Page 1 - New England Condominium November 2020
P. 1

Cleaning Through COVID  Maintaining Sanitation—and    Sanity—in Multifamily Housing  BY DARCEY GERSTEIN  November  2020        NEWENGLANDCONDO.COM  to even locate a bona fide product with the CDC-recommended   percentage of alcohol content (the CDC recommends that a hand   sanitizer with at least 60% alcohol be used in situations when soap   and water are not available), you would be faced with unimagi-  nable markups and strict quantity limits. Even bottles of pure iso-  propyl alcohol and glycerin gel became scarce as citizens resorted   205 Lexington Avenue, NY, NY 10016 • CHANGE SERVICE REQUESTED  continued on page 6   THE CONDO, HOA & CO-OP RESOURCE  CONDOMINIUM  NEW ENGLAND  In Part 1 of “Multifamily Energy Savings   Solutions,” we introduced some relatively   simple products and processes that indi-  vidual owners or shareholders can adopt to   reduce energy consumption and emissions   and to save on their energy costs.   Part 2 addresses the bigger picture: re-  placement of entire systems; working with   advocates, government, and utilities to move   toward greener energy; and, just as with the   solutions mentioned in Part 1, achieving   community buy-in and widespread imple-  mentation.   Coupling with a Co-op  Jay Egg knows a lot about educating con-  sumers and developers on the path toward   energy efficiency. A former nuclear power   engineer for the U.S. Navy, he became a lead-  ing  expert  on  ground  coupling—the  tech-  nology that allows for a non-fossil-burning   alternative for heating and cooling build-  ings—and now has a “practically evangelical   zeal for sharing this technology,” he tells   New   England Condominium  . Today he makes a   living consulting and speaking on the subject   with his business, Egg Geo, and was happy to   talk to us about how geothermal technology   is being implemented in multifamily build-  ings and communities.   Even though he lives in Florida, where   the weather inspired him to pursue innova-  tion in the heating, ventilation, and air con-  ditioning (HVAC) sector, about 30% of Egg’s   work is in New York State—mostly because   of the state’s progressive climate agenda and   strong heating and cooling program with the   New  York State  Energy  Research  and De-  velopment Authority (NYSERDA), he says.   He is currently working with the Amalgam-  ated Housing Cooperative in the Bronx in   an owner’s representative role as the 1,500-  unit campus undertakes a conversion from   a steam-absorption chiller to a geothermal   Even though the world has been contending with COVID-19 and its consequences for   nine months and counting, the routines and practices we’ve adopted to prevent its spread   and minimize personal risk of infection are still evolving. With new data come new rec-  ommendations, inventions, and adaptations. If nothing else, this pandemic keeps us on   our toes. Vigilance and flexibility, which might seem like oxymorons, have equal impor-  tance in the global effort to restore some form of normalcy in our lives.   So it is with cleaning, especially in multifamily buildings and communities where   comings and goings—however limited to reduce social proximity and interpersonal con-  tact—necessitate passage through and interaction with common areas. According to the   website of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), “Communal spaces,   community activities, and close living quarters in multifamily housing increase the risk of   getting and spreading the \[corona\]virus”—making the cleaning and sanitation procedures   in these settings all the more important for the health and safety of the approximately   74 million Americans who live in such homes, according to the Community Associa-  tions Institute (CAI), as well as the staff who service them. Those responsible for keeping   these areas clean and free of hazards—including viral pathogens—have to contend with   the ever-changing protocols, products, and processes in place to protect the public—and   themselves—from the spread of COVID-19.    But is there a point where cleaning and disinfection can go overboard?  Sanitizer Insanity  In the beginning of the coronavirus crisis, hand sanitizer became such a hot commodity   that the federal government took to usurping shipments headed for hospitals and hard-hit   areas because supplies were so limited and demand was so high. If you were lucky enough   The annual meeting of owners or   shareholders in multifamily housing as-  sociations  and  cooperatives  is  a  legally   mandated opportunity for a community   to convene, learn, share, and exercise   their essential duty—to vote. The lead-  up to the election of trustees and other   matters before the owners or sharehold-  ers can amount to an entire election sea-  son—spring or early summer for many   multifamily communities—that includes   mingling events, campaigning, and infor-  mational meetings.   This year, boards, managers, and their   legal counsel faced an unprecedented   challenge of  conducting these  processes   safely in the midst of a pandemic while   complying with governing documents   and the law. For some, it meant adjourn-  ing the meeting to some time in the future   when the world might resume some form   of normalcy … which has yet to happen.   For others, it meant acquiring and adjust-  ing to new systems of gathering that can   be done virtually—the online meeting   platforms of Zoom, Google Meets, Mi-  crosoft Teams, and the like with which we   have now all become intimately familiar.  Holding the Remote  In many states and localities, the leg-  islature offered some solutions. Scott   Smiler, attorney with the New York firm   Gallet Dreyer Berkey, tells   New  England   Condominium   that Business Corporation   Law (BCL),  which governs  cooperatives   as corporations, was amended “specifical-  ly \[to provide\] that meetings can be held   solely by means of electronic communica-  tion, and that the platform or service will   be deemed the place of the meeting….So   whether your bylaws provide it or not, we   can now look at that specific BCL section   to give us the authority.” Smiler mentions   that this provision applies only to co-ops,   not condos or HOAs which are governed   by Real Property Law, but that courts   would likely apply a similar thought pro-  cess to condominiums and HOAs as well   if challenged on the matter. An additional   caveat is that the order expires on De-  Multifamily Energy    Savings Solutions  Part 2: The Bigger Picture  BY DARCEY GERSTEIN  Remote Building   Governance  How Housing Associations   Hold Meetings Distantly  BY DARCEY GERSTEIN  continued on page 8   continued on page 6 


































































































   1   2   3   4   5