I think the easiest solution is to hire a lead and asbestos testing company to perform a survey of your entire building. That way you can authoritatively respond to your Super's hesitancy. As a bonus, you could also be made aware of the much larger issue of needing lead and/or asbestos abatement. Either could be a very time-consuming, disruptive, expensive project, and the sooner you find out about it, the better you'll be able to plan and budget for it.

I've found that "making excuses" is not limited to union members. Either your employees act professionally and responsibly or they don't. Being a union building works both ways. If you strive to maintain good relations with your union there's a lot they can do for you. This is not always possible given individual human nature, but I've found comity usually works better than confrontation.

We're going through this same exercise in my co-op. It boils down to responsibility and liability. Here are two articles I found that are pretty much on-point:

https://cooperatornews.com/article/qa-co-op-liability-when-a-live-in-super-does-a-job-for-a-shareholder

https://www.habitatmag.com/Publication-Content/Legal-Financial/2018/2018-November/Moonlighting-Supers

Campaign to get rid of your super. He is not serving the coop well.

He loves his free apartment and will not leave. and the board is not perceptive enough to see the harm he presents.

and smart enough, you will prevail!

Run a slate of your own candidates for the board at the next election meeting. The mere threat of being replaced may get the current board off their collective duffs. Or it might put you and your running mates in control.

Just be careful of what you wish for because you may get it.

As a shareholder we have never received this with our annual report or even discussed this with the shareholders. Our attorney did speak on this when we had the election with the new board members this year but only the board members that were on the board last year signed this and not any new board members but my understanding is that shareholders should receive a copy.

Thank you for your quick response. I previously asked this when the law was first enacted. I believe because the law is completely silent on enforcement and oversight, and does not contain any penalties for violations", boards are not adhering to this law. It seems like a shareholder would need legal intervention in this matter as in other BCL laws that are not being adhered to by the board. Thanks Again.

But to me it’s the co-op’s attorney to inform the board when there are new rules and regulations and if the board doesn’t do it then it’s their fault and then the shareholders needs to demand it or get new board members and even a new attorney if he’s not doing his job right. Our attorney only told the board this year about this but it’s been implemented for a few years already.

https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.habitatmag.com/layout/set/amphtml/Publication-Content/Legal-Financial/2016/2016-June/Window-Guards

And so naturally they are responsible to pick up the tab for getting them in the windows.

We pay our engineers either of two ways most all the time.
We pay at an hourly rate, bills to be submitted as the project proceeds.
Or we get a fixed total quote upfront for what the whole job will be.
I'd say the first arrangement is the more common one.

I'd resist the % arrangement as this incentivizes the engineer to be happier as the size of the job grows.

Also we have a sponsor on the board which makes it 7 and he rents and sells his units. Isn’t that a conflict of interest?

Also what about our management company they have a real estate company on the side and would communicate that to shareholders..isn’t that a conflict of interest or does the rule just apply to board members?

Hi
This is strange and what if the sale doesn’t go through and/or you changed your mind? They also have to send you the minutes of the Annual meeting afterwards because you’re still the owner/shareholder . What are they trying to hide? You should contact your management company and your co-op attorney. Also contact the attorney general’s office. If someone wants to buy a unit don’t they get to see the minutes of meetings if they want to do so they can really see the state of the building? How long have these board members been on the board? What would they do if you show up? Call the cops? This doesn’t sound right.

What the??
This has to be illegal. All shareholders are automatically entitled to attend the annual shareholder's meeting. The Board cannot change NYS corporate law.
Talk to your coop attorney for their ruling on this and report back to us here.

It sounds to me like a misguided attempt to prevent someone who is contemplating or actively looking to sell their apartment from voting in their own interest instead of what is best for the co-op.

For example, suppose the board is going to propose a large maintenance increase for all the good and valid reasons. The thought is that anyone looking to sell their apartment will vote against the increase because it will hurt their sales potential even if the increase is badly needed, and because they most likely won't be affected by it.

Barring these shareholders from the meeting is still illegal and should be challenged in every way possible.

We just had our virtual zoom annual meeting .

So your management company should supply all the shareholders with the zoom info and/or dial in number to participate. They can also slip that info under shareholders doors. If anyone doesn’t have a computer or know how to work Zoom they can just call in and listen.

The Zoom will be recorded and notes/mini will be sent out a few days afterwards.

Also what about having shareholders who know how to work zoom have maybe a few in their apartment if they want to view it too but calling in is good too without viewing.

Regarding voting… have all shareholders send their bios to the management company if they want to run and give a deadline and no one will be nominated the day of. Have all proxies sent to the management company via email or fax or there can be a box in the basement near the super (locked) and your managing agent comes and collects those. So your management company has multiple ways of getting proxies.

We accommodated everyone in our annual meeting via Zoom last month in the following way:

(1) Zoom has an option to dial in by phone, which allows both listening and talking during the meeting. This avoids any use of technology beyond a simple telephone, if that's all the shareholder is comfortable with.

(2) We required that all ballots be submitted in advance, no later than 30 minutes before the start of the meeting. To assist people, we put together a Voter Guide with short write-ups by each candidate. The guide and all the meeting materials were sent to all shareholders both by email and by regular mail - again ensuring that even low-tech residents had access to everything.

(3) Ballots could be submitted by email to our managing agent, either scanned or photographed. The managing agent also came by the building one day before the meeting to pick up paper ballots from those who wanted to do it that way.

All of this went over well with the shareholders. Everyone was fully aware of what was going on, and could vote and participate in a convenient manner, regardless of their technical skills.

You need to more carefully define what is going on, and what you want from us?
What do you mean by a tenant? Does the Coop own apartments that are rented out? Sounds like the attorney acted out of turn. Nothing like this should be done without the board pres and the rest of the board controlling what is happening.

I completely agree with Grant. This requires a huge dose of specificity and clarity.

If this happened "a few years ago", why are you bringing it up now?

Were the young couple shareholders or renters? I'm assuming they were renters if they had to renew their lease. Who owns the apartment they occupy?

One last question. If this happened a few years ago and the young couple's board-member grandfather was shocked, the managing agent was shocked, and the other shareholders were shocked, why is the director/attorney still on the board?

Guys
I just wanted your opinion on this situation — meaning the way the attorney acted.

He’s still our attorney and I don’t like the way he operates. The President of the board and other board members knew at the time but to me it was wrong and mean and if the tenant who was pregnant would of been stressed out and something would of happened to her that would of been a big problem for us. All they needed to do was ask the tenants and/or grandfather on the board if they were going to renew.

I feel a lot of times co-op boards and attorneys don’t think things thru and act on emotion. They should be problem solvers and not always looking to get someone.

It’s interesting when someone wants to run for the board they’re all nice and then when they’re on then it’s a power kick!!!

At my particular co—op it’s more who doesn’t like who which is not how to run a business.

Yes the co-op owned a few apartments that we rented out.

This is the same attorney who told me that if I didn’t sign the code of conduct then I couldn’t be on the board and it was the night I got in. I should of also reviewed the document and given my feedback and also considering the President of the board already reported someone to the attorney.

My job doesn’t act like this!