IDEA FROM A SHAREHOLDER WHO CARES.
It is a good idea. (Minor modification)
VASC
(Valerie Arms Shareholders Committee) Every Shareholder is a member. You are
all involved and should participate and help make things better.
Dear
Joel and Others …
As
the election is approaching, I would like to see a new blog page, entitled
“COUNTDOWN TO THE ELECTION” June 19th with no bashing, name calling
or harassment. We ask that all personal attacks, rumors, etc. stop.
Maybe
it would be a good idea to list candidates that are running. If they wish, they
can post a brief bio along with a brief statement of intentions/plans, etc.In
addition, part of this new blog page should say – ASK THE BOARD about the Finances,
Legal costs and all the things that have gone unanswered and/or ignored.
The
questions that need to be addressed at the meeting are as follows:
1. How
was the Co-Mingling of Funds STOPPED? What actions were taken to discover and
correct the Co-Mingling of Funds? Was the money replaced into our bank accounts
and where did the money come from? Is this money being held in a separate
escrow account?
2. Where
are the funds of $ 40,000 coming from for the repair of the pool, since the
Board minutes clearly stated that funds were not available in the Year 2012 to
repair the pool?
3. What
is the current percentage/ratio of sublets versus owner occupied apartments?
Have we reached to maximum sublet amount in order to be able to re-finance our
mortgage in two/three years? Is this a real issue or contrived to justify
extraordinary sublet fees?
4. What
is the five year plan for our buildings? Is there a plan?
5. When
will Assessment #1 for the hallway renovation stop?
6. What
is the projected ending date of assessment # 2 and how much money needs to be
collected in total for assessment # 2 known as Legal Fee Assessment? Is there a
separate bank account for assessment # 2? Why are Shareholders paying BOD
expenses?
7. How
much in Legal Fees have been spent since July 1, 2011 thru June 15, 2012?
8. Was
the new Management Company though roughly vetted? How much is their yearly
contract for to manage our buildings? What experience do they have?
9. Why
did the Board fire CPA - Marin & Montanye? How much retainer fees were
given to them for no services provided?
10. The
Board states they hired a new accountant and a forensic accountant. Note: Any
reputable CPA firm is able to conduct AUDITS, REVIEWS and COMPILATIONS
according to GAAP (Generally Accepted Accounting Principles). Why do we
need a new accountant to audit the books and then a forensic accountant to
review audits? This is double work and money being thrown away.
These
are just some questions that I would like posted to make other shareholders
aware of what to ask at the meeting. Since
the blog is supposed to be a source of information, finances should be the # 1
issue to be discussed.
CONTDOWN TO ELECTION will follow. (and thanks L.)
The shareholder that has presented these questions has done a great service to each and every owner at the Valerie. They highlight the refusal of the current Board of Directors -- led by Jill Schachter -- to provide any meaningful information to shareholders about what is happening with our money. That these questions have "gone unanswered and/or ignored" since November, 2011, is proof by itself that we have serious problems that require the election of new Board made up of serious people who are professionally and emotionally able to deal with our financial issues.
ReplyDeleteI would also like some additional information on a couple of issues:
How much have we spent on legal fees since November, 2011. What do we currently owe Adam Leitman Bailey, Ms. Schachter's "Super Lawyer".
What is currently the status of our accounts payable? When Harvey Berman resigned from the Board we had paid off most of our debts. The recent Board Minutes posted in the Building report that we had so little cash that we had to ask our vendors for "understanding" that we cannot pay our bills. Exactly how much do we owe and who do we owe it to?
How much money is in our reserve fund today? I'm sure that the Board will tell us what we had on December 31, and blame Marc Ullman, Harvey Berman and Marvin Gillman for our financial problems, but I want to know what we have in that account today.
I do not really expect answers, because Jill Schachter has made it clear that she thinks it is NONE OF OUR BUSINESS.
I totally agree with the above questions. I do have some additional concerns / questions:
ReplyDelete1. We have now paid four CPA firms in the past 12 months -
a. Jules Simon - Final Bill,
b. Retainer for Marin & Montanye - for work never done because they began to ask questions and Jill fired them,
c. Newly hired CPA firm by Jill who needs assistance to do audits, and
d. Finally, our attorney Adam Bailey hired a forensic accountant for us.
Jill is complaining about the legal fees incurred due to Marc Ullman; Well how much did we spend in Accounting Fees due to Jill Schachter??? Will we need assesstment # 3 to re-coup the outrageous accounting fees due to Jill Schachter.
2. How many years back will the Forensic Accountant go, to audits the books? I would like to see at least 10 years - I guarantee that they find alot of missing / stolen money due the VA.
3. Since this all started due to the Co-Mingling of Security Deposits into our Operating Business Checking account, I think that all shareholders have the right to know how this was STOPPED, per Maggie's letter.
Maggie, of course it was STOPPED, that is because Peter Mesos got caught.
Maggie, when a theif gets caught, of course they STOP stealing; they are scared that they may go to jail.
Now give us the details of the investigation and how it was resolved.
4. What is the resolution of the MECHANIC LIEN that is on the building from the NYS Court System? Who is going to pay those fines - VA or Vision before they depart?
5. Who is going to pay for the NYC ECB Violations for the Laundry Rooms - VA or Vision before they depart?
After Vision Enterprises departs, we must still hold them responsible for their past actions.
Lawyer question - Is there a statue of limitations to hold Vision responsible for monetary issues that were not resolved under their management?
Lawyer question - Since Jill has a personal vested interest in Vision, is it legal for a waiver to be drawn up to not hold Vision responsible to all past wrong doings, especially in regards to monetary issues?
Some other thoughts for the meeting.
Very Concerned Shareholder - Actually Frightened Shareholder
I can answer the question about commingling.
Delete1. It was going on for a very long time.
2. The commingling was brought to my attention by Rick Montanye (one of the reasons Jill fired him as our accountant and paid him $12,000 to nothing and make him stop asking questions).
3. The coop's former accountant, Jules Simon should have seen this decades ago, but did not say anything because he was also working for Peter Mesos, was auditing his own work and was protecting Peter Mesos instead of shareholders at the Valerie.
4. It could have been caught by carefully reading our annual financial statements because that money should have shown up there as a debt.
5. I do not pretend to be an expert at at reading financial statements and (foolishly) did not realize that Jules Simon had a conflict of interest and was covering things like this up to protect Peter Mesos. Obviously relying on Simon to advise me was a huge mistake on my part.
6. Since Jill Schacter claims to be a expert financial analyst, why didn't she notice this? Or did she notice and keep silent to protect Peter Mesos?
7. When I asked Peter Mesos why this money was kept off of the Valerie Arms' books, he responded "why do you care, it's not your money".
8. We don't know exactly how much money is involved. Vision Management never returned security deposits unless it was asked for the money. It kept a lot of people's security deposits over the years. (We will never know if Mesos pocketed this money) Vision also never bothered to collect move-in/move-out security from people who buy from Peter Mesos.
9. The Commingling of funds was just one example of financial mismanagement that I listed when I tried to replace Vision as out Management Company.
Jill Schachter did not care about this -- she voted to keep Vision as our Management Company and to this day continues to cry over the fact that Vision is finally gone from our coop.
I noticed the signs posted in the elevator asking shareholders to tell the board if they are being harassed for their proxies. It is kind of funny but all I have heard is that Maggie, Jill, and Gayle Palaski
ReplyDelete(formerly of Vision enterprises) are the only ones HARASSING ANYONE FOR THEIR PROXIES.
In fact earlier this week one SENIOR CITIZEN asked me how can I get Maggie to stop calling me and begging me for my proxy??
Who do we complain to about this??
Inform the Senior Citizen to tell Maggie that if she continues to harrase her with phone calls about her proxy that she will inform everyone in the building of the harrassement that she is getting, especially since Jill posted that sign by the elevator about Proxies and Harrassement.
DeleteTo help this Senior Citizen, I write:
JILL WHY IS MAGGIE AND GAYLE HARRASSING SHAREHOLDERS FOR PROXIES. YOUR OWN WORDS ARE BEING DEFYED BY YOUR OWN BOARD MEMBERS AND FRIENDS.
JILL HARRASSEMENT IS AGAINST THE LAW, AS SINCE YOU HAVE FILED A POLICE REPORT, SO STOP HARRASSING THE SENIOR CITIZENS FOR THEIR PROXIES.
JILL, IF YOU OR MAGGIE WIN THE ELECTION, THE FIGHT TO GET THE TWO OF YOU OFF WILL CONTINUE.
IT MAY TAKE ANOTHER YEAR BUT WE WILL GET YOU OFF OUR BOARD.
JILL STOP THE HARRASSEMENT AGAINST ALL !!!!!!!!!!!!!!
It is June 9 and still no financial statements! Supposedly we now have two auditors looking at our books -- the coop's auditor and a "forensic accountant" to double check the auditor's work. HOW MUCH IS THIS COSTING US?
ReplyDeleteTreasurer Speigel: WHERE ARE OUR FINANCIAL STATEMENTS?????? Why do we need an auditor and a "forensic accountant" to prepare out 2011 financial report?
IF THE FINANCIAL STATEMENTS ARE DONE, YOU ARE OBLIGATED TO GIVE THEM TO US. Are you holding onto them so we cannot have a chance to review them and ask you questions?
YOU ARE IN BREACH OF YOUR FIDUCIARY DUTIES TO THE SHAREHOLDERS! WHERE ARE THE FINANCIAL STATEMENTS? WHAT ARE YOU HIDING?
To President Schachter: Don't tell me or any other shareholder that it is none of my business. IT IS MY BUSINESS. YOU ARE DESTROYING OUR COOP.
WHERE ARE THE FINANCIAL STATEMENTS????
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