Nothing you can do, nor is it illegal.
Most "offering" plans exempt the sponsor from board approval when selling "unsold shares". And the sponsor is free to sell his unit to whomever they want to.

Corruption is a plague in coops. The whole formation of coops was a fraud. We had a similar situation in out coop here in the Bronx (Riverdale). Here the sponsor owned more than 50% (close to 54%). The management company was a company of the sponsor. The contract between the coop and the management was a one way contract where it benefit only the management co. The cancel the contract where were questioned about some payment and left the new board alone. The ex president who was there since the coop was formed made life very difficult. The started with wll the hope as you do but since the sponsor own more than 50 % all decision were sponsor's decisions. I hope your sponsor only own 10% or less. Do not let him scare you. Tell him you will have to go to the attorney general and you will see how fast he will give it you. Coop corruption is a plague and we to win this fight we need to fight together. We are organized and making politicians aware that this is a crime that is destroying us financially and emotionally; we could end up homeless. Please take at look at COOPABUSE.COM and register to receive info. Also email me at ROSA.NAZAR@GMAIL.COM and I will keep you inform of our activities. We win if you fight the corruption together.

Go to your co-op attorney for assistance. They should know how to deal with this. If you don't have a co-op attorney then get one. There are a number of firms that do work with co-ops that can deal with it.

I agree with Burt that you need to contact your co-op attorney - and FAST. With the keys to the castle in the hands of a vindictive ex-board member, you need to make sure that this jerk doesn't try to wreak havoc by throwing away important mail, or by handing out parking permits and entrance fobs to convicted pedophiles. In fact, once you have back all the security tokens, I would strongly recommend that you change the locks on anything that can be easily duplicated, such as mailbox keys.

If the ex-president refuses to cooperate even after your attorney intervenes, I would change everything in sight, including the security entrance fobs. You'll need to check with your attorney to be sure, but I believe you could probably bill the changeover expenses to the offending ex-president, after proper notice that he must return everything or face the consequences. (I'm not an attorney and you should always check with yours before billing unusual charges to a shareholder.)

Yes, Chris, go get a lawyer right away and sue the former president for breach of fiduciary duties and tortious interference with the business of the Coop. But I would also ad a caveat: the Coop lawyer, if there is one, probably was hired by the former board and its loyalties are with them (don't expect objectivity and fairness from any lawyer, they are all mercenary selfish slimy people). Get a new one, call the bar association and get a names, interview them, and talk to him in earnest, establish very clearly, from the beginning, that you want legal action, and you want it now. (they all offer you just negotiation, writing letters to the board, etc, they all have this attitude that they want your money, but not going to court or filing anything in your behalf, they are lazy).
And be happy that you were able to dislodge the former board. You have no idea what a miracle that is. Here in my coop we still have the original board appointed by Sponsor 25 years ago! All my efforts to run for the board (a 5 years efforts) have been blocked and defeated, because the Sponsor/HUS is still around, controlling a big chunk of shares, plus other clearly illegal shenanigans, like starting the annual meeting without a roll call and without a quorum, and having populated the list of shareholders with nominal absentee owners whom nobody knows who or where they are, probably fictitious characters, just standees for the Sponsor. Out of 121 apartments, I located only about 30 owners, and my efforts to educate and organize them has unleashed a campaign of terror from the board, threatenind them with termination and eviction if support my efforts. The coop lawyer has also sent me a letter threatening with the same thing, for trying to educate and organize the tenant, get them to sign petitions, etc...You have no idea what enclaves of lawnessness the coops are, under the dictatorship of the omonipotent-unscrutable board of perennial directors and sponsors in perpetuity. Fight on, and good luck to you and your valiant efforts. Jerry Grosof, CONCERNED CITIZENS for COOP REFORM- P.O. . Box 568 -Bronx NY 10463. - g5grosof@msn.com

Try Property Shark to get names of owners

While the rates are down, the valuations have done up. There's an article here from Friday that explains it.

The most fiscally responsible thing is to raise maintenance if the end result of lower rate + higher valuation = higher tax payments.

Board members too often drink the cool-aide of "oh well costs have to go up - Not so. I you examine each line item you can work to realize savings and balance the budget without necessarily increasing maitenance levels and getting caught in that spiral. I actually thing i this is something encouraged by managing companies as they work to justify increasing their fees. So, in shirt, don't be a sheep. be a dynamo board member. For example, obviously an increased tax rate help offset any increase in assessed value.

Do you have the link for the new NYC tax rates?

I think they're in the habitat story on the front page

He is right. You'll never reach a consensus by consulting everyone.
On the other hand, if you wish to have a more "open" process, consider establishing a "renovation committee" with a board member as the head.

Thank you, vp, for your insight. I'll suggest it to the Board! Incidentally, we agreed with him too, but I don't think we should do it without the shareholders having any input at all. Maybe after we have made preliminary choices, bring them into it....

I see the designers point; a committee will most likely never get done. If you want a committee with residents and one board member, I'd advise that the board member be in charge and is a very strong leader with a great follow-through skills. The person that is least liked, if you will, a business person, an architect, engineer or a project leader would probably be most likely to actually get a committee to agree on something. I've seen buildings argue about hallway colors for over a decade, despite already paying the designers 2/3 of their full fees.

Just to clarify: The committee's only purpose is to make recommendations to the board, which will have the final say (a vote).
I suggest you set some parameters before moving forward, and only allow the committee to work within those guidelines. Things can easily turn into a time consuming circus.

I like in a coop and the hall was renovated and it cost almost 2 million. The job was cheap; no receipts were shown. Be transparent to the shareholders; you owe a fiduciary duty to them. Make sure nobody on the board is getting any benefit from this contractor. Please check COOPABUSE. COM to see all the corruptions in coop. Or email me at ROSA,NAZAR@GMAIL.COM. We are working together to protect the coop home.

Thank you, Rosa! Our concern about our fiduciary duty and transparency are why I wrote, and I appreciate your note. We got the name of this contractor from our management company (as well as other names) and have checked him out. Our budget is far lower than that - I think we'll be fine in that regard. Thank you again.

why not do this: narrow it down to 2 versions and post those in the lobby (carpet sample, paint swatch, wallpaper sample, photo of couch) and let people vote on ONLY those 2.

fgh - Thank you for your suggestion also! This Board Talk has been helpful, and I appreciate everyone's input!

We learned the hard way and Transparacy is a must! A small committee, one Board member and two Shareholders who are very well known interior designers came up with two choices and the Shareholders voted. Even those who did not like the final choice, agreed that this was fair.
HOWEVER -- years ago two Board members redesigned the halls -- to their personal taste. The horrible black doors that cant be maintained (one Board member wanted an artistic look) suck up the light in the halls, and the pink wall paper make the halls look like a cheap bordello -- we also learned that one of the Board members used the left over wall-paper for the bed rooms in her country house.
Our last "decorating commettee" was two board members who installed cheap linoleum in our wood planeled elevator -- looked cheap and within three months had to be replaced. -- So, being a Board member does NOT make you a designer or a person with good taste.

It is common practice for his employer (the building) to pay for all licenses pertaining to maintaining your building systems (sprinkler/standpipe, boiler, central ac, etc). If you do not have a licensed person (certificate holder) on site you risk getting fined. In addition many building pay for additional licenses/courses as it makes the super a more valuable asset to the property.

Bob.

Vivi, Bob is correct. However, we get concern because abuse is a very common thing in coops. That is why we are united to have a voice. We are meeting with politicians to pass legislation. Coop home owner have no protection in housing court neither in bankruptcy court for the abusive fines and legal fees from board and management. Check out COOPABUSE.COM and register to get updated info. Or email me at ROSA.NAZAR@GMAIL.COM

Just to clarify, this isn't Habitat writer Frank Lovece asking.

No

i have read either here or in the other coop paper that non shareholders are not allowed to speak at, or interfere in any way at the annual meeting.
if a shareholder gave them a proxy to drop off, they can only do that, they cannot read a statement by the shareholder
i would like to find an attorney that only worked for shareholders, as i don't trust a lot of things i hear board attorneys state is the in the bcl.

Corruption is a plague in coops. The whole formation of coops was a fraud. The only way we win this fight is fighting together. We are organized and making politicians aware that this is a crime that is destroying us finantially and emotionally; we could end up homeless. Please take at look at COOPABUSE.COM and register to receive info. Also email me at ROSA.NAZAR@GMAIL.COM and I will keep you inform of our activities. We win if you fight the corruption together.

Hi Frank,

I understand your concerns.

Since there is nothing preventing an owner to tell a non-owner what occurred at the annual meeting, my co-op does not limit who attends. You may even have management and legal counsel who attend but might be excluded if a strict policy “shareholder only” is adopted.

I view transparency as trust building. There will always be the disgruntled few who seek remedy for real and imagined slights. However, if they are hearing what everyone else is hearing, and this is consistent with what they see is occurring throughout the year; those together should build trust and lessen the possibility of what occurred to you.

Good luck!

Steve-I cannot agree with you more. Aside from the fact that the annual meeting in our building is the only sanctioned opportunity for our small 12-unit "community "to get together with the board, it is not a time in which anything Board- only is handled- and transparency & trust are fostered here. I am sorry that Frank had a bad experience but being gun-shy is no reason to become cloistered. Indeed it just builds walls instead of bridges. It should not be an adversarial relationship. Aside from the fact that non-shareholders who become spouses may then become shareholders as well. It benefits all to be open, as long as proprietary boundaries are respected.

Haven't been on boardtalk for awhile, just saw this. While others' sentiments are reflective of most buildings, I would say the answer depends on your building. Are there other reasons besides confidentiality for not wanting the non-shareholders present? Are they disruptive or abusive? Kind of sounds like it, if one went to the trouble of filing a case that had no merit. I would say go w/ your gut, but be prepared for lots of pushback from the spouses of the non-shareholders.

Hi Daniel,

I am the President of a 111 unit co-op in northern Manhattan. We are not a rich building by any means. A lot of our owners are school teachers.

We pay our Super $19.305 an hour (our union contract rate). Our co-op has a special contract with the Union whereby we pay an additional $0.50 per hour in exchange for a slight relaxation of the Union work rules. We limit his overtime to approximately 7.5% of his pay.

Included in his earnings, we also pay an annual bonus of 7-10 days of pay. He also gets housing and unused sick day payout.

Adding all of this together except the housing, I imagine he makes $52k gross wages including the annual bonus (taxes come out of that, of course). If his basement unit had a rent value of $1,500 a month; this may be an additional $18k of earnings after tax (our maintenance charge on a similar unit is about $875 a month in comparison).

He is in his late 40's or early 50’s and I cannot imagine raising a family on his pay.

Along with open Board meetings, The Board discusses the budget for the upcoming year each December including payroll. This amount also includes a bonus assumption of 10 days per employee. Shareholders are free to attend the annual budget meeting but in truth, few do. We do not announce the bonus amounts when ultimately decided. We encourage the owners to holiday tip the staff as they feel appropriate.

The result of all of this is that we have good employee relations and as the staff treats the owners well, we have fewer owner complaints. As we plan for the bonus when we set the maintenance, the funds are available to pay it out.

To put everything in context, the co-op also has a self amortizing mortgage and our maintenance load is approximately $1.10 per square foot. I am anticipating a small maintenance this year of approximately 3-4%. Complaints on the level of maintenance are very few (one or two owners complain a year).

My view is that owners elect board members to make decisions for them. If they want to know every detail, they would run for election. While transparency is fantastic, one risks losing people’s attention if too much detail is released.

If the building had a policy of not announcing the bonus, and now it does, one unintended consequence is that someone could think there is an effort to “hurt” the financial wellbeing of the staff – i.e. a vendetta. If you want to release this level of fiscal detail, I suggest that you not just do it on the “bonus” budget lines but on all budget lines. That way one does not appear heavy handed or spiteful.

Good luck!

sharehlders have a right to know how there money is spent.
in this coopo the managing agent gets a yearlyt bonus ,and isnt worth his pay.
when i was on the board and found out, as i got a memo stating the amount he expected, , the memo was from him.
i did everthing possible to have the bonus rejected, as i was a union empyoee myself, anf we would getr fired if we took a tip of a vaue more than a bottle of soda or piece of fruit.
managers were in no way on the tipping scale.
A super who exceeds his/hers union duties and saves he bldg money by doing small painting jobs and such, i am ok with tipping via the board.
management agents=no way
i think every shareholder should have access to the monthly and yearly finances of their coop, this would stop a lot of fraud.
And there is a lot of fraud!

Dear Escape: I agree with everything you say. You seem to be very knowledgeable on coop management, services, and basic shareholders' rights. You are also very valiant to fight for shareholders rights against the Board, the Managing Agent, and other agents of oppression and financial exploitation, such as super and other coop employees. We would like to put you in our mailing list. Please write to us, g5grosof@msn.com - CONCERNED CITIZENS for COOP REFORM - P. O. Box 568 - Bronx 10463

Please contact your City Council President - he is very aware of the ongoing corruption with coops in Yonkers.

Yonkers suggested contacting our City Council President. Who might that be? Our City Council Speaker is out, and a new one has not yet been chosen. Who are you referring to? I would like to know who you feel is aware of the ongoing corruption and seems to take an interest. Thanks in advance.

Please contact chuck Lesnick. He is very aware of the corruption of some coops in Yonkers. He might be term limited but this could be his last hurrah.

I think 20% is an excessive amount. You should look to make sure the 20% is not a payment to keep the super silence. Super know a lot about what is going on with the finance. Just make sure is not somethng bigger.

We are working to change laws to protect the shareholder's home. At this time we have no protection in housing neither in bankrutcy courts. Take a look at COOPABUSE.COM and feel free to email me at ROSA.NAZAR@GMAIL.COM

That is way too high of a bonus. Especially if he is not making a huge effort to earn it. And , by the way, if the Super quits that could be to your advantage as there are many many well -qualified potential Supers looking for such an apartment and they wont demand a bonus.
Who is your managing agency? and also do current board members get special treatment form this Super? If he quits - I think count yourself lucky.

Corruption is a plague in coops. The whole formation of coops was a fraud. The only way we win this fight is fighting together. We are organized and making politicians aware that this is a crime that is destroying us finantially and emotionally; we could end up homeless. Please take at look at COOPABUSE.COM and register to receive info. Also email me at ROSA.NAZAR@GMAIL.COM and I will keep you inform of our activities. We win if you fight the corruption together.

a 20% bonus seems ridiculous. we adore our super and he is getting a $1500 bonus.

as for those who think 20% is a good number because of the salary, also note that at the holidays, a good super will see $150-$200 per apartment in a holiday gift. that money is not taxable and in a building with 100 apartments means an extra $20,000 a year in earnings.

We installed cameras for 5 attached cooperative buildings in Forest Hills. We used a company called Blue Blast Media to do it. We hadn't heard of them before and cam recommended from a Board member. The scope of their project along with their specs provided pre-install was great. jpf@blueblastmedia.com was our contact there (JP)

We've worked with Gil from Tech X Solutions in the past, and had a very good experience, he is very professional and responsive. gil@techxsolutions.com

We've worked with Gil from Tech X Solutions in the past, and had a very good experience, he is very professional and responsive. gil@techxsolutions.com

Hi,

I am not a lawyer but I think you need a lawyer to advise you on this. That being said, the raceway withdraw may be criminal theft and you should run it by the police. The only person who can stop this is you and how you respond. Say nothing and it will continue. Say something and it will stop. Somehow I suspect that you may uncover more misdeeds.

There is very little reason why a Treasurer these days needs to have cash on hand. Take the debit card away too.

Good luck!

we even went to the Bronx Attorney Office in the Bronx and they said their was nothing they could do we have all bank statements and she has the nerve to be elected as a Treasurer, The people that voted for her are also on the Board and dont have the clue what it is to run a building we only have 10 units 5 shareholders me and the other shareholder we dont have money for lawyer ,Treasurer never paid her rent in the past and she hired her son who was just released from Jail to be a super

Did you go to the Attorney General, Mr. Schneiderman? Call up the State of New York Attroney General office, and ask to report white collar crime in the Investor's Protection Bureau, and ask for a complaint form. You can also get it from the Internet.

You might consider withholding your monthly maintenance until the situation is rectified. You could make them take you to court for your maintenance, then you can explain the situation to a judge. Try to get as many shareholders as possible to go on strike and refuse to pay until you get answers and results.

This is, indeed, a very good idea, and perhaps the only one that will work. Our money that we pay the coop every month is our only leverage. I tried it in the past, and it worked. BUT...just make sure that you deposit your maintenance in a specially dedicated bank account - generally called Landlord-Dispute Account, so that you can show it to the judge if they sue, and demonstrate that you are not "in violation" of your obligation, but merely demanding that the outragous robbery ceased. And petition the judge for sanctions against the thieving board member, the dissolution of the board and new elections, under the supervision of the court. Be courageous and sincere. "Audaces Fortuna juvat" (Fortune loves the audacious)

Corruption is a plague in coops. The whole formation of coops was a fraud. The only way we win this fight is fighting together. We are organized and making politicians aware that this is a crime that is destroying us finantially and emotionally; we could end up homeless. Please take at look at COOPABUSE.COM and register to receive info. Also email me at ROSA.NAZAR@GMAIL.COM and I will keep you inform of our activities. We win if you fight the corruption together.

Coop Abuse.com (Cooperative Community Organization) claims to be a contingent of 600,000 Russians living in 60 coops in Brooklyn, mostly in the Brighton Beach area (10,000 per coop?) They claim to be a monolithic organization that could deliver these 600,000 votes to politicians of their choice, inducing them to pass legislation who favor the coop owners. Their candidate in this recent mayoral election, a Black Hispanic reverend head of a church in Washington Heights, only fetched 1800 votes. Where are the rest of them, some 598,200? Maybe they are illegal immigrants who don't vote (?) Maybe there is a lot of fantasy here... So I don't trust this group, or its leadership. Nobody can get to know who their leaders really are, because they don't reveal their addresses, and they speak only Russian in their open meetings, or their radio programs, or their communications (in the the ones translated, the English is atrocious, almost incoherent). Nor can we know what their hidden agenda is, which seems to be purely political. The victims of coop abuse in this group (the one I heard of) seem to belong to coops owned by the Russian mafia. If you decide to interact with this group, be cautious, and do not reveal your personal data to them. .

I don't know what black hispanic reverend you are talking about. We met with Gale Brewer and Helen Rosenthal in Manhattan. At the meeting we spoke english. As a matter of fact most of the attendees did not speak russian; I don't speak russian. We created the coopabuse.com to collect info so we can tell politians what is going. You don't have to write about your problem but you can see what we are doing. By the way both Helen and Gabe were elected. We hope to elect more people who are willing to work with us. We can only win if we stand together. You email me at ROSA.NAZAR@GMAIL.COM

The Black Hispanic reverend I am talking about is the Reverend Eric Salgado, from Washington Heights, who ran for mayor, sponsored by the Cooperative Community Organization of Brooklyn, and got only some 1800 votes. Another reverend of the same area is his friend , Reverend Bauza, who run for City Council, and got almost no votes.Both are against abortion and contraceptio, especially for teenagers, and call the "day after pill", an abortion pill killing hunreds of thousands babies, and they both vowed to stop these "mass killings" if elected.
Gale Brewer was elected, by not by the Alex Litvak's Russian contingent of Brooklyn, she was not even sponsored or recommented by him. I was present in that meeting with Gale Brewer in a private apartment in Manhattan, after Gale Brewer was already elected. Alex was there, acting as the owner of the meeting, he took the floor and lectured Ms. Brewer for almost an hour, handed several papers to her, and refused to yield the floor to me or my wife. The only other persons there, aside from us (from Kingsbridge, Bronx) was Rosa Nazar & Shelly Keeling, from Riverdale, Bronx. Nobody from the 600,000 Russians from Brooklyn (Alex's followers) showed up, and we were made to pass as if we were members of Alex's organization. A blatant shameless manipulation, plus the fact that we were not introduced nor permited to speak to Ms. Brewer.
Alex's has decided now that he wants to be the only leader of the Coop Reform Movement in all boroughs of the City, and towns of the entire State of the New York, and have recruited Rosa Nazar, a Dominican woman from Riverdale, Bronx, who has become an ardent propagandist and recruiter for Alex's Brooklyn organization. Imagine Alex Litvak, a Russian Emperor of the 5 boroughs, and King of the State of New York, and Rosa, his faithful disciple and prophet.
(by the way, Gale Brewer commented to me, wispering, as she was leaving the meeting, that she finds it very difficult to deal with the Russians because of their totalitarian mentality, and their lack of understanding of our American democracy and our political system. Indeed, Alex treated Ms. Brewer, practically the Vice-Mayor elect of New York, as if she was his subordinate, or his servant. I was ashamed of his behavior, and didn't know how to apologise to Ms. Brewer). Jerry Grosof, Concerned Citizens for Coop Reform.

You need to get your fact straights. Any body who google Eric Salgado would know that he is white hispanic not from Washington Heights but from Brooklyn. Cooperative Community Organization never met neither sponsor rev. Delgado, The meeting was scheduled by Alex in a apt belong to his friends. Alex never invited you, neither I. If you did not get your info correct, blame it on yourself. I don't believe Gale Brewers said anything like that. She is a politicians and they are careful what they said. I am concern about you seen things where nothing exists.

I stand by everything I said. Rev. Salgado is certainly a Black Hispanic, and his friend Rev. Bauza describes him as Black, and himself as "white", he calls this "cafe con leche, la buena mezcla". (Coffee with milk, the good mixture). He's originally from Brooklyn, but presently operates out of Washington Heights, after branching out into six churches of his creation.
Regarding the meeting with Gale Brewer, Alex did send a notification-invitation, but I was not planning to attend. But Naomi Semeniuk, who had obtained the meeting in the first place, she being a Manhattanite, invited us personallly, insisting that we should go and present the Coop problems to Ms. Brewer. We went for her sake, but we considered it a monumental waste or our time, and an embarrassment and loss of prestige vis-a-vis Ms. Brewer. Had we known that Alex was the owner of the meeting, we would have never gone.
And yes, Gale Brewer did speak, wispering, her reservations (or difficulty understanding the Russian character), and Naomi was there with me - we both accompanied her to the door, and Gale spoke to both of us. Alex himself noticed Gale was somewhat annoyed, and and said to her, as she was leaving, that he might be considered "a little annoying" with his insistence, and she might have to put up with it.
Rosa Nazar shouldn't be "concern" about what I said, whether she believes it or not. Her opinions and beliefs are of no "concern" to me. Carmen Bejarano & Jerry Grosof - Concerned Citizens for Coop Reform- P. O. Box 568 - Bronx, NY 10463