Coming in the New Year?

L i g h t

Lampshades I've made using vintage lamp bases. I also hand beaded the fringes. I love the intimacy and gentle glow of lamps of a by-gone era. I'm always looking at set designs in films and in British programming shown on TVO and see handmade lamps strategically placed within the screen shots. The artisans who have made these lamps must be thrilled to see their creations highlighted in such posh fashion.

Jewellery

Black and Silver Evening Bracelet

Ruby and Fuchsia Crystal Bracelet

Blue Paua Shell Necklace

Purple Paua Shell Necklace

Black and Silver Evening Bracelet

Raspberry Leaf Necklace

These are pieces of jewellery I've made over the years. I used to do the craft fair circuit in Ottawa. The raspberry leaf necklace shown above was an experiment using polymer clay. I'd pick raspberry leaves either from our back yard or from the hydro property, make polymer molds, paint them with metallic powder paints and then bake them, dare I say, in a toaster oven I retrieved from the garbage. I really like the relief effect of the raspberry veins. I also made 1920 style lamps.

I've been feeling like putting some of my work up on my blog as a contrast to my goings-on about the co-op. Sometimes you just have to do something like this.

Sheep

Excerpt from November 30, 2010 Minutes which were not discussed, nor approved at our meeting on December 7, 2011:

MOTION to approve the audited financial statement

Question: What is Salaries & benefits
Response: This line includes what is paid in staff salaries and benefits, such as a health insurance package.

Question: What gets put under Professional Services
Response: Professional Services includes services provided by lawyers, auditors, accountants.

It's all in the details. Simple!

QUESTIONS

If I were on the Board of Directors and had a property management business on the side and then one day I decided to hire this company as the property management company for the co-op and then insert myself as the Property Manager, would I not be in a serious conflict of interest?

Apparently not. In response to my question to the Property Manager and the Board of Directors, I was shouted down by a female sitting behind me. I turned around to see who it was and all I could see was a 'mouth'.

The current Property Manager also felt that there was simply no conflict of interest whatsoever. The co-op needed a maintenance team and there wasn't time to go out for bids.

This place sounds more and more like a Calvin & Hobbes storyline, with Calvin making up the rules as he goes along in order to win the game.

The meeting was Chaired by a person from CHF who became nastier as the night wore on. I, together with a senior couple living in our co-op, went to meet with him last year. He escorted us into a beautifully appointed board room. His female counterpart firmly ensconced in her position used to live in our co-op, as did most co-op sector movers and shakers. Now they have jobs for life. He said to us that there was nothing he could do to help this couple. I leaned across the table and said: On the contrary there is A LOT you can do seeing that your website boasts a plethora of Aging in Place policies. But I digress.

The co-op has a deficit of almost $200,000. We are six months away from exiting our 3-yr. takeover. Unless CMHC provides us with bail out money, we will not be viable. Our vacancy losses for 2011 were $63,000., down from $80,000. in 2010. Bad debts alone were $26,000.

The person who appealed his eviction, lost. I could not vote either for or against his eviction. I handed in a blank ballot, as did my husband.

My husband asked to speak about the Privacy Commissioner's ruling in our case. The Property Manager, who actually ruled the evening, stated that she would never tell the membership about the case. I stood up and said that she had better, because it pertained to everyone and that it was extremely important. I then reported to the membership that anyone on ODSP and OW need not produce their drug card to verify one's subsidy; that the co-op's forms were 13 yrs. out of date, that The Agency had covered their tracks by saying, 'Who US - we would NEVER ask for a drug card', but that all the co-ops they are paid to govern, DO. Why?

The 'mouth' jabbered on ...

After the meeting people came up to me and said that they were really grateful that I had told them about The Privacy Commissioner of Canada's ruling.

I asked the Property Manager why I couldn't even get the thermostat fixed on my stove. She rudely replied that I HAD HAD ENOUGH WORK DONE IN MY UNIT!!!

Nominations for elections took place thereafter. I was nominated and when it came time for me to speak I said that I was in a major conflict of interest with the co-op (because of the Human Rights action we have against the co-op). Funny, how a member who runs for the Board cannot have litigation against the co-op, but a Board member who has a Property Management Company with plans to be hired by the co-op, CAN.

We now have 2 more members from our co-op sitting on the Board of Directors, which makes for 5 resident members and 2 non-resident members.

After the meeting I spoke with one of the new Board members who lived in this unit before us. She remembers the stove - she could never cook French Fries in the oven. I wonder if that is enough evidence for the Property Manager to afford us a new thermostat.

And so it went - the 'mouth' blabbering on, the CHF representative yelling at the members, a know-it-all Property Manager dictating to members and a Financial Statement which shows that we are no further ahead now than we were in April, 2009.

Minutes dated November 30, 2010 were distributed one day before the meeting. They were not approved.

The Takeover

On April 15, 2009, our co-op voted for a Financial Solvency By-law, which allowed for a temporary three-year Board of Directors that included non-resident members. The purpose was 'to provide for a process of returning to exclusively resident directors within three years'.

At the time of the meeting members voted for 2 resident Directors to coincide with the 3 non-resident Directors. Last year we had 3 resident and 2 non-resident Directors. This year we'd have 4 resident Directors and 1 non-resident Director.

However, upon recently rereading this By-law, I noted a glaring contradiction. The rotation of Directors reads that after three years we would have 5 resident Directors and 2 non-resident Directors. The co-op is NOT being returned to exclusively resident Directors after three years. The Board of Directors is being increased to 7 Directors, 2 being non-resident.

The waters are indeed murky.