Page 17 - The NY Cooperator August 2019

COOPERATOR.COM THE COOPERATOR —AUGUST 2019 17 of Pride Property Management Corp., agents can be fired, which may in turn which has offices in New York and New ruin the reputation of their employers,” Jersey. “We met with a roofer who said, he says. ‘I will do whatever it takes to get this job,’ and Glenn inquired as to what that meant, those willing to break the law and en- exactly. The roofer replied, ‘I’ll give you gage in kickbacks or bribes may also be 10%.’ Now this was a while ago and I don’t amenable to violating contracts or agree- advocate doing this now, but, as soon as ments. That’s a big part of why it falls to the roofer said that, Glenn smacked that that ethical board member, manager, resi- contractor straight across the face and dent to identify and call out transgressive said, ‘If you ever say anything like that behavior when they see it. again, I will put your a** in jail.’ So we never used that contractor.” Assuming Good Faith As stated previously, kickbacks and John Kadim, a portfolio property man- bribery definitely do happen. But while ager with Thayer & Associates in Cam- it’s important to not be naive about that bridge, Massachusetts. “Generally, if you reality, it’s also important to keep in mind have that weird feeling about something, that given the many thousands of co-op, it’s likely not something that you should condo and HOA communities across the be doing. It’s really that simple.” country, fraud is a relatively rare occur- rence. Because of that rarity – and the se- riousness of the allegation – association ruption outweighs the reward for some- members must do their due diligence one to think twice and stay on the straight before pointing fingers, lest false accusa- tions fly. “I often see board members accused of playing favorites or getting benefits that the rest of the community did not – but these claims are mostly baseless,” says Scott J. Sandler, Managing Partner at Sandler, Hansen & Alexander, a law firm in Middletown, Connecticut. “Society has just degraded to a point where everyone is accusing each other, pointing fingers, assuming the worst. We do live in a world where every now and again you encoun- ter a bad actor; a manager walks away with association funds, or a board mem- ber tries to convince the board to hire his buddy – but thankfully those are the exceptions to the rule. It’s up to the com- munity at large to remain diligent. Boards serve at the pleasure of the owners, and if those owners decide that the board is not diligently serving its community, then it’s up to those owners to remove the board members and install new ones.” Those individuals who do get caught accepting kickbacks face jail time and forced restitution as proposed by the courts, notes Reilly. “Board members can be removed for cause, and managing Of course, it stands to reason that “I believe that most people, presented with the opportunity for a kickback, are just going to feel weird about it,” says Hopefully, it shouldn’t take more than a reminder that the risk inherent in cor- and narrow. n Mike Odenthal is a staff writer with The Co- operator. COMBATTING... continued from page 13 Cesarano & Khan, PC Certified Public Accountants PROVIDING PROFESSIONAL SERVICES TO THE COOPERATIVE AND CONDOMINIUM COMMUNITY Reporting on Financial Statements • Tax Services Budgeting & Consulting • Election Tabulation Services For additional information, contact Carl M. Cesarano, CPA 199 JERICHO TURNPIKE, SUITE 400 • FLORAL PARK, NY 11001 (516) 437-8200 and 718-478-7400 • info@ck-cpas.com cesarano &khan1_8 use this_:cesarano &khan 4 7/22/15 4:59 PM Page 1 YOU’LL LEARN SO MUCH YOUR HEAD COULD EXPLODE. (Our lawyers said we had to warn you.) JACOB K. JAVITS CONVENTION CENTER — TUESDAY, OCTOBER 29, 10:00AM-4:30PM FREE REGISTRATION: COOPEXPOFALL.COM THE COOPERATOR EXPO 2019 WHERE BUILDINGS MEET SERVICES of New York for the installation of auto- matic door-lock mechanisms, which will be mandatory in virtually all buildings by January 2020. Schickedanz herself has had to re-negotiate contracts to get this work done in many buildings, saving literally tens of thousands of dollars for individual buildings. Some Real-Life Examples “About two years ago,” says Schickedanz, “we installed a new chiller system into one of the buildings we manage: a 125-unit, 21-story Upper East Side co-op built in 1964. We were completing a project where we changed the boiler and pumps, and con- verted to gas. The compressor went on the chiller. I contacted the manufacturer as it sure to negotiate the best warranty avail- was still under warranty. They ordered the able; back it up when necessary with a re- parts and fixed it. Without the warranty, it liable service agreement; and do your due would have cost thousands of dollars. In ad- dition, had we not negotiated that warranty It can save your building or HOA major well, this would not have been covered. The money. truth was, the installer didn’t think it was covered, but we found that it was.” That warranty – and taking the proactive step of verifying it – saved serious money. In another situation many years ago, Schickedanz managed a building that had a chronic leak problem for which nobody could seem to find the source. Schickedanz suspected the roof to be the culprit, but when she checked her records, she found that the company that installed the roof was no longer in business. She did find the specs from the roof replacement job, but nothing in those records indicated that there was an existing warranty. Schickedanz contacted the manufacturer for help, to see if they could offer any idea as to what to look for as the source of the leak. They sent a rep- resentative and not only confirmed that it was indeed their roof, but then found the leak and repaired it at their expense. This work would have cost thousands of dollars had a new contractor been brought in – so it absolutely paid to investigate and reach out to the manufacturer, which stood by its product. With buildings as in life, an ounce of prevention can be worth a pound of cure. When undertaking major projects, make diligence when it comes to record keeping. n A J Sidransky is a staff writer/reporter with The Cooperator, and a published novelist. WARRANTIES... continued from page 15 not in keeping with the bylaws – and fails to distribute financials to all shareholders (they claim it’s a ‘cost saving measure’); yet in the last three years have paid our managing agent bonuses worth $10,000. Is this legal? —Sensing Something’s Wrong A “On its face, if the board is in fact considering a lease of its commercial space to a board member, this is a conflict of interest,” says Stewart Wurtzel, an attorney with Tane Wa- terman & Wurtzel in Manhattan. “That does not mean it is illegal. The board member to whom the space is being rented cannot be the deciding vote in approving the transac- tion, and there must be full disclosure to all board members of the conflict. The fact that the board is trying to get bids from other shareholders, while not conclusive, is prob- Q&A continued from page 5 continued on page 18