Based on court testimony before Superior Court Judge Dale Radcliffe, the question does not appear to be if he’ll appoint a manager to oversee the tragedy that has become Success Village, but whom will he appoint?
The 900 unit coop split between Bridgeport and Stratford and its roughly 2,000 residents is a shocking examination of management neglect and failed anticipation, residents without heat and hot water begging for action as the cold weather season poises fangs.
Bridgeport and Stratford leaders prevailed upon the court to conduct a trial to impress upon the urgency of the situation to find a short and long term solution to correct the heat and hot water travesty with a modernized infrastructure system. This is a rarely pursued option, asking the court to appoint a receiver to stem the damage and set a correct course. It’s a health emergency.
On Wednesday testimony revealed the numerous health and safety violations at the coop as shared by municipal professionals from Bridgeport and Stratford.
On Thursday, with distressed Success Village residents filling the courtroom, testimony focused on the beleaguered finances. Just a few years ago, it was disclosed under oath, the coop was easily in the black, but the past year the financial flood gates opened with no resolution to the problem, with now $3 million in debt, with more the $2 million owned combined to Bridgeport and Stratford in property taxes.
In the past year or so the money directed to…
- Nearly $1 million in legal fees
- $2.3 million to Umbrella Mechanical to address the antiquated heating system
- $422,000 in management fees
- $289,000 in consulting expenses
- Cash withdrawals from various bank accounts with no accountability
Friday is likely to be the last day of testimony. How quickly will Judge Radcliffe act?
It won’t take Judge Radcliffe more than a week to rule on this situation. It is clear from the testimony that this was a slow trainwreck that occurred in the context of flouted official directives (from municipal boards of health, et al.) that were the result of egregious management “negligence” that occurred over an extended period of time even as the Success co-op membership attempted to change the board membership and move a change-resistant, entrenched board to correct illegal and dangerous conditions related to their long-term “negligence.” There is even a years-long history of BPD police activity at contentious board meetings where the entrenched board called in political markers to silence dissension by the membership (in these cases the BPD was called and silenced the dissenters without regard to the disturbances initiated by the entrenched board membership to silence the dissension and demands to correct mismanagement situations…).
There are hardly words to describe what has been inflicted on owner-members by an entrenched BOD that is as corrupt as it is incompetent. No doubt, a lot of money has been misappropriated (stolen) and fiduciary responsibilities otherwise ignored by the entrenched BOD membership.
There will be receivership for Success Village, and hopefully, a full $bailout$ for the co-op owner-members as BOD miscreants (and others/colluders) are prosecuted (for felonious fraud/larceny, etc.), found guilty, and sent off jail for the grief and pain inflicted upon so many modest-income, hard-working Success Village homeowners.
Where is the Connecticut AG in all of this? Are other condo associations being appropriately scrutinized? (There is, no doubt, a nefarious “housing investor” component for the deliberate steering of condo developments onto the shoals in this dangerous Connecticut economy where our severe housing shortage encourages shenanigans by unscrupulous “investors” looking to pick up properties cheaply to flip and rent at astronomical prices….)
This BOD malfeasance/incompetence trial will, no doubt, transition into a multi-defendant criminal trial in the near future….
A criminal trial? A novel idea, Jeff. What are likely charges? And what suggestions for going forward with possible self-governance measures for the future? And what Federal authorities have been looking at this case over time? FBI? Others looking at unlawful practices or processes? What State reporting, inspection, research, or law enforcement departments may have looked at the cluster of aberrant activity by those “at one time in the past, in charge” but failing their own governance rules? Sad? For sure. But is it failure to vote or know options and alternatives, a failure of community civics that is fundamentally at fault, with legally sharp practitioners taking advantage? Where is the photo-op? Time will tell.