BOARD OUTSIDE THE BOX, P.2

 

The board whittled Anthony's list of a dozen candidates down to three, then conducted interviews. In January 2009, it signed a two-year contract with general contractor Roy Howard, owner of RH Contracting in White Plains. It also decided to keep White Management to perform such back-office tasks as collecting maintenance and arrears, paying bills and handling correspondence. "Some wanted to cut the ties [to White Management]," says Gloddy, "but others were reluctant because [White] knew the building."

For his part, Howard quickly learned a great deal. "They have an old building, it was deteriorating, and they were doing things at the recommendation of vendors," he says. "For instance, past boards spent thousands and thousands of dollars on brick pointing, but nobody asked why they had to keep doing that work. I could see that air-conditioning units were causing leaks behind the façade. Then they spent $600,000 doing that [boiler room] door, and it was done wrong. The engineer didn't design it properly." Howard brought in a new engineer, "critiqued his proposal, negotiated a contract and presented it to the board."

After taking three bids on the boiler-room job, Howard will make a recommendation to the board, which often meets with Howard's director of operations, Anthony Troiano, with notes of the meetings taken by Barbara Maxey (at left), the board secretary.

"This is the first time I've seen anything like this," says Jessica Rocchio, who has been handling the Gentry account for White since the fall of 2007. She says the new arrangement has cut the time she spends working for the co-op from five to about two hours a day. "No one likes being taken away from what they're doing," Rocchio says, "but they needed someone to handle the large projects they've got coming up. If this is what's best for the building, it's best for the building."

The early reviews have been positive. "It's working because Roy Howard's a straight talker," observes Gloddy. "When we have questions, he gets right back to us."

"I think it's amazing," says Howard. "There's no more cost to the board, and they gain two professionals who specialize in the two aspects of property management. It's a win-win." Anthony, who got the ball rolling, adds: "This management team has already made progress in identifying major issues and the order in which they should be addressed."

It's still too early to tell if this unusual arrangement will succeed in the long run. But that doesn't faze Anthony.

"If something's not working, you need to try something else," she says. "We're trying this, and if it doesn't work, we'll try something else. That's the essence of running a business, and this is a business."

 

Adapted from Habitat April 2009. For the complete article and more, join our Archive >>

Photos by Carol Ott