QUIZ: ARE YOU A LOUSY BOARD MEMBER? P.3

 

ANSWERS

1 - D ) As attorney Richard Siegler notes in "When Secondhand Smoke Seeps In," this condition violates the warrant of habitability specified in New York State's Real Property Law (RPL) Section 235-b. Before jumping to any conclusions,though, have yourself and one other person go to the complaining shareholder's apartment to see if you can smell smoke and discern where it's coming from. If confirmed, you first speak with the neighbor about possible solutions, such as plugging leaks and installing an air filter. If the problem persists, have the board attorney send a letter formalizing that such steps need to be taken.

2 - C ) You need to take a multiple tack, according to board presidents at "Flip Taxes: Board Members Tell How They Passed Them — Or Didn't." But you need to do it right: Sending out one letter with proxies isn't enough, and phoning everyone will be telemarketer-annoying. As well, very few shareholders will believe apocalyptic warnings — and if those warnings are true and the building really HAS reached a point where you think a flip tax is going to rescue it and solve all your problems, you really are in over your head.

3 - D ) According to our articles about contractors, you don't want to go with a casual hire even for a modest project — a company good at one kind of job might not be right for another. And without a bidding process, you don't know you're getting the best price for the needed quality standard. Unless you're an architect/engineer yourself, and know all the details, nuances and intricacies that a professional will, presenting your architect/engineer with a binder of layman impressions can hinder rather than help. There's a difference between doing your homework and writing a thesis — especially if you haven't taken years of classes.

4 - D ) It's a kiddie Halloween party, for goodness' sake! An ordinary, everyday event that the community room is designed for. This question is to illustrate that not everything has to be cause for alarm. Not allowing friends? Ordering a list of food and drink as if harried parents were professional caterers? Sure, it's possible some kid may spill a drink and another kid will slip on it, but that's not the building's fault — and while you pay your attorney to think of every conceivable possibility, no matter how minute, sometimes a board just has to do a mental cost-benefit analysis and use common sense. Anything beyond whatever standard you have for anyone using the room is overkill that runs up your legal expenses, costs you or the building staff time and effort to administer and coordinate, and creates massive ill will.

5 - E ) As our articles on accounting fraud show, even the biggest, most reputable firms could have a bad-apple embezzler, and firms of many sizes have been guilty of systemic fraud — and FDIC insurance doesn't cover that kind of theft. In the vast majority of cases, your managing agent is an honest professional — but as attorney Donna DiMaggio Berger wrote in "How Co-op & Condo Boards Can Recognize 'The Fraud Triangle,'" good men and women can succumb to temptation simply because no one is watching.

6 - B ) While D sounds like a helpful idea, it carries no legal or parliamentary force, and there's no telling whether it will work. And, who's going to pay for it? You might also feel that the shareholders have spoken and that's that, but the board has a responsibility to run the building properly, operating on facts that shareholders generally don't know — from financial and legal to simple personality issues. If something is impeding the smooth running of your building, it has to be dealt with. You can't do it by "executive order" — co-op and condo board presidents don't have that kind of authority. But, as we reported in "Ousting a Board Member: How to Remove Disruptive Troublemakers," a board in one such situation did exactly what's listed in B), following it up with the required special shareholders meeting where both sides presented their cases and the shareholders voted to remove the disruptive board member.

 

 

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