The co-op's attorney works FOR THE BOARD, not individual Board Members.

So.... any costs associated with this advice go directly to the individual.
And the attorney should be (at minimum) censured for agreeing to participate in the discussion.

If it were our Board, I think we'd do more than that.

This is not conflict of interest, but a potential ethical issue:

a. The board member should be charged, as stated before, for any time incurred in consulting the co-op counsel.

b. The board member has inside information regarding the apartment that he/she wishes to swap and wishes to trade it. Obviously, the board member is giving up his/her apartment for the more desirable apartment. There may be some money being paid for the difference in the cost. So, from that point of view, the only issue here is an ethical one of inside knowledge and advantage over other residents.

c. Do other shareholders know about the availability of this apartment and would other shareholders had the same opportunity to do the same consultations as the board member and come up with the same swapping scheme if they would have known the apartment was vacant?

d. Usually, you have shareholder who get interested in a larger or smaller unit and they sell their in order to buy the second unit. Wouldn't this be the case of your board member?


AdC

thanks for your response...the apt for sale was advertised to all shareholders and the apt is on the open market for sale. No one shareholder has expressed interest in the apt and we dont have any current offers. The apt is actually the same size, but on a higher one flight up. The shareholder would have to pay off her mortgage and sell her apt in order to gain the other apt.

thanks for you response. i learned that the board can create an internal resale policy to cover these types of situations which we will discuss. And we have been advised to write the board member a notice that she is not to contact the coop attorney for personal matters. I am checking to see if we need to do anything else. She lied to the attorney and misrepresented herself and the deal to get his assistance.

Rene - Just my opinion, but if your BM lied to your coop attorney to get his help, I'd consider that reason (misrepresentation) to reject any application by him/her to buy another apt in your coop. If this is serious enough, I'd personally also ask that BM to resign, or you and your other BMs should vote to remove him/her from the board.

I'd also put the cost of legal services for time that your BM spent talking to your coop attorney about this on his/her account. If any other shareholder did this, you'd charge him/her for it, wouldn't you?

This is just the kind of petty-tyrant overreaction I've come to expect from co-op boards. We're talking about somebody's home, about the place where they live and raise a family, and you want to reject an otherwise viable applicant because he/she made a fairly minor error in judgment or even -- have you thought of this? -- didn't realize that he/she talking to the board's atty was wrong? Either way, big freaking deal. Has anyone TALKED to the board member before getting all hissy-fitting?

Anonymous: My telling Rene her BM's lying to the coop atty may be reason to not let him buy another apt, voting him off the board, or billing him for the atty's time was my opinion. I don't see it as "overreaction." Please allow for the possibility that you overreacted. Here was your reply to me:

>>>This is just the kind of petty-tyrant overreaction I've come to expect from co-op boards. We're talking about somebody's home, about the place where they live and raise a family, and you want to reject an otherwise viable applicant because he/she made a fairly minor error in judgment or even -- have you thought of this? -- didn't realize that he/she talking to the board's atty was wrong? Either way, big freaking deal. Has anyone TALKED to the board member before getting all hissy-fitting?<<<

Anonymous, you don't know any more than anyone here if the BM has a family, is a viable applicant, made a "fairly minor error in judgment" or didn't know talking to the atty was wrong. That's your opinion, which you also have a right to. We don't have all the facts here of course but the fact that the atty gave the BM help may be a big deal. As others said here, he represents the coop, not individual SHs.If the BM didn't know it, the atty should have told him so.

Coop boards are not all petty-tyrants. Many of us do our best, treat all SHs fairly and equally, and act accordingly if a SH (BM or not) takes advantage of a situation. If that hasn't been true in your experience, that's unfortunate. It's unfair to give all boards a black mark when so many deserve credit for the good they do. I only ask that you keep that in mind. Thanks.

BP chastises Anonymous for suggesting giving the SH the benefit of the doubt, though Anonymous "doesn't have all the facts." Yet BP is ready to deny the SH application though BP him/herself doesn't have all the facts.

BP, you're the pot calling the kettle black. Perhaps you should have tempered your original posting.

JG, I did not intend to chastise Anonymous. I simply asked that s/he consider that all coop boards are not petty-tyrants as s/he seemed to indicate. Also, I am not "ready" to deny a SH's application to buy without my having all the facts. I began my posting to Rene by saying "Just my opinion". I offered suggestions in an effort to help Rene weigh the facts she has to determine how she might resolve or ameliorate her issue with a BM.

One benefit of Board Talk is being able to offer options, opinions and outcomes based on experience so that someone who asks for advice here can consider them in determining a course of action in a specific situation.

We are all here to learn from each other. It's impossible for any of us to know all the facts about another poster's issue. All we can do is offer advice or opinions that may be of help. If Anonymous or anyone was offended or felt that I was chastising, I do apologize. That was not my intention. We have enough conflict in our coops and in our own lives. We don't need more of it here.

Happy holidays, everyone ~

Try having your plumbing company take a look at see if they can determine where the odor is coming from. It would be cheaper than a engineer?

Hello, i'm a Live-Out Resident Manager with quite a bit of experience, You should really look into hiring a plumber to inspect your plumbing, also get your ventilation inspected. What i think might work for you, 1st locate the problem, and install an air purifier with CHARCOAL filters, this will eliminate the odors.

You should consult your by-laws and association papers to find out how many representatives from one unit may run. It may be that both representatives on the deed may run, but only one representative is allowed at the time as you understand it. Otherwise, a consultation to an attorney may be the most neutral way to resolve the problem without creating ill feelings on individuals and documentating once and for all similar situations in the future.

AdC

You should consult your by-laws and association papers to find out how many representatives from one unit may run. It may be that both representatives on the deed may run, but only one representative is allowed at the time as you understand it. A consultation with an attorney may be the most neutral way to resolve the problem without creating ill feelings on individuals and documentating once and for all similar situations in the future.

AdC

Try contacting the Union directly at 212-388-3800 ask for the contract department.

First, I would not call the union for clarification. The union will recruit all your employees, i.e., supers, porters, etc.

If the resident manager is a glamorized superintendent, who cares about the title, the resident manager is also recruited.

The best bet is to speak with the co-op counsel; he/she may refer the question to a colleage dealing in labor law and obtain clarification. Optionally, he/she may refer you to a labor attorney to handle the matter if the union is getting too close to your employees and you wish to fight the union.

AdC

First, I would not call the union for clarification. The union will recruit all your employees, i.e., supers, porters, etc.

If the resident manager is a glamorized superintendent, who cares about the title, the resident manager is also recruited.

The best bet is to speak with the co-op counsel; he/she may refer the question to a colleage dealing in labor law and obtain clarification. Optionally, he/she may refer you to a labor attorney to handle the matter if the union is getting too close to your employees and you wish to resist the union.

AdC

Yes, we resident managers are union.

hi - do you have a tax ceriotori (sp?) lawyer working to keep down your taxes?
Can you let me know the answer by posting. Thanks

Also have checked your water bill? we got 20k back for over-billing. If you take good , effective measures - you can reduce your increase to 7%

Hi, Cathye,

Our maintenance is going up slightly (about 4%) because the city council is increasing property taxes 7%, electricity will be going up as much as 10%, and with few apartment sales we are earning only a tiny bit from flip taxes. On top of that, inflation in 2008 is at about 3.5%.

One of any board's salient responsibilities is to keep the business running in the black. That way your investment remains valuable (for a different way of running a business, Google "Lehman Brothers" or "AIG").

Investors look for sound businesses when they want to invest money and get a decent return. That holds true whether they're investing in Citibank (a bad decision) or a co-op (a good decision, at least in the case of the one I live in).

Remember, a co-op is like any other business: it buys goods (utilities, fuel, paint), hires employees (super, property manager, accountant), and faces uncertainty (will the city council raise taxes again?). All of those costs change with inflation. And by "change" I mean "increase."

Any corporation, whether it's a car maker or a co-op, that doesn't budget wisely for increased costs is bound to fail. (If you're not convinced, Google "GM.") A co-op that doesn't raise maintenance fees to match its costs either has a tremendous sum in reserves and lives off the interest (think: Park Avenue) or needs a new board, one that isn't afraid to face reality even when shareholders are.

HG - If you want to amend your by-laws to say that board candidates can't be in legal disputes with the coop and a BM must resign if he is in such a dispute, talk to your coop attorney. You have to notify all SHs of the exact wording of the amendment before it is voted on, get the required SH vote, etc.

You said you had a BM in a legal dispute with the coop who benefited from talking to mgmt and other BMs about it. Mgmt and other BMs should stay out of discussions like that, and a BM shouldn't "discuss" his legal dispute with the coop attorney. His attorney can, but the coop attorney represents the coop as a whole. He shouldn't "discuss" or give advice to any individual SHs who are in a legal dispute/lawsuit with the coop. It's not appropriate, and it's not in the best interests of the coop as a whole.

As for qualifications of BMs, I know bldgs who amended their by-laws to state that a person must be a SH for 1 year (one bldg requires 2 years) before he can run for the board. Not a bad idea. It gives people who never lived in a coop time to familiarize themselves with the coop "concept" and get to know their bldg a bit before they attempt to be one of the people who govern it.

Leave this alone...Why are you going there?

I know i know. but am going there for good reason. corrupt super. sleeping board. inequal repairs and favors for residents depending on $. need to balance it out.

During my 30 years of coop management I NEVER had a client report cash tips. If the building really wants to pi-- off the staff this is the best way to do it. Tips is what motivates them as much as their salary, if not more.

People like you make it hard to keep good employees in any building.

sal - this was your 12/5 posting:
"I know i know. but am going there for good reason. corrupt super. sleeping board. inequal repairs and favors for residents depending on $. need to balance it out."

I wouldn't worry about reporting cash tips. If I were you, I'd focus on finding a new super, waking up your board (or getting other people elected to it), and having your property mgr handle and schedule repairs for residents on a fair, equal basis. And that's the best "tip" I can give you. ;-)

they are not good employees. this is the problem. pleaseunderstand.

I'm a resident manager, if the employees are not any good or dont follow company procedure then you need to make a change. This will give your building a bad reputation were no credible worker will want to work for your building.

Run for office and find out before it is too late.

I always found Sonnenschein, Sherman, and Deutch, 888 Seventh Ave, to be very competent.