Page 1 - Chicago Cooperator Spring 2020
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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. 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