Which documents ?
Your corporate attorney should have a copy of the main coop documents.
Your accountant all the tax returns, budgets and financial statements.
Your management company should maintain an up-to-date copy of all of the above.

I know that the management company is missing some contracts, and some letters from shareholders sent to the manager.

Should the management office have some record of all incoming and outgoing mail as well as a list of all documents kept in the office?

Each Management company has it's own way of functioning.
One way or another, they should keep a record of all correspondance and contracts.
But I also suggest that as a board, you maintain a copy as well. That's the secretary's duty to organize and file all corporate documents ( minutes, agendas, correspondance, contracts, notices and policies, house rules etc ... )

Basically, don't put all your eggs in one basket.

The "powers" are defined by the bylaws. You can only modify them by an amendement approved by the majority of shareholders.
Also, you must make sure that those changes do not contradict NY Business Law. A corporation needs a President, Treasurer and Secretary ... with their respective duties.

Note: any officer can be removed from those duties with a simple board vote.

For example: when a new treasurer is elected, does he/she need to make any report about the financial situation as of the day he/she starts work as a new treasurer? Is there any accountability during the transfer between the old and new treasurer?

Congratulations. Your approach is both professional and fair. To simply lower an expected increase without clarifying the reasoning behind it will, no doubt, foster anger and cause an increase in unpleasant experiences. A meeting between the head of the management company and the board should be called and a conversation take place explaining what the problems are. At the conclusion of the meeting the board needs to evaluate whether or not to continue with this company. I agree that a course in professional communication could go a long way in fostering good relations. Good luck.

Can you be more specific?

It is mostly verbal, plus dirty looks and a big drama if you need anything fixed plus misinformation given to managerial parties. They turn their backs to the general situation having to do with illegal contracting , etc. The managerial parties buy into the situation.

I had a similar experience with my Super. The building is managed by a Property management company. The super would make up false report of 'water leaks' or 'noise complaints' and I would end up getting calls from the management company to 'fix' the issue when there were no issues to begin with.

This is what I am finding

In a pre-war building burning no. 6 - it is very likely a chimney will need to be lined. This is for gas burning and not needed if will only burn oil. It is estimated to be about $300 per foot installed.

First, your buildings governing should have a provision regarding this kind of vote. Usually you have to call a meeting through a petition ( 10% or 25% of residents, not sure ). Then a vote to remove a board member. Finally an election to vote in new board. All this with the help/supervision of the building attorney. Proper forms, vote count and records must be kept. Any mistake can void the removal/election.

Residents can vote by proxy, it's the law.

You do have someone to replace them, right ?
It is very counterproductive to remove an entire board in just one shot. There needs to be some continuity in supervising/followup building affairs.

good luck

should read *governing documents ( sorry )

I don't think 'the help/supervision of the building attorney' is practical in this situation. The building attorney is retained by the current board. As such, they are not interested in helping the condo owners to overthrow their 'employer'. We are thinking about getting our own attorney, and after the board is replaced, we will switch out the whole package, i.e. the attorney, the management company and the super.

Our by-laws allow stockholders to be present by proxy for quorum purposes, but votes must be cast by stockholders present in person only. You really do not want people voting on issues of which they are not aware by not being present at a meeting.

everthing from the amounbt of owners required to have a special meeting, the notification of everybody of this special meeting and what is is for, and whether your allowed to vote by proxy is in your by laws. The criteria for calling the special meeting, sifnatures , coin toss, will be in there, plus the amount od people required , it may not be 50% it may be another number.
The same goes for replacing a board, but that sounds very difficult, However you usually need to have the proxy's if allowed and notice and reason for meeting all mailed out in a certain time frame, in our by-laws it is the same as the requirement for the annual meeting, It will be a no more than X days ans no less than Y days, in my by laws for a special vote , that has to ne specified in the letter concerning the meeting.
everything on how to remove a board member is in there for your condo more or less, probably less.
You should have reasons on why your taking the action, usually in a co-op its in the proprietary lease condo may be ib the by-laws too , it should give you the right to look at the finances from the building. That is where you will find evidence of wrongful or wasteful spending. I always look for what is not there.or as i do look for what is not there, like pre payment penalties , payment made to obtain mortgage, especially finders fees.
If you want to replace them, or one, for finances, where is the overspending. If your by laws state that only in person voting as one poster says is his condo rule, it sounds like your screwed before you start,however that may not be legal, check with a lawyer. Voting by proxy may be superseded by NYS law. i do not know, but you need to know.
You really need to study the by laws . You know they will fight you, with their lawyer, so it may be better to try and find improper use of funds. something you can hang your hat on , as they say, or self dealing of funds, misappropriation of funds to board members. Good Luck

Hi Joan,

I don't know the particulars of your building's finances. I am concerned that making a blanket statement about "high maintenance charges = bad Board" though. That being said though, it could mean a “bad Board”.

I would suggest that you take a look at what level of finances your building needs to be fiscally sustainable, have cash reserves, and able to spend wisely (in order to lower expenses).

My fear on reading your post that you might replace one Board with another one – only to have the same basic fiscal drivers impacting both.

Good luck!

Now on my second term as president, I would greatly caution against equating high charges with a "bad" board. I now understand what it takes to run a building -- and in our case, repair and maintain -- and while in the ideal world, low maintenance and management fees would be lovely, that is not the reality when dealing with upkeep, bill, unexpected needs, etc. If the board is not communicating this need, then that is an issue that is easily resolved. It sounds to me like there is a big gap between board operations and what owners understand. I think the route to take is closing that gap...rather than replacing everyone. Trust me, once you sit in a board member's sit, your perspective changes. In the end, it is to satisfy the long-term needs of owners...and that often requires money. If you had a private home -- a house -- you would probably see that more clearly.

The short answer is: you probably can't if that's not their way of thinking or 'doing business.' You can't force people to realize anything. You can't force people to respond. And you can't force Board members to act in a timely manner. Unfortunately, you probably have to wait for the next vote and get rid of them... bring in people you hope will be more responsive, responsible, and respectable.

Other than that, speak to them in person. Call. Knock on their doors. Etc.

Good luck. I feel your pain.

Read your Bylaws and Proprietary Lease, In some cases only the President has to be an actual shareholder and the rest of the positions can be filled by interested non-shareholders. Finding willing, capable, honest volunteers for your Board can be tough, very tough.

you can ask them to resign and replace them with directors who will be more responsive. it's confrontational but if you want to solve the problem early that is what you have to do.

Alan's answer is the technically correct one. Ah, were it that easy!

If the situation is anything like it is in my building, finding people willing to replace the sitting board is where the problem will lie. NO ONE wanted to be on the board of my coop. And so few people showed up to vote, that a vote wasn't even necessary. Whoever stepped forward and said "OK, I'll do it" was automatically elected. And it's been a pain in the ass to get even those willing few to act in a timely manner. I feel like I'm pushing a rope and it's gotten old quickly. ; - (

I agree. We are a small-mid-size co-op and no one wanted to be on the board. These folks reluctantly joined the board and were automatically 'elected' because we can't even get a quorum at our meetings since no one attends. But it truly is a pain in the azz trying to get them to respond and some of them have no knowledge of how a building is supposed to run and think you can drag your feet on certain issues like major repairs. When I explain how you can't and why, I'm looked at like the bad guy. Even the Super is frustrated because shareholders complain about when issues like the leaking roof will be fixed and he has nothing to tell them and the other board members feel like you can keep dragging out the process to choose a contractor for months on end.

First, does the management contract allow for the fees to be charged? If not, who gave them permission and when. It must be documented. Second, it is the Board who accepts or rejects someone, the management company can give input if the board requests it, but the final decision is made by the elected board. Again, as I have answered in several posts, we need an Ombudsman bill to get some State legall "traction" behind co op and condo owners who have massive problems such as yours. Senator Liz Kruegar has introduced this bill and we must get behind it. Contact her office. Dianne Stromfeld

Hi, I own a Management company and we're always very up-front about our fees and these are always placed in the contract and can't be amended without Board approval first.

The way we do it in our firm is we have two types of applications; a "decoration" and a "renovation". The decoration is for owners / shareholders who are not doing anything more than painting, tiling, cosmetic, etc. We don't charge for that as all we have to do is ensure that we are getting the property security deposits and certificates of insurance from the contractors.

The renovation package is a little more detailed and we do charge a fee for that. The $250 is on the mark and is normal in the industry, although we've seen higher as well. This is for work that is structural in nature, electrical or touches any of the heating / plumbing lines. From experience there are times that the property manager will have to spend hours on a shareholder's personal renovation so this helps to offset the cost of that to the firm.

If it is as detailed as the "renovation" then the manager has to be in touch with the contractors, the shareholder, the engineer (sometimes the building's engineer as well), so there is a large amount of work done on a personal project that is outside the scope of the management contract for the cooperative corporation.

If a renovation is not approved and the form has to be re-filed with the management company for approval again, we don't charge for that, but others might.

I hope that helps and let me know if you have any questions related to this.

Mark Levine
mblevine@ebmg.com