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 out of date, that The Agency had covered their tracks by saying, 'Who US - we would NEVER ask for a drug card', but that all the co-ops they are paid to govern, DO.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.