Participation Crisis Situation at Athol Green co-op

It should be noted that the Co-op hired a part-time Cleaner that in Ken's view, started work on November 16, 2016. Prior to that, the Co-op hired a different part-time Cleaner that in Ken's view, started work on October 19, 2016. The Co-op informed the Membership on November 1, 2016 that the Co-op no longer had a cleaner as of October 27, 2016.  

 

In Ken Hummel's ("Ken's") view, As At January 1, 2016

In Ken's view, a participation crisis situation has existed at Athol Green Co-operative Homes Incorporated ("co-op") for over 15 years that involve attendance at membership meetings, committee involvement, and with compulsory co-op common area cleaning & grounds duties. 

 

Co-op Occupancy By-law No. 2014-03 Article 3.2 Member Involvement 

"Members must attend all general members' meetings, general clean-ups and completer cleaning and yard duties as assigned. Members should take part in other activities of the co-op. The Co-op may set out the requirements for participation of members in a separate by-law (By-Law #2005-08)"...

Co-op participation by-law #2005-08 amended in January 2009

Some excerpts quoted from the participation by-law:

..."INDIVIDUAL'S OBLIGATIONS"...

..."Attendance at General Members meetings and the Annual General Meeting of members unless prevented by illness, emergency or other appropriate reason."...

 

..."HOUSEHOLD OBLIGATIONS:...

"Contributing a minimum of four hours per month, per household, to the effective functioning of the co-op;"..."Cleaning duties are allocated to each unit on a weekly basis. It is the responsibility of the designated unit to ensure that no garbage or debris is allowed to accumulate in the halls, stairways or garbage rooms during that week."...

...Regularly scheduled yard duties as required including grounds, playground, courtyard, sidewalks and pathways"..."Snow and ice removal from common walkways and courtyard; e. Up-keep and reasonable maintenance of the unit."...

..."Member(s) who fail to fulfill any of the Co-op's participation requirements 3 or more times in a 12 month period, will result in the member(s) being required to appear before the Board of Directors on a Notice to Attend, Schedule "G", to give cause as to why they should not be evicted for breach of the agreement and the Co-operative by-laws." 

 

CLICK HERE to view this downloadable by-law in PDF

In Ken's view, As at October 27, 2015,  57 member's were residing at the co-op that consist of 26 member's residing in the 250 building with 24 units and 31 member's residing in the 200 building with 24 units. Some member's have children, long term guests, and short term guests that are considered occupant's at the co-op. 

 

In Ken's view, As at January 1, 2016, about 36 children of some member's reside in the 250 building, ranging in age from 1 month and up to 39 years, and about 17 of these children/adults, appear to be over the age of 16 years with only 1 registered as a member at the co-op. 

 

In Ken's view, the vast majority of these children/adults have never participated in unit cleaning and grounds/yard duties... at the co-op. 

 

Ken has monitored some co-op common areas, primarily at the 250 building at various points-in time for over 16 years, sometimes with the aid of a camera... 

In respect to the co-op 250 building common area locations; The following information about some current member's, and some current occupant's that may have not participated in compulsory cleaning duties are in Ken's view, as at January 1, 2016:

Ms. Connie Smith has been a member since about November 3, 2009.

Ms. Shari Percival has been a member since about April 24, 2007.

Ms. Sarah Szewezyk has been a member since about July 6, 2004.

Mr. Timothy W. Marquis has been a occupant since about 2001. Mr. Timothy W. Marquis had allegedly fathered children with Ms. Sarah Szewczyk. Mr. T. Marquis is allegedly the adult son of Ms. Linda Thornton, current member and former co-op president.

Ms. Kristen Szewezyk has been a member since about April 26, 2011. Ms. Kristen Szewezyk is allegedly the sister of Ms. Sarah Szewezyk.

Mr. Tyler West had allegedly fathered children with with Ms. Kristen Szewczyk, and appears to have been an occupant at various points-in-time since about 2011. Mr. West may not be a welcome guest at the co-op at this-point-in-time.

Ms. Shawna Hardwick Archer has been a member since about November 18, 2003.

Mr. James Hardwick had allegedly fathered children with Ms. Shawna Hardwick Archer. Mr. J. Hardwick appeared to had been a member in 2003/04 and may had been evicted. Mr. J. Hardwick appeared to had returned as an occupant at the co-op since about 2008. 

Ms. Lindsey Hood has been a member since about November 18, 2003.

Ms. L. Hood is the adult daughter of Ms. Janet Hood, current member and director. Ms. L Hood had been an occupant and has resided at the co-op since about 1996.

Ms. Sandra Shettles-Worth has been a member since at least 2012.

Mr. Pearce Weir has been a occupant since about 2013. Mr. P. Weir had allegedly fathered a child with Ms. Chrystalee Russell, a member since about April 25, 2006.

Ms. Janet Hood, is a current director and has been a member since about 1996.

Mr. Bradley Hood, has been a occupant since about 1996. Mr. B. Hood is the adult son of Ms. Janet Hood, current member and director. Mr. B. Hood resides as an occupant with his mother.

Mr. George Piperas and Mrs. Alicia Piperas has been members since about 2012.

 

Mr. Stafford Taylor had been a member from about 2004 to about 2008, and returned as a member, perhaps in about 2012. 

Ms. Cynthia Cavalier has been a member since about November 16, 2004.

Mr. Jay Ricci has been a occupant since about 2014, and is in a relationship with Ms. Cynthia Cavalier, current member and a former director.

Mr. Jeremy Bouchard has been a member since about October, 23, 2007.

Mr. J. Bouchard is a former director. 

 

CLICK HERE to review some member's attendance statistics at co-op meetings of members

CLICK HERE to review grounds/yard duties participation crisis situation

 

In Ken's view, these member's should be considered member's not in good standing at the co-op. It should be said that member's and some occupant's noted on this list may have participated in cleaning duties to some extent at some prior points-in-time, out of Ken's view.

Some excerpts published in the Spring Edition 2016 Co-op newsletter. 

"IMPORTANT INFO"..."CLEANING AND YARD DUTIES: Members are not completing their duties as required and it shows. Remember you are to do your duties TWICE in the assigned week. This is a vital part of your participation and in some cases may be a members' only form of participation."...

 

"Co-ordinator's Report by Lori Wheeler"...

"CLEANING & YARD DUTIES: VERY, VERY, IMPORTANT that members do their duties. This is such a messy time of the year to begin with, that it has to be cleaned at least TWICE a week."... 

 

In Ken's view, information noted above in the two paragraphs advise members' do yard duties twice. The Co-op participation by-laws state that yard duties are to be done once a week by member(s) scheduled to do this work. 

 

In Ken's opinion, most member's have either never or rarely ever done any cleaning and/or yard duties! and advising members' to do duties TWICE is a form of BULLYING! the few participating members' to do the work for the majority of members' that have never or rarely participated in cleaning or yard duties or may have never or rarely participated at the Co-op!! 

 

In Ken's view, it appears the participation by-laws are not being equally applied and enforced for at least 15-years because of favoritism that amounts to FORCED LABOUR for those regarded as INDENTURED SERVANT'S residing at the Co-op housing PROJECT! 

 

View some monitored member cleaning duties during the week of July 4-10, 2016 :: CLICK HERE

 

Ms. Lori Wheeler, Co-op Coordinator confirmed in her letter dated May 7, 2015: ..."Not even 24 hours later, after having just paid $ 800.00 for a company to come in and clean the floors in the halls, I have had to go out and clean up popcorn, water bottles and other garbage!!"... 

 

In Ken's view, the Co-op paid a person $800.00 dollars to mop the tile floors in four residential hallway's for a job that should take about 0.5 hours to mop each floor and less than 1 hour to start preparation, and less than 1 hour to rinse mop and clean ringer & pail at the end of the job. Imagine, paying somebody about $200.00 dollars per hour to mop floors! 

 

In Ken's opinion, mopping floors is minimum wage work, but Ken would find it satisfactory to pay somebody $15.00 per hour or perhaps pay up to $100.00 to perform this work provided that person did a good job for a half days work.  

 

A job was advertised on social media on March 10, 2016 with a start rate of $15-$17/hr. based on skills and experience for a Cleaner that included landscaping and grounds work, and to support and assist the Maintenance Technician Staff at a residential housing co-op located in North York, ON. CLICK HERE to view further details about that job posted

 

At the July 21, 2015 Co-op Membership Meeting, the Co-op minutes indicate that Ken's motion was defeated to hire a part-time cleaner...CLICK HERE to review info from that meeting in PDF

 

 

Ken shares information from a Lori Wheeler letter dated March 29, 2016. 

Ms. Lori Wheeler, Co-op Coordinator recommendations to the Board and members that Lori Wheeler or unnamed outside personnel  perform member cleaning duties for those members that the Board of Directors and Lori Wheeler deemed not to have done assigned cleaning duties and to charge member units based at $30 per hour with a minimum charge of $60. and add that expense to member housing charge accounts as arrears. 

 

In Ken's opinion, recommendations are a scheme that Ken finds outrageous, absurd, and atrocious as it provides an opportunity for the Board of Directors and Lori Wheeler to use this scheme against Member's such as Ken and others they either dislike or hate while continuing to demonstrate favouritism towards Members that they support and protect such as for example, current and former Board of Directors, their relatives and friends that currently reside at the Co-op.

 

Athol Green Co-op audited financial statements ending September 30, 2015 indicated the Co-op had a operating surplus of $19, 267.00 Imagine having dirty or filthy stairwells and hallways...and in some cases poorly maintained common area grounds for much of that fiscal year!!

 

After Ken's review of audited financial statements dating back to 2000, Ken stated at the April 21, 2015 General Membership Meeting that Co-op audited  financial statement's indicate an operating surplus in 10-years or combined operating surplus of $178,647.00 and an operating deficit in 5-years or combined deficit of $32,293.00 that equates to a net operating surplus of $146,354.00 over the past 15-years! During those 15-years, Ken had been advocating to the Co-op membership and management to hire a part-time cleaner/maintenance person at $15.00 per hour with no results!!! CLICK HERE to review info at the April 21, 2015 GMM in PDF          

 

 

An excerpt from a Participation Report (Oct. 2012-Sept. 2013) published in the Winter Edition 2014 Co-op newsletter. Ken quotes some information contained in this report:

..."CLEANING/YARD DUTIES:

"In November concern was raised on the lack of members cleaning the halls or doing the job properly such as twice a week. A quick 10 week review was held and it was noted that only 1 person did it in 250 building lower hall, 5 in the upper hall. 6 people upper 200 and 7 people in lower 200. These figures do not reflect those who do garbage or recycling."

"Similar numbers were noted for Grounds/Yard duties. 250 building had little or no shoveling or garbage clean-up in weeks."...  

An excerpt from the co-op general membership meeting minutes dated July 21, 2015. Ken quotes the following information from these minutes. ..."Approx. 10 units do not do their cleaning duties on a regular basis."... 

Ken urges the co-op board of director's and/or management coordinator that may monitor some participation in cleaning duties in some common areas located inside the 250 building with the CCTV System since about 2003 to come forward, and present Ken with evidence that refutes Ken's claims. Upon Ken's review of CCTV evidence that confirms any member's or occupant's participation noted on this list, Ken may remove their name from the list or note how many times that member or occupant participated.

Some co-op member's and occupant's names may be added to this list at a later point-in-time. 

On June 1, 2014, Bill 14, the Non-Profit Housing Co-Operative Statute Law Amendment Act, 2013 was proclaimed into law, in the province of Ontario.

Since about June 2014, co-op evictions are adjudicated through the Ontario Landlord and Tenant Board. Example: A co-op application fee for an eviction using form NC5 is $170.00

Reasons for co-op member eviction under form NC5 are stated as follows:

Reason 1) Your behaviour or the behaviour of someone visiting or living with you has substantially interfered with: the co-op's or another member's or occupant's reasonable enjoyment of the residential complex; or another lawful right, privilege, or interest of the co-op, or of another member or occupant.

Reason 2) You or someone visiting or living with you has wilfully or negligently damaged the member unit or the residential complex."...CLICK HERE to review forms...   

Excerpts from an undated article, authored by Bruce Woodrow. Mr. Woodrow is a lawyer in Toronto who works mainly with housing co-operatives.

"ASK THE LAWYER: COMPULSORY PARTICIPATION (IS it enforceable?)"...

..."The Philosophy"...

..."Participation should be compulsory because it is necessary, just as housing charge payments are compulsory because they are necessary. If nobody pays, the Co-operative fails democratically and as a community. For small co-operatives with little or no staff, non-participation can be just as critical as no payments."..."many co-operatives have participation exemptions for those who cannot participate (due to age or poor health)....

..."Co-operatives have an obligation to educate their members. Members should understand their obligations (preferably before move-in) and comply willingly. The benefits of co-operative housing are worth the obligations. But suppose education isn't working? In that case co-operatives should be entitled to enforce participation just as they enforce payment."...

..."The Law"...

..."it is best if participation requirements are set out in a by-law (either the Occupancy By-Law or a separate Participation By-Law). Second best is a Participation Policy that is mentioned in the Occupancy By-law."

"It should be clear how much participation is required. It should be equally clear how participation will be recorded and monitored. There should be warnings if participation is lacking."

"Finally, can a non-participating member be evicted? If a co-operative has properly created the obligation to participate, the answer should be "yes"."...  

CLICK HERE to review CHF Canada...A New View of Participation in PDF

Board of Directors - Duties and Obligations

Basic duty of directors (and officers) - set out in s. 108 of the Ontario Co-operative Corporations Act. ("CCA") Exercise powers and discharge duties, honestly, in good faith, and in the best interests of the co-operative AND in so doing, exercise the degree of care, diligence and skill that a reasonably prudent person would exercise in comparable circumstances.

CLICK HERE to review some co-op board of directors bakground information

In Ken's opinion, in respect the CCA, and in respect for co-op participation by-law #2005-08; Athol Green co-op directors and officers have failed in their fiduciary duties by neglecting to evict some non-participating co-op member's.  In Ken's view, this has substantially interfered with the co-op and other member's and occupant's reasonable enjoyment of the co-op or other lawful rights, privileges and interests of the co-op for some 15 years or more. 

 

In Ken's view, the board of directors are protecting some member's from what should be lawful evictions. An excerpt about member participation from a newsletter dated December 1, 2000:

"Your Co-op Home is beginning to look like "THE GHETTO"..."THE SLUMS"..."A BACK ALLEY"

Some excerpts from Participation Info that was published in the Fall Edition, 2011 Newsletter:

 

"PARTICIPATION INFO"

"We have had a member request for the PARTICIPATION COMMITTEE to supply participation submission tallies from the past year. The Board feels that this is important for ALL members to know, as it tells everyone just how many people are involved keeping Athol Green Co-op running."

"In this case, you will see that it doesn't take many to run the Co-op, but the members that are participating are on work overload. There is so much that needs to be and can be done. We need members to recognize the importance of their input."...

 

...Number of members in the Co-op = 60...

...Average numbers attending GMM this year = 21

...Units that submit a member participation report, on a monthly basis = 9 units (13 members)...

In Ken's opinion, information stated in second paragraph above from the 2011 info appears to be extremely condescending towards member's who participate in compulsory cleaning duties. It appears to suggest that the board of directors look down on these participating member's in a disdainful way and suggest that member's and other occupant's who choose not to participate in compulsory cleaning duties...are superior people that have special privileges that protect them from eviction at the co-op that participating member's and occupant's may not have! 

 

The board of directors harassed Ken in 2000 and made false claims that Ken did not participate in cleaning duties. The board harassed Ken in 2008 and made false claims that Ken did not participate in yard/grounds duties and issued Ken a fine. The fine was revoked as Ken's won on appeal. In Ken's view, it was an attempt to extort money from Ken. 

CLICK HERE to review the names of those director's and officer's...  

In Ken's view, co-op directors and officers appear to be more accommodating to some undesirable member's and occupant's that also include some alleged drug trafficker's and associate drug dealer's that appear to network together that reside at the co-op and over-run it.

 

In Ken's view, many people have turned the co-op into a housing project for over 15 years, and Ken finds that deplorable...

In Ken's opinion, the majority of people that reside at the co-op are often self-serving, selfish people that are not deserving of residing at the co-op. It has been quite a disappointment for Ken and likely some other people at the co-op. 

 

CLICK HERE for information about concerns with drugs, vandalism, and participation...in PDF  

CLICK HERE to review some select co-op newletter submissions in PDF    

 

CLICK HERE to review excerpts from some past co-op newsletters

CLICK HERE to review background information and issues concerning co-op participation  

Happy New Year?

Information may be added, revised, and deleted without prior notification

Ken Hummel, Member, Athol Green Co-operative Homes Inc.