The Yacht Club's Stormy Story
Workers repairing the Yacht Club Condominium on Long Island after Hurricane Sandy passed through
March 3, 2016 — (Editor’s note: This is the first in an occasional series of first-person articles by Stewart Wurtzel, an attorney who was elected to the board at the Yacht Club Condominium on Long Island and helped the property recover from the devastation of Hurricane Sandy.)
I have represented cooperatives and condominiums every day of my 32-year legal career. And on multiple occasions in every one of those years, I have had to remind my client board members that theirs is the least appreciated position on Earth. Similarly, I have had conversations or gotten requests from angry board members that made me scratch my head as to why someone on a board could get so infuriated with a resident. But after two-and-a-half years as board president, I now understand. Indeed, I have experienced the rewards and frustrations that are experienced on the client side of the phone.
The Yacht Club Condominium, located in Island Park, New York, has a diverse mixture of people, ranging from snowbirds and families to couples who have downsized after their children have moved out and those who simply enjoy the proximity to the beach.
After the storm, in the months leading up to the annual meeting on October 1, 2013, the unit-owners were generally unhappy. Many felt that they had been ignored by the board, which did not communicate with them. They were also angry with the progress of insurance payments and with the quality of the work done by the remediation company retained to rebuild the complex. Another issue: exterior siding had been torn away from the buildings during the hurricane. In addition, the winter of 2013 was brutal, with temperatures regularly dropping below freezing. That left many unit-owners quite literally in the cold, suffering from damage to their units. Our insurance agent’s office and home, also located in Island Park, had suffered extensive damage, so his ability to respond to his clients’ needs was hindered.
Then there was dysfunction on the board. In the months before the election, several members had resigned their seats and had not been replaced, leaving the board in a fragmented state. The remaining members turned deaf ears on offers to help. (I had personally offered my assistance on several occasions and never heard from ears about the pitfalls of board service, I agreed to run for office. In the fall of 2013, I was one of five new members elected to the board; one prior board member was re-elected. Getting a solid majority of the votes meant I was to serve a three-year term, and at our first meeting, I was elected president.
Now the hard work could begin.