Life in a condominium is never dull. The latest event at our bay-side aerie is a package received from our condominium board. This is from a board of directors that was chosen back in May of this year at an annual general meeting which your reporter did not attend. Not being overly impressed with some of the previous board members, attendance at the annual general meeting was looked upon somewhat less favourably than a visit to the dentist for a root canal procedure. It was cheerfully missed.
That was a sad mistake. Not that there would have been much we could have done to improve the situation at that meeting, short of spiking the KoolAid. The main item of news received from the battlefront was the election of new directors. With the normal expiration of terms of office and people quitting in disgust, the make-up of the new board came as something of a shock. Trying to absorb that bad news, we never did hear of the other events and/or non-events of the meeting.
Then there was a period of calming. For almost four months there was no communication from the board. An earlier letter that said our assessment for next year was doubled from an average of about $3200 per unit to an average of $6400 per unit had caused enough rumblings of dissent among the ranks of owners. There were also some indications of discontent when owners found out that the board of directors had hired the same company to paint the building as had overcharged us for a swimming pool that did not need to be replaced. (We have been told numerous times to stop carping about the damn pool but these people not only overcharged us outrageously but they did not even complete the project to specifications.) It is one thing to end up with a $750,000 swimming pool you did not need to replace but to then choose to pay the same company something near $2 million to paint the building is adding insult.
But that is not what this communication to the owners is about. The board has called for an “Information Meeting.” It was only when reading further that you find there is unfinished business from the annual general meeting. This is not an information meeting we discover but a continuation of the annual general meeting. The circular tells us that the financials from the previous year were not approved and that no auditor was appointed. (According to the Ontario Condominium Act, this appears to be a no-no.)
Despite calling it an information meeting, the board sent along proxy forms to be signed by owners who cannot attend. In a proxy headlined “proxy for quorum purposes only” there is a clause two that appoints the president or vice-president to vote on behalf of the owner. Something smells fishy around here and it might not be the pickerel in the creek next door.
There could be more to say on this subject.
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