coop-owner
New member
What is the name of your state?illinois
I own a cooperative which I inherited from my mother. I have known this coop since its foundation and it seems to have lost its way.
The manager was hired as interim manager from an agency and has no proper training, as far as i can tell, for cooperatives and is constantly acting inappropriately. A few examples:
1) in the early 70s, they put all the coops in the men's names if they were a couple. It was provided in the Bylaws that the widows may claim the property with notifications within 30days after the death of the spouse. They watch death notifications like hawks. If a widow sends a carrying charge (rent) check into the office during those 30 days, they hold the check until the 30 days are up then send it back and tell them to move out. They have gone as far as to evict these widows.
2) there are house and ground rules, these are suppose to be rules made up by residents on the house and grounds committee. There has been no house and grounds committee for at least the 5 years i have been here. These updates should be mailed out to residents with new pages to the house and ground rules book. Now, the manager makes up rules on the fly and the only notification we have is in the news letters and by snarky notices that we are crossing the line and they are going to charge us money. On day i went to the office and told the manager that she cannot just make up rules, her and the secretary claimed she could and highlighted a sentence in the house and ground rules.
3) for some reason the board goes along with anything the manager tells them. After my mother died, and i was having troubles with the manager, I went to a board meeting to discuss the provision in the bylaws. I stand up to speak and the manager whispers to someone and they all say, i cant be there because i am not a member (i am now), i point out that in the bylaws it says representatives of members may speak. They said no and talked over me and looked daggers at me until i left. I got a lawyer to deal with it. Everything is rubber stamped which comes from the office as far as i can see and without a hearing from the residents.
Of course this is just the tip of the iceberg. I would like our coop to start steering a truer course. I am stuck though, i have no idea how to handle this.
I own a cooperative which I inherited from my mother. I have known this coop since its foundation and it seems to have lost its way.
The manager was hired as interim manager from an agency and has no proper training, as far as i can tell, for cooperatives and is constantly acting inappropriately. A few examples:
1) in the early 70s, they put all the coops in the men's names if they were a couple. It was provided in the Bylaws that the widows may claim the property with notifications within 30days after the death of the spouse. They watch death notifications like hawks. If a widow sends a carrying charge (rent) check into the office during those 30 days, they hold the check until the 30 days are up then send it back and tell them to move out. They have gone as far as to evict these widows.
2) there are house and ground rules, these are suppose to be rules made up by residents on the house and grounds committee. There has been no house and grounds committee for at least the 5 years i have been here. These updates should be mailed out to residents with new pages to the house and ground rules book. Now, the manager makes up rules on the fly and the only notification we have is in the news letters and by snarky notices that we are crossing the line and they are going to charge us money. On day i went to the office and told the manager that she cannot just make up rules, her and the secretary claimed she could and highlighted a sentence in the house and ground rules.
3) for some reason the board goes along with anything the manager tells them. After my mother died, and i was having troubles with the manager, I went to a board meeting to discuss the provision in the bylaws. I stand up to speak and the manager whispers to someone and they all say, i cant be there because i am not a member (i am now), i point out that in the bylaws it says representatives of members may speak. They said no and talked over me and looked daggers at me until i left. I got a lawyer to deal with it. Everything is rubber stamped which comes from the office as far as i can see and without a hearing from the residents.
Of course this is just the tip of the iceberg. I would like our coop to start steering a truer course. I am stuck though, i have no idea how to handle this.
