Eight and Counting...

Members received a form to fill out from the office entitled 'Composition of Member's Household'. The administration must think that we are overflowing our units, because there are eight (8) lines to list the names of individual people occupying a particular unit, plus corresponding dates of birth.

Members must also fill in their vehicle information and whether or not they require an extra parking spot. Now if eight or more people are occupying a unit, there should be an equal number of lines pertaining to vehicle registration, not one as indicated.

When we were semi-taken over in 2009, our By-laws were purportedly suspended, but in reality that is not the case. The By-laws are referred to time and time again, as well as the need to participate. Our Occupancy By-law has stipulations for overhousing and underhousing. There is no discrimination between Phase I or Phase II of our co-op, nor between full fee or subsidized members. It's a 'one size fits all' By-law. However, subsidized members are the only ones to be downsized. If full-fee members are found to be overhoused, would there be a consequence for them? I don't think so.

I don't mind signing the form (minus our birth dates), as I feel the office needs to get a handle on what's going on in the co-op. My husband sees the demand as a form of intimidation and won't sign it. The form must be handed in by Monday, August 1st, 2011 - a civic holiday!

Highways & Byways

Our son has taken on a new adventure with a friend. They are biking from B.C. to San Francisco. What a wonderful post-grad excursion. We are with you son and don't forget to keep us posted.

Big hugs - Love MOM & DAD

Upgrading Our Standards

Rockcliffe Park Pavillion

A newsletter from our co-op office informed us that our new Property Manager is none other than one of our outside Board Members, who is an Office Co-ordinator at another co-op. This position, almost certainly, was not advertised - it was simply taken over. For the moment we have a temporary Co-ordinator. Whether the ex-Board member, now Property Manager, will sub-contract out the position at our co-op remains to be seen.

The newsletter informs members as to how to report a Work Order, contains a strict reminder to pay our housing charges on time, not to park in grassy areas, how to clean mould* with baking soda and water, a warning that fire pits are not permitted, and a dire warning to 'people drinking and drugging in the pathways' - that the police should be called and to give the police the co-op's telephone number, so that the co-op may do a follow up.

It is encouraging to know that there is now some supervision in our co-op. An immediate effect was a member moving his illegally parked car. The newsletter states that working with us will make our co-op 'the most sought after place to live'. Last weekend we attended a family celebration held at Rockcliffe Park. We drove through the winding streets of what used to be known as Rockcliffe Village, past the Prime Minister's residence, the Governor General's and dozens of mansions half-visible through forest trees. Then we returned to our place of residence - derelict cars, piles of tires stacked against units, garbage pails/recycling boxes in driveways, fallen window screens, cigarette tins, strewn garbage, peeling co-op siding, rotting window frames with not a scrap of paint left on, rotting wobbly fences ... It was not a pretty sight. So it will be interesting to see how this place could possibly become a most sought after place to live in the next while.

Unfortunately, the newsletter also contained some condescending quotes for members to ponder - a flashback to newsletters of old. The quotes are as follows:

Being a victim doesn't look good on anyone... Jan Arden

Stop blaming your circumstance & figure out who you are... Arlene Dickenson

Where has our Board of Directors been for the past two years? The Office Co-ordinator rarely showed up for work. She didn't deposit housing charge cheques until the middle of the month, she didn't pay co-op bills. She wouldn't respond to City health official orders to attend to basement flooding and subsequent mould problems. Work orders were only granted to her favoured members. We ARE victims due to the lack of oversight by our Board of Directors. As indicated by the above quote, there is no accountability on the part of the Board - just a punishing admonishment to the membership to 'get over it'.

And just what exactly does the second quote mean? WE KNOW WHO WE ARE. When my husband and I attended a Board meeting and told them that the co-op had gotten worse over these past two years, we were told to leave the meeting. A similar scenario was exacted on other members as well. The Board of Directors did not, would not, listen to the members. They were the 'experts' - we were mere pawns to be silenced.

The above quotes victimize the membership once again.


* Mould caused by rotting windows, substandard construction, basement leaks.

Notice to All Members

July 12, 2011

Dear Member,

This letter is to keep you informed of changes which are coming in the management of the Co-op.

As you know, for the last three years [Office Co-ordinator] has been managing the operations of the Co-op under the supervision of the Board. Both the Board and [Office Co-ordinator] have now decided that it is in the best interests of the Co-op that they part ways. As a result, [Office Co-ordinator] will be leaving her position effective Thursday, July 14, 2011.

In the near future, the Board will be hiring a property management company to assist with managing the operations of the Co-op. The Board has heard from several of you who have concerns about outstanding work orders and other matters. Rest assured that the Board is taking steps to make sure these issues will be dealt with as soon as possible.

The Board is confident that these changes will be in the best interests of the Co-op and its members and is excited to move forward. If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to contact a Board member.

Yours truly,

[Board member]

*****

I believe the single factor that prompted the Board of Directors to take note of what was 'NOT' happening in the co-op, was my email to the Office Co-ordinator (with a copy to a Board member), indicating that subsidized members had not received confirmation of their subsidies, which were to have taken effect on April 1st, 2011. This is in major violation of the co-op's operating agreement with CMHC, and as such, the co-op's viability was ultimately at stake. After that email, the Office Co-ordinator was declared to have taken a leave of absence and the co-op office was suddenly swarming with co-op management officials, etc.

I then took this 'window of opportunity' to resend to the co-op office my outstanding work orders going back to last October, and as I posted on my last blog, the maintenance man came by last week and attended to some of these.

The Board of Directors propped up and supported the Office Co-ordinator for these past two* years to the detriment of the co-op. Members were devalued - the Office Co-ordinator was continually praised.

Who will head the property management company now hired to manage the co-op? Some movers and shakers in the co-op movement have created their own management companies, i.e. ex-Office Co-ordinators. We should find out more about this next week.

*The Office Co-ordinator worked here for a year prior to the semi-take over of the co-op.

PROGRESS

I decided to write the co-op office, forwarding in the text, the work orders I had submitted on October 20, 2010 and again on January 26, 2011. I also included other work orders such as a repair to our toilet, which went unacknowledged. I received a response from an outside Director, apologizing for what had transpired and assured me that the Board of Directors, in no way, considered this to be efficient co-op management.

Yesterday the maintenance man replaced our front screen door, installed new weatherstripping on the door itself, installed a grab bar by the front steps, changed two electrical sockets, and removed a padlock on our basement window bars. He will also try to get the go ahead to change our toilet for a low-flush one with a styrofoam liner. He will return on Monday to install a metal plate on our door frame and bolt the wooden step he made us, to the precast concrete steps.

So that's a lot of progress in one day. Although I speak about these incidences in the first person, it is the same situation for many people here in the co-op. It will take some time to turn things around - maintenance-wise. but maybe now, the Board of Directors will listen to the members, instead of how they propped up and protected the Office Co-ordinator for the past two years.

Open Doors

Directors from our membership, external Board members and people from outside agencies, have been meeting in our office building all week, as our Office Co-ordinator has suddenly been declared to have taken a leave of absence. For how long, we don't know. Perhaps she'll come back in September as she did a few years ago. That time, as well, she didn't apprise anyone of her sudden vacation. No notice was posted on the co-op office door. She just left for the summer. I then posted on my blog 'Ten Tips for Survival' - a road map for emergency use.

It was really strange seeing the co-op office seemingly open for business this week. We await further word as to the status of our co-op.