No Cents

At an All Members Meeting held on January 20, 2014 a Proposed Budget for 2014-2015 was passed. When I asserted that legal fees would certainly be more than the $1,500. allotted for same, a Director piped up, 'Not with these lawyers' - meaning, I suppose, that the Board of Directors intended to charge back any and all legal fees to targeted members.

Unit Maintenance & Repair budget line was $2,400., but our Maintenance Contractor's budget was $34,800. - an incongruity there.

Property Management went up from $61,500. to $63,000. in 2014.

Our Financial Audited Statements presented (and passed) at our July 20, 2014 meeting stated that our legal fees are expected to be $15,692., General Unit Repairs are slated at $41,292.

Property Management was actually $62,559. in 2013.

Bad debt recovery came in at a loss in 2013 at $11,141., expected to rise to $16,262. in 2014. These are the real legal costs to the co-op, not the airy-fairy budgeted line of $1,500.

The Property Manager upheld a Priority Chart presented at our January and July meetings.  It states that 3 of 60 back decks in Phase I have been completed.  We do not have 60 back decks in Phase I - we have 9.  Nevertheless $10,000. is budgeted for Phase I and $15,000. for Phase II for 2014-15. Balconies are budgeted at $15,600. And the list goes on.

Vacancy losses for 2013 were $34,212. and are expected to rise to $42,979. in 2014.

The co-op is now stating that they have no money. The Proposed Budget passed on January 20, 2014, together with the Priority Chart puts the blame squarely on the shoulders of our very highly paid Property Manager, who clearly has no expertise in financial matters whatsoever.

WITHOUT NOTICE

A Notice of our Annual General Meeting was distributed 10 days before the meeting, but the package, including the audited Financial Statements were delivered only 2 days before the meeting.  

At the meeting I read out Section 75 (1) of the Co-operative Corporations Act, which states that 10 days notice of the meeting is required.  Our By-law 3.7 (b) states:

In the case of the Annual Meeting, such notice shall be accompanied by a copy of the financial statement and auditor's report for the previous fiscal year.

This was not convenient to the Property Manager or to the Treasurer of our co-op, so they simultaneously belted out that the CCA took precedence.  The reason why the entire package was not delivered to members 10 days prior to the meeting was to quell any discussion of the Minutes of previous meetings or the three Resolutions being presented.

Ten minute discussions were allotted for each Resolution on the Agenda.  A motion was made to defer the three Resolutions to a future meeting. Members must have succumbed to the Property Manager's rolling of her eyes or her petulant pouting, as this motion did not pass. 

Three minutes each were allotted for the approval of two sets of minutes - more to come in that regard.

The Auditor presented the Financial Statements.  As no one had had time to peruse the statements in that they were distributed two days before the meeting, the Financial Statements were approved without discussion.

Elections then followed.  The member who had been on the Board since 2009 finally stepped down. (According to the Property Manager's re-writing of history, this member had only been on the Board for two years.) Six members were elected to the Board of Directors, two of them previous Directors.

THE CASE OF 39

At our most recent eviction meeting the Property Manager emphasized how important it was to gain entry into 40 units which purportedly had high water usage readings.  To her complete dismay only 39 units were inspected, but then her spirits were buoyed when she proudly exclaimed that 39 leaks had been discovered, which is complete nonsense.

But in keeping with this farcical conclusion, one could say that we'll all wait another 39 weeks to have the 'leaks' repaired ...

DESIGNER EVICTION

Security camera peering down over shed roof

into neighbour's back yard

On May 2, 2014, the Property Manager and maintenance man installed front and rear security cameras on the unit next door to a member the Board of Directors chose to evict.  

On June 11, 2014 a month after police notified the co-op that this was illegal, the police entered the unit outfitted with the cameras and repositioned them.  They stated in no uncertain terms that if the cameras were moved, to call them and they'd come back and address the situation again.

The Property Manager at the Member's Appeal Meeting stated that the cameras only 'looked' like they were focusing in on the potential evictee's backyard and driveway.  The reason:  It only seemed as though the cameras were pointed that way because of the siding of the building - besides which these cameras were being tested because other cameras were going to be placed around the co-op.

The member whose unit the cameras were mounted on stated that her flowers had once been trampled.  The front camera pointed directly down on the targeted member's driveway nowhere near any flowers, both backyards are fenced in and the camera was pointed directly into the neighbour's yard.  

The Property Manager stated that the Board of Directors had photos of a water bowl and a feeding dish for cats and that constituted the grounds for evicting the member - she had violated By-law 26 - Feeding animals and wildlife.

By-law 26 - Enforcement states:

1.  For the first violation the Co-op will issue a written warning.
2. For the second violation, the member will be issued a $25.00 fine.
3.  For the third and subsequent violation, the member will be issued a $50.00 [fine] and a notice to appear before the Board of Directors.

The member received a Notice to Appear before the Board of Directors for a $25.00 fine, with no deadline for payment.  In so doing, the Board of Directors violated their own By-law.

The Property Manager had an answer for that:  The Board of Directors didn't 'feel' like giving the member in question a $50.00 fine; instead they chose to evict her.

The Property Manager distributed a list of complaint letters replete with names and dates going back to 1996.  The member attended her Hearing before the Board of Directors on April 29, 2014 and lo and behold a complaint letter written by my next-door neighbour was received by the co-op on April 28, 2014!   (My neighbour told me about an incident which happened several years ago - bird poop on the roof of her car attributed to birds attracted to a bird feeder). The Board of Directors did their homework unscrupulously well.

The Board of Directors declared that the member did not meet the co-op's standards for co-operative living and so declared her a 'Nuisance'.  

Now my next-door neighbour who complained about the bird poop on the roof of her car, has never attended one meeting in the co-op in the decades she's been here, but she meets the 'coop's standards for co-operative living' as do all the other members who are in non-compliance with the co-op's by-laws and policies as we speak.  

The meeting was raucous - members were shouted at by the CHF Chairperson and members shouted right back at him.  He warned a member that he would call police.  Someone most likely did because three patrol officers on bikes (we live beside a park) were soon at the front walkway of our office building.

It was voting time.  The Property Manager handed out ballots in a candy bowl fashion.  She stated that they didn't need to do this in an organized way because she could remember everyone she had given a ballot to.  Fifteen seconds later when my husband asked for a ballot, without missing a beat, she taunted, 'Didn't I give you one before?' And then - she gave him one.  To quote one of her admonitions to a member:  You don't know WHO you are dealing with.

Well, some members are realizing who they are chillingly dealing with.

The vote was NOT to evict the member.

TAKE NOTICE - AGAIN

The following are Notices of Entry for one year. These do not include when work is done in a unit or repeat 'visits'.  The fire alarm inspection, plumbing inspections and annual inspection could all have been done in one inspection - they used to be. All these Notices of Entry erode members' rights to peaceful enjoyment of their units - their homes  - and actually create a sense of insecurity.

1. Plumbing Inspection - June 17, 2013.*

2. Smoke Detector Inspection - July 22, 2013 between the hours of 8:30 a.m. and 8:00 p.m.  The member is not required to be home, but if the co-op does not have a key to a member's unit, a locksmith will be called and the member will be charged. 

3. Pest Control Notice - October 21, 2013.  

4.  Furnace Maintenance - October 22, 2013 between the hours of 8:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m.

5. Annual Unit Inspection - November 11, 2013 between 8:00 a.m. and 6:00 p.m.

6. Plumbing Inspection - April 7, 2014 - between 11:00 a.m. and 6:00 p.m.*

7. Sump Pump Upgrade - May 13, 2014 between 10:00 a.m. and 3:00 p.m.

One would think that a 4-hour time frame to enter a unit would suffice, but not in this co-op.  

* The Plumbing Inspections were done in choice units, not because of high water consumption, but rather to harass and intimidate members. Privileged members continue to endlessly water their lawns and let their children play under water hoses, while other members must ration their use of water.

THE (IN) DECISION

A Board of Directors Meeting was held on April 29, 2014 to consider ending the occupancy and membership rights of a member - in other words 'eviction'.

Here is the decision:

1.  Letter dated May 1, 2014 - "The Board of Directors have not decided to end your occupancy rights in the above unit on May 11, 2014 and have decided to end your membership in the co-operative on that date."

2.  Schedule E - Eviction Decision - "4.  The occupancy rights and the membership in the Co-operative of the members in the above unit are ended on May 11, 2014."

3. Schedule E - Further Decision - "A new Notice to Appear will be issued for Wednesday, May 14, 2014 at 7:30 p.m. where the Board of Directors will consider ending the membership and occupancy rights of the above member on Sunday, May 25, 2014.

Tacked on to Schedule E under the heading Behaviour is a new charge: 

You owe $526. of housing charge arrears to the Co-op as of March 31, 1014.

There is no such fictitious charge in the new Notice to Appear.

Instead, on Friday, May 2, 2014, the co-op's maintenance man, - at co-op expense - installed strategically placed front and rear security cameras on the unit next to the potential evictee's unit. The Property Manager forfeited her day off to oversee this operation and can now watch my neighbour and all of us 24 hrs. a day on her smart phone.

The completely incomprehensible eviction decisions and the security cameras are intimidation tactics - poisonous game playing at its worst.

THE CULL

On April 17, 2014, one day before Good Friday, a Notice to Appear was strategically placed in my neighbour's mailbox.  The Notice stated that she is to appear before the Board of Directors at a meeting to be held on Tuesday, April 29, 2014, wherein they will consider ending her membership.  Should the Board of Directors vote to evict the member, she will have to vacate her unit on May 11, 2014 - Ten (10) days later.  The member has been living in the co-op for twenty-four years!

The reason for her proposed eviction is that she now owes the co-op $25.00 for breaching By-law 26 - feeding wildlife animals.  She had an overturned green garbage pail on her front step landing, which had a chewed hole at the rim.  This was deemed by the Property Manager to be a feeder.  A small piece of wood was at the base of her deep basement window well.  This was to harbour animals the Property Manager declared and promptly took photos of the two offences.

By-law 26 states:

Enforcement

1.  For the first violation the Co-op will issue a written warning.

2.  For the second violation, the member will be issued a $25.00 fine.

3.  For the third and subsequent violation, the member will be issued a $50.00 (fine) and a notice to appear before the Board of Directors.

The member did not receive a $50.00 fine - she was immediately served with a Notice to Appear.

The letter stated that the member refused access to her unit by a maintenance man.  She and her family were not feeling well that day, so she asked if he could return the next day.  She waited for the maintenance man the next day, but he didn't show.  When questioned later in the week, the maintenance man told her that he was given instructions by the Property Manager not to go back to the unit.

The member was also accused of 'intimidating and harassing behaviour towards members, their family and guests in the co-op past and present' and 'intimidating and harassing behaviour towards the office staff''.  We have only one office staff, so that would be the Property Manager.  The members/family/guests is her next door neighbour, who promptly reports to the Property Manager replete with photos.

The Notice to Appear states:

You do not have to vacate your unit, but the Co-operative may obtain a Writ of Possession (eviction order) from a court after your membership and occupancy rights are ended.  If you do not vacate your unit, the Co-operative will also seek a court order that you pay its legal costs.

The member was given Ten (10) days to vacate because she purportedly owes $25.00 to the co-op.  If she were to owe nothing to the co-op, she would have Thirty (30) days to vacate.  It is not difficult to see how atrociously contrived this intended eviction is. 

By-law 26 was specifically put in place because the neighbour didn't like the woman feeding stray cats, birds or squirrels.  The By-law has now achieved its goal and to mark this special occasion, the Notice to Appear was joyfully delivered to the member just before the long Easter Weekend, a celebratory religious holiday for this member and her family.

This will be the sixth eviction recently attempted in our co-op.  The last one was such a success that the Board of Directors and the Property Manager are clearly zealous about cleansing our co-op.