Chicago Cooperator Spring 2020

Spring 2020 CHICAGOCOOPERATOR.COM in other not-for-profit organizations, Davidson points out. “The problem,” he continues, “is that co-op boards are very different from other nonprofit boards in that everyone on the board has a personal interest in every issue. This makes them inherently more conflict prone.” For example, a particular board member who votes to permit short-term rentals (like Airbnb) might take advan- tage of that opportunity and earn extra income from it, while other Home Sweet Home can become un- sweet very quickly when the physical en- vironment you’ve worked hard to create becomes a source of environmental tox- icity. Chemicals, smoke, pet dander, and mold—along with other allergens and ir- ritants—can make a person’s life miser- able. In a private home, it might be easy to get rid of the cat, remove the plant or bush, or use only hypoallergenic prod- ucts for cleaning and exterminating. In a multifamily residential community such as a co-op, condominium, or HOA, how- ever, eliminating those irritants can be more of a challenge. The pet may belong to your neighbor; the landscaping choic- es may not be your domain; the chemi- cals used by the exterminator may be out of your control. Even if it’s not a matter individual agency, condo and co-op boards have the responsibility to address—and ame- liorate, if at all possible—residents’ en- vironmental complaints or sensitivities. Are Environmental Irritants a Cause for Disability? According to Ellen Shapiro, an attor- ney specializing in community law and a partner at the law firm of Goodman, Shapiro and Lombardi, located in Ded- ham, Massachusetts, “Multiple chemical sensitivity in itself is considered a dis- ability. The Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) administers all these issues. They take the position... that what they refer to as ‘environmental illnesses’ are legitimate. The definition of a disability under HUD—and that’s Life in a co-op or condo is in many respects a microcosm of the larger world outside. It can suffer from the same factionalism and power struggles as any political entity, only on a much smaller and more intimate—and thus potentially more damaging—scale. Even seemingly minor disagreements can upend a residential community. When such conflict and partisanship in co-op and condo communities infiltrate the board of direc- tors, effective governance of the property can be compromised. Boards and managers therefore must be vigilant in their diplomatic diffusion of issues and the way they handle conflicts in their communities and among themselves. After all, the administration sets the tone for the membership. Board Obligations Michael Davidson is the president of BoardCoach.com, a New York City-based com- pany that specializes in nonprofit board development and management support, includ- ing coaching. He explains that board members of nonprofit entities—including co-ops and condos—have three main duties to which they must adhere: “the duty of care, the duty of loyalty, and the duty of obedience.” With regard to the first, the duty of care, Davidson explains, “Board members must basically understand what’s going on in terms of the building.” Their primary responsi- bility is to make sure the property is well and effectively managed. The second duty, the duty of loyalty, “requires adherence to conflict of interest ob- ligations,” says Davidson. In other words, board members must put the building’s or community’s welfare before their own. They should not, for example, award contracts to businesses they own or from which they make money. In a co-op or condo, though, adherence to this duty is less clearly defined than it is Like so many other sectors of the econo- my, residential real estate management has changed and evolved since the turn of the millennium. And also like in those other sectors, much of that evolution is related to the development and adaption of technol- ogy. Yet for a manager, the fundamentals of the role remain as they always have been: those of close interpersonal interaction. While technological advances have sped up response times and analytics in many situa- tions, good, old-fashioned personal contact still remains the keystone to effective man- agement. The Game Changer, for Better or Worse What seems to have changed the most in the last couple of decades is the manager’s work hours. Daniel Wollman, the CEO of Gumley Haft, a management firm based in New York City, explains that years ago, his job—while not a traditionally 9-to-5 position—was more or less limited to reg- ular business hours. During the summer months, the pace of work slowed as many people in the industry went away for long periods of time, often as much as a month or even the whole summer. That’s changed with the advent and adaptation of email as the primary means of communication be- tween managers and their client communi- ties. “Email changed everything,” Wollman says. “I get north of 300 emails daily. Thirty years ago, there wasn’t an internet. This isn’t a criticism, but we now communicate 24 hours per day, 365 days per year. Email has substantially changed my life. Where we were virtually dead during the summer, now people fire off emails while sitting at the pool sipping a piña colada. People can contact you all the time from wherever they are.” Jim Stecko, a general manager with FS- Residential in Chicago, manages Lakepoint Towers, a 70-story, 875-unit condominium property on Lakeshore Drive. He agrees that email has brought significant change to Coping with Conflict Managing Divisions in Multifamily Communities BY A.J. SIDRANSKY Airborne Irritants Managing Residents’ Environmental Sensitivities BY DARCEY GERSTEIN The Evolution of Real Estate Management What’s Changed Since Y2K BY A.J. SIDRANSKY continued on page 13 continued on page 10 205 Lexington Avenue, NY, NY 10016 • CHANGE SERVICE REQUESTED THE COOPERATOR EXPO 2020 WHERE BUILDINGS MEET SERVICES 150+ EXHIBITORS, SEMINARS, FREE ADVICE & NETWORKING CHICAGOLAND’S BIGGEST & BEST CONDO, HOA, CO-OP & APT EXPO! DONALD E. STEPHENS CONVENTION CENTER — WEDNESDAY, MAY 13, 10–3:30 FREE REGISTRATION: CHICAGOCONDOEXPO.COM continued on page 10