By Nathan Duke
Four members of Beech Hills’ board of directors resigned last week following a raucous meeting in late September at which hundreds of angry apartment owners at the Douglaston co−op blasted the board for announcing it would raise monthly maintenance costs.
In an Oct. 14 letter to shareholders, board Chairwoman Patty Kleinberg said she and board members Stanley Nash, Richard Sganga and Artie Sofield would step down. But she said the decision should not lead residents to conclude that the board had mismanaged funds or that the co−op was in financial distress.
“[The co−op is] somewhat of a microcosm of what’s going on in our country with economic uncertainty and a lack of faith in the systems that keep our country running,” the letter said. “Similar to stockholders of collapsing institutions like Lehman Brothers and AIG, some shareholders of Beech Hills have lost faith in the management of our co−op − an unnecessary loss of faith.”
None of the four board members could be reached for comment.
Beech Hills encompasses 45 acres along the Horace Harding Expressway in Douglaston. The co−op has 816 units.
In late September, the board held a meeting with the co−op owners to discuss plans to raise monthly maintenance costs. Hundreds of residents poured into Douglaston’s PS 221 to angrily denounce the board’s decision.
Residents at the meeting pointed to an unfinished door replacement project at the co−op as well as sanitation costs as some of their areas of concern. The community currently uses a private service to pick up trash and recyclables rather than relying on city sanitation services.
In the letter to shareholders, the resigning board members said they believed that the co−op’s “unrest was fueled by rumor mongoring.” In the letter, they said they have “maintained fiduciary responsibility to the co−op corporations putting the integrity of every shareholder’s investment at the top of the priority list.” They also accused other unnamed board members of meeting secretly to discuss the co−op’s fiscal situation.
The letter maintained that the co−op’s board of directors had 60 days to fill the four board members’ seats.
State Sen. Frank Padavan (R−Bellerose) said he has gathered a list of complaints and concerns from the co−op’s residents and passed them along to state Attorney General Andrew Cuomo.
“It’s unfortunate, but it’s the fallout from all this,” Padavan said. “They gave me a list of issues, so I sent it to the attorney general and asked him to look into it.”
Reach reporter Nathan Duke by e−mail at news@timesledger.com or by phone at 718−229−0300, Ext. 156.
