Preface: a group(4) of owners/residents got together with 3 board members on December 15th with the intention of forming an advocacy group which would hold the board accountable to the best interest of residents.
I recorded the entire conversation.
As a professional who has spent my entire adult life in the banking industry, I have seen multiple instances of financial and elder abuse. One of the things that banks are extremely particular on is CONSENT. In my opinion, 5 board members making a financial decision of $4000-$8000 on the behalf of each of the 200+ residents without any consultation is abuse of their position and forces many residents “between a rock and a hard place”.
My ultimate question was “Why does the board feel right making a $4-8k financial decision on behalf of residents without their consent”
Board Member Melissa Seeley stated that since our maintenance fees were due to increase in fiscal 2022, any resident not able to pay for Kitec also cannot afford a 4% increase to their fees and would be selling their unit anyway.
I questioned Melissa’s intent and stated that selling a condo could come with other large financial factors that unit owners likely were not planning for when a Kitec repair was forced on them (examples of this include Realtor fees, mortgage discharge fees, mortgage penalties, real estate legal fees, and more, which could total thousands of dollars). The board’s response was clear that they did not care for those unit owners. Solutions that have worked in other buildings were proposed to the board with the intent to help residents financially, but the board was unwilling to listen to those. At one point President of the Board Suzanne Faust rolled her eyes and exclaimed “whatever” at which point her own board member told her it was inappropriate.
The Truth About Kitec 