We're living in the midst of a fantasy created by a board run by three stupids
And it's costing us all...
It's a fact that the Board of Directors must maintain the property in its original condition...that's what it says in the master deed and bylaws.
That means the Board's primary directive is to take care of the big stuff first--conditions that threaten safety (correcting fire safety violations, fixing the elevators). The cosmetics--"garage automation" etc--is way down on the list
This Board has persistently failed to carry out its primary directive.
The numbers don't lie...
Last year, the Board ignored serious fire safety violations. The three stupids and their supporters put numerous obstacles in the way of Cooper Square managers who tried to address these long-standing life safety problems. After months of noxious behavior toward the first Cooper Square general manager, the head stupid demanded that Cooper Square replace this manager as allowed by the contract. Cooper Square provided a replacement, someone with much less experience.
Shortly after the new "acting GM" was hired, he was told to fire the Cooper Square facilities manager. He did.
When push came to shove in August 2009, with the Division of Fire Safety poised to intervene, the new "acting GM" was acting as the GM AND the facilities manager. As was expected, given his experience and the double duty, he made some big mistakes.
The new "acting GM" hired a new sprinkler company to inspect the garage sprinklers that had not yet been tested. This company was not licensed to do this work in NJ...The new acting GM also instituted a "fire watch" that consisted of a few GTCA employees walking around the garage occasionally while they carried out their other duties...I informed the acting GM that the fire watch rules in NJ say that employees carrying out a fire watch are not allowed to do anything else. He ignored me...
On September 2, 2009, at a meeting attended by the Division of Fire Safety representatives, the Town Mayor, the Local Fire Official, the Guttenberg Public Safety office, and a Town Councilman who lives at the Galaxy, a decision was made to issue a punitive closing order for the garage due to multiple serious, life threatening fire safety violations that had not been attended to in 2 years...the Galaxy was also threatened with $500,000 in fines for other long-standing violations...AND the Galaxy was ordered to maintain a REAL fire watch--2 employees doing nothing else 24/7
The three stupids then tried to blame the mess on me, claiming that I "conspired" with the former Cooper Square managers to "conceal" information about fire safety violations "from the Board."
Really? In March 2009, I actually forced the GM to give me all the fire violation notices then available, made copies MYSELF, and distributed these copies to EVERY DIRECTOR.
Further, the stupids claimed that a letter I wrote to the Division of Fire Safety was responsible for the punitive closing order.
HOGWASH...by the time I wrote to the Div of Fire Safety, the punitive closing order was basically a done deal because this Board had ignored countless violations for many months AND an imminent hazard notice to close the garage had already been issued for failure to carry out a fire watch correctly....
The truth: I contacted the Division of Fire Safety in late August 2009 as a last resort because it was clear that the three stupids intended to DO NOTHING about our serious fire safety problems.
The three stupids and their supporters on the Board KNEW that fixing all the violations was going to cost serious money...
But they didn't let that knowledge get in the way of the BIG PLAN, which was to pursue a draconian loan refinancing plan that would cost us $2 million upfront and would mean we could do NOTHING to maintain or repair the property for three years...
After the order to close the garage was issued, the Board had no choice...it finally had to do enough to make the garage sprinkler systems functional...
And it had to deal with the fire alarm systems, which had not been maintained since the installation was complete in 2007.
The bills came to approximately $350,000 plus another $70,000 for routine maintenance and inspection of other life safety systems...plus a fire watch which supposedly cost $80,000 (even though our own employees did it) plus $16,000 for a report required by the local fire safety official
But this didn't stop the three stupids and their supporters from raising their hands and voting "yes" to spend $2 million to refinance the R&R loan...
Needless to say, this put the GTCA behind the eight ball when the bills for fixing the fire safety violations arrived
By the end of 2009, more than $120,000 of the bills for fire safety work had not yet been paid. Which is one reason no work has been done on the sprinkler system. (And it also looks like we're still paying last year's legal bills--more than $400,000 was billed, but only $275,000 was paid.)
FIDUCIARY RESPONSIBILITY MEANS KEEPING THE PROPERTY IN GOOD CONDITION...and it also means paying bills in a timely way
This board of stupids purposely and willfully elected to refinance the loan RATHER THAN CORRECT SERIOUS, LIFE THREATENING FIRE SAFETY VIOLATIONS...
When forced to fix the fire safety system, this board went ahead with the loan refinancing anyway.
That's why this board of stupids will be coming back to owners soon, moaning and groaning about the need for ANOTHER SPECIAL ASSESSMENT...
The real reason for a special assessment: THE STUPIDS MISMANAGED ALL THE MONEY WE GAVE THEM IN 2009...
I don't know what you will choose to do but I don't intend to pay another special assessment...giving more money to the Stupids is like tossing it into bottomless pit...l
The number of potholes in the driveway?
The fees for mold remediations paid for by the GTCA?
The number of attorneys employed by the GTCA?
The unpaid bills from 2009? (plus the unpaid bills from 2008!)
The US national debt?
Dear anonymous director:
you say "We (the Board of Stupids) won't know the number for the special assessement for several more weeks...
hmmm...Today is June 25 2010...there is no audited annual financial statement for 2009...there are no income statements for 2010...
Why not? Is the accounting department recreating with 2009 Yardi database with a quill pen? Do we have any books for 2009?
A special assessment has to be based on reality…and that reality is found in the financial records that seem to be so difficult to put together that the Board (of Stupids) can't show most of them to owners 6 months after the end of 2009...
Where are the income ledgers for 2009?
Where's the maintenance ledger...you know, the ledger in which all maintenance assessments for every unit are recorded?
Where's the ledger associated with the depository account...you know, the depository account, the bank account in which ALL maintenance payments are deposited? (When and if the accounting department takes time to go to the bank because it is SO busy issuing late fees for charges it won’t explain…)
Where's the ledger for IUS services provided to owners?
The bits and pieces of the general ledger posted on Cooper Square Connect are mostly expense ledgers...
There's the ledger that records the purchases of GE HVACs in 2009...
But where's the ledger that records the SALES of these units?
Or did these units just "walk" into units of their own accord and install themselves without the owner's permission (no payment required)?
...oh my I came home and found a new HVAC had installed itself and cleaned up afterward?
You say the GTCA is losing money on daily parking...show the ledger that records daily parking fees...PROVE it..
PROVE IT? you say...We don't have to PROVE anything .. “
WE ARE THE BOARD (of Stupids)…WE ARE IN CHARGE…
Oh, I am glad to be set straight on that....the BOARD (of Stupids) is in Charge of
Wasting money
Screwing up the books
Failing to maintain & repair the property
Blaming others for your screw-ups
Interfering with employees and the managing agent
Investigating directors
Running up legal fees
Getting the GTCA in trouble with state agencies?
Making it impossible to get FHA mortgages
Yeah, sure, great job...and now you want MORE MONEY PLEASE…and that's for what?
Garage automation?
Let's see...the elevators are on life support...the garage sprinkler system is literally rusting to death...the dog pee on the hallway carpet smells grand especially since the hallway cooling system conked out...
...so I guess I could say Garage Automation is THE wackiest idea ever proposed by the Board (of Stupids)...
....but wait, hold the presses...there's an idea that's even WACKIER: RANDOM DRUG TESTING FOR DIRECTORS...
...hey guys, I'll donate the dixie cups…fill ‘em up…
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