The Catskill Chronicle

To the Editor:

Dear Senator and Assembly Members,

I am a condominium unit owner in the Grandview Palace of New York Condominium Association – the Condominium Complex that burned down April 14, 2012 in Fallsburg, NY (The Old Brown’s Hotel).

Here is a YouTube link to the a video of the fire: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KI-hLDEGgnU&%C2%A0

I have been contacting senators and assembly members to propose legislation that would require all Condominium Board meetings to be open to their respective unit owners or association members, require a court reporter / stenographer be present to record everything said at the Board meetings and require the Boards to make the transcripts available to Unit Owners or Association Members and mandate that all Association documents belong to the Association members and provide legal rights to view, inspect, and copy any association documents.  This level of transparency would go a long way to settling many disputes between Property Owners and their respective Boards of Managers.

Assembly Member Galef pointed out pending legislation– Bill # A07716 / S 5102 – Bill of Rights for Owners of Residential Condominium Units – would address a number of the issues I have been experiencing with the current Board of Managers of the Grandview Palace Condominiums. If Bill A07716/S 5012 were to include in the document disclosure of the Master Insurance Policy for the Condominium Association and require “Open Meetings” by the board with a stenographer present to record accurate minutes, I believe the Bill would be an excellent piece of legislation that would benefit countless Condominium Unit Owners throughout the state of New York.

Below is a link and the copy of the text from the link with further references to the New Jersey legislation requiring open meetings by Condominium Boards of Managers.

http://www.njlawblog.com/2007/06/articles/community-associations/new-jerseys-condominiums-and-hoas-and-open-meetings/

Below is a law blog pertaining to the open meetings legislation in New Jersey.

http://www.state.nj.us/dca/divisions/codes/publications/pdf_ari/open_public_meeting.pdf

Below is a narrative from a law office of the open meeting legislation in Illinois.

http://davidrudolphlaw.com/03-condominiumlaw.html

Below is additional commentary on the Illinois Open meeting requirements for Condominium Boards of Managers.

http://www.ksnlaw.com/knowledge-center/articles/associations-and-open-meetings.html

I respectfully urge you to review  Bill # A07716 / S 5102 and consider changes I have indicated above.

Assembly Member Lopez has sponsored this bill and Assembly Member Galef  and Assembly Member Rosenthal are co-sponsors.  I urge Senator Bonacic and Assembly Member Gunther to sign on as co-sponsors and consider the suggestions made above.

Please keep me informed as to your support for and the progress of the bill, as well as anything I might be able to do to assist in the progression of the passing of this legislation. I am personally vested in this legislation as are the nearly 400 Unit Owners of the Grandview Palace and thousands of condominium unit owners throughout New York State.

Best Regards,

Eric Johnson

Liberty, NY

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