Page 12 - NY Cooperator November 2020

12 THE COOPERATOR — NOVEMBER 2020 COOPERATOR.COM attorneys lawgapc.com @ www.lawgapc.com NORTHERN NEW JERSEY 973-366-1188 CENTRAL NEW JERSEY 732-514-6601 SOUTHERN SO NEW JERSEY 856-533-2379 NEW YORK 212-374-9790 PENNSYLVANIA 973-366-1188 ATTORNEYS AT LAW ▶ Wills, Trusts and Estate Law ▶ Municipal Law ▶ General Litigation ▶ Commercial Law ▶ Business Startups ▶ Community Association Law ▶ Landlord Tenant Law ▶ Land Use and Zoning Law ▶ Disability Law ▶ Real Estate Law and Closings Experienced attorneys providing the right moves towards achieving your endgame STRONG ADVOCATES LISTEN ATTENTIVELY WORK RELENTLESSLY RESOLVE CONFLICT commented that they preferred the Zoom to go to meetings, they want to text. That’s format to either the webinar or the in-person how it is nowadays. So electronic voting and meeting. Hybrid Solutions In some regions, housing communities holders of multiple generations, says Smiler, have developed workarounds to the socially “You also want to be cognizant of the fact distanced annual meeting conundrum in- stead of—or in addition to—the virtual for- mat. Janet Aronson, a partner in Braintree, going on to Zoom or something like that. Massachusetts-based law firm Marcus Errico They might not have that technological sav- Emmer & Brooks (MEEB), explains, “Unless viness or they just might not be comfortable your condominium documents authorize doing it.” voting by mail-in ballots, then it’s technically not valid, unless there’s a proxy vote attached to it. So what we recommend is that they call FirstService Residential who manages eight it a ‘meeting for a limited purpose,’ and that associations in the Boston area, says that there’ll be no in-person attendance; the mail- in ballot/directed proxy will give the voting spring annual meetings “indefinitely.” As authority to one individual—perhaps the spring turned to summer and now to fall, board president or the board secretary—and with the coronavirus still raging on and shut- that person would effectively accomplish the downs and social distancing still mandated meeting on a particular date and time and in many jurisdictions, “it was imperative count the votes and close the meeting.” Sepa- rately, she con- tinues, the board could hold an “informational meeting”—where a quorum isn’t necessary and there is no need to take formal at- tendance or tally votes—either on a virtual the online meeting platform Zoom: meeting platform like Zoom, or somewhere attendees can gather safely and in numbers do not have computers. currently sanctioned by their local jurisdic- tion (like in an outdoor parking lot), or both. tions/concerns in writing prior to the meet- There, board members could provide their ing for the board and management to ad- usual updates on the financial status and dress. ongoing projects of the association or cor- poration, and unit owners/shareholders can meeting to prevent peripheral sounds and mention concerns and ideas and ask ques- tions. “Now there is another way to actually ad- dress this and the time might be upon us to owners. This helps significantly with a natu- do this,” Aronson proposes, “and that would ral flow and allows people to follow along be to amend the documents to actually al- low for mail-in ballots or remote meetings or electronic voting, so that we can accom- plish valid votes and comply with the con- dominium documents.” Of course, amend- ing the documents usually requires a vote of the owners or shareholders, so it’s a bit ducted afterward via a mail-in ballot sent di- of a Catch-22. But if the vote can be accom- plished by proxy ballot as Aronson suggests, with all of the usual notice requirements directors at Sherman Terrace Cooperative in prescribed by the governing documents fol- lowed, and the required quorum and voting tee. When threshold are reached and the vote passes— “typically in Massachusetts based on the per- centage interest that’s assigned to the unit,” brid virtual-physical format. “It was actually notes Aronson—then future elections and better than expected,” she tells us. “We had other votes by the owners could be conduct- ed via mail or electronically. According to Richard Brooks, another who attended in person \[socially\] distanced partner at MEEB, associations may want to consider such an amendment not just in re- sponse to COVID, but in keeping up with the times. “The next generation, they don’t want electronic meetings is what’s happening.” But to accommodate owners and share- that not everybody in the building, depend- ing upon the demographic, is comfortable Real-Life Virtual Meetings Dan LeBlanc, a portfolio manager with many of his communities postponed their that alternative plans were made to comply with the condo docs and conduct trustee elections,” he says. To accomplish that, LeBlanc devel- oped a set of guide- lines so that annual meetings at his as- sociations could take place virtually, using • Provide a call-in option for those who • Owners are welcome to submit ques- • All owners are put on mute during the people interrupting. • All meetings are conducted on a share screen via PowerPoint presentation for the easily. • At the end of the meeting, residents on the video are permitted to ask questions via the chat icon. LeBlanc reads them aloud and then either he or the board answers. • All necessary trustee elections are con- rectly to the management company. Joanne Gardner serves on the board of the Bronx and chairs its rec room commit- The Cooperator spoke to her for this article, the 66-unit co-op had just held its annual meeting a few days prior in a hy- both virtual \[participants\] on Zoom, and we also used our rec room, where shareholders VIRTUAL... continued from page 11 “Everyone was grateful to have the opportunity to participate.” —Joanne Gardner