Sounds like the co-op's attorney needs to get involved immediately. What you voted on is not what is now written in the amended by laws. Therefore, the new amended by laws as now written were never approved by a vote of the shareholders at the special meeting.

From my experience, the wording in the proposed by law amendment must be exactly the same as the written by law amendment after the voting takes place.

Some questions come to mind:

Was the attorney present at the special meeting?
Did the attorney draft the proposed by law amendment?

Speak to that attorney ASAP. Good luck.

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Thank you Marty and NYC.

The proposal was drafted by one Board member (in consultation with her own personal attorney). Some shareholders had encouraged the Board to invite our attorney for a discussion prior to the vote but the Board refused.

In various emails, we were told by the Board that our attorneys had "vetted the proposal's legality and language;" "reviewed the amendment for legality and clarity of language;" " "this plain language document has been vetted by our attorney at...for clarity and legal precedent...;" and "It has been carefully reviewed by the Co-op attorney." We don't know for sure that the co-op's attorney actually approved the document that was mailed to us purporting to be the new By-Laws. There was a Certification included from our secretary that said "I hereby certify that the annexed document is a true and accurate copy of the By-laws of the Corporation and that said By-laws are in full force and effect as of October 28, 2019, and have been properly amended as of October 28, 2019." Nowhere does she say they were voted on on that date.

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You are being handed a bunch a gobbledygook with the "various emails" explanation. Of course the motion must be vetted for legality and clarity of language - but it's supposed to be done by the co-op's attorney, not the personal attorney of a Board member. That doesn't pass the smell test. Keep in mind what Judge Judy says: "If it doesn't make sense then it's probably not true."

This tells me that your co-op's attorney has probably no idea what's going on - only because he/she has been intentionally kept out of the loop. That raises red flags.

If this is such an honestly drafted amendment, then why has the Board operated in such secrecy about it? Why is the Board paying money to retain an attorney and then not use him/her for such an important matter such as a by law amendment? You know the answer.

Bottom line - as you stated, what was voted on is NOT what's now being presented as having been voted on. That is illegal and invalid. NYC and I agree on this.

There's something very rotten going on here with this Board and it can impact the lives of everyone in the co-op. Someone has got to stop this. You've taken the first step by reaching out here for opinions. Take this ball and run with it - straight to your attorney.

My suggestion is to call the co-op's attorney and personally meet with him/her to show him/her this conversation that we are having here on Board Talk. I think your attorney will be very surprised, among other emotions.

Best of luck.

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I have to agree. According to Roberts Rules "The proposed amendment, has to be precisely worded". As was it was in notice of special meeting.

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