finding that our work breakdowns are getting bloated with more instructional tasks that could be one task with different components - but we don't need to measure the time at the sub level, and it just clutters a person's time sheet, and makes their work confusing. 

I am trying to pull items that are really just reminders out of the work plan, and put them in the action items, but cannot do so because of the current structure.