How Long Should a Board Member Serve

Not if no one else is running. Some of the board members in my building have been running for 12-20+ years. They have now majority power (4 of 7) and can block out other board members inquiries. Every time someone else gets elected he/shes gets left out anything important and recently asked one to resign because that member was asking too many questions.

Without board sponsorship, its difficult to run for the board. I have been sat in meetings where board members have admonished shareholders for having the nerve to criticize. It never ceases to amaze me that in a liberal city like NY and a democracy like the US that so many people, once in power, feel they have the right to monopolize power for their own narrow purposes and at the same time refuse to be transparent. And yet, if our elected officials tried this, these same people would be demonstrating in the streets.

It's pretty disgusting I agree, and extremely petty. You can feel better that this is probably the only power they'll ever get to enjoy in their pathetic lives!

Or you can just buy a townhouse or mult-family. Own the entire building!

I've seen an example with a condo board that has a slate of 5 nominees for the board every year, for a total of 5 director spots. And that slate just does not change.

One of our neighbors tried to run for the board but was ignored. When he showed up at the annual shareholders meeting, he was told that he needed to be on the slate beforehand. However, there was no communication about how to get on the slate, which also needed to be approved by the existing board. He was told to submit his resume to be reviewed for next year's elections. He did so promptly, but a year later his resume was apparently forgotten and the same slate came around! Truly unbelievable! Remember I mentioned that this was for a condo building.

Quite shameful really. It's just too bad that most of the residents don't care who is on the board, as long as their common charges aren't going up.

Actually Eastside, where do you live? It sounds like you have an inbred, corrupt co-op board. Have you considered just selling? You can do so a lot cheaper these days through flat fee RLS listings and the like through companies like Hauseit. This way if you need to get out you don't get crushed with closing costs.

tenure adds experience. if the building keeps voting the person in they may be pleased with policies and performance. does the building have quorums every year and valid elections and are qualified unit owners offering to run? these are the questions one must answer. in and of itself being on the board is not necessarily a liability it could be an asset.

if you are making this comment with an eye toward your own building perhaps there's more that you should be saying, like whether you are happy with how your building is being run

I would've thought that what happens re. the election of board member is spelled out in the propriety lease or co-op bye-laws. I live in a large co-op in Chelsea. Every year before the AGM a communication is sent out inviting shareholders to run for the board by submitting a bio by a particular deadline. Once the deadline has passed, all bios are circulated to shareholders, together with details of the AGM and procedures of voting by proxy. Everything is completely transparent. After the vote, they even have independent (non-board/managing agent) people to verify the vote count.

People. Its not that coops do not have rules or that our country does not have laws. The problem is that rules and laws can be bent or broken especially when there is little to no accountability due to concentration of power or lack of transparency.

The bottom line is that coops are private clubs and you have to decide whether or not you would be happy as a member of the club. If not, your only choice is to quit and find another club to join or buy a condo which has its own set of issues. This is the essential culture of apartment ownership living in New York City.

I think most people around the country, outside of NYC, would be horrified if they learned how coops operate. Good in theory, but sometimes hideous in practice. There's a reason almost all the new buildings are condos.