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All suggestions and experiences appreciated:
At this time we have no qualifications in our Bylaws for Board members – except that they must be owners.
Last year a Shareholder ran for the Board who is involved in a very heated law-suit with the building. Most SH found it disturbing that he was allowed to run. He was not elected -- but he did come to the meeting with a lot of proxies. And we were concerned.
We want to insert an new amendment into our Bylaws – as to qualifications of Board members – prohibiting SH involved in any legal dispute with the Coop or in errors – to run for the Board.
Also, if a Board member becomes involved in a legal dispute with the building while on the board – that he/she resign.
In the past we had a BM involved in a legal dispute on the board, and this owner benefited from being on the Board—discussing the case with the Coop lawyer, Mang Company and friendly board members.
Thank you…HG
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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.
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