Page 13 - NJ Cooperator Summer 2020

NJCOOPERATOR.COM THE NEW JERSEY COOPERATOR — SUMMER 2020 13 ATTENTION BUILDING OWNERS AND MANAGERS Maintenance of any masonry/concrete mid to high rise building is CRUCIAL From parking decks, to balconies, to brick pointing, window caulking, parapet walls, and roof structures, simple maintenance and inspection is IMPERATIVE to keep your investment DRY and STRUCTURALLY SOUND. Water intrusion can cause: • Structural damage • Damage claims from tenants and owners • Mold issues and lawsuits • Safety issues, e.g., falling masonry & Restoration Inc, of Jersey City, NJ, successfully completing over $200,000,000 of restoration work in New York, New Jersey, and Connecticut. H2O Pro operates only in New Jersey and we pledge to you that if you trust us to oversee exterior repairs to your buildings we will treat them as if they were our own. Choosing the right contractor is extremely important! Who are we? Call Toll Free: 844-774-6776 Small maintenance issues can become large capital projects. We work with you or your architect/engineer, to establish a repair plan that keeps your investment safe and sound without breaking your budget. We specialize in: • Condominium/Townhouse Associations • Single Family HOA/Master Planned • Luxury High Rise Condominiums • Cooperative Communities • Adult Active Communities 11 Cleveland Place • Springfield NJ 07081 tony.nardone@cp-management.com 973.376.3925 www.cp-management.com management and leasing offices and for tenants to use in their offices The coming weeks and months will be a learning process for nearly everyone — and for boards and property managers, will present challenges and questions few (if any) have faced before in their respec- tive roles. Fortunately, as public health experts, researchers, and frontline work- ers continue to labor round the clock to stop the virus and mitigate its detrimen- tal effects, the real estate and multifamily management industry is also working to make as many helpful resources available as possible. The New Jersey Cooperator will continue to keep tabs on these as they become public, and will pass them along to our readership. n Cooper Smith is a staff writer/reporter for The New Jersey Cooperator. vate is a good move for an array of reasons, there are times when the regulations can seem cumbersome, or even counterpro- ductive. Th is writer has had personal expe- rience with this law over the past 25 years, and can attest to the fact that it can some- times make dealing with medical emergen- cies (the care of a suddenly sick parent, for example) more complicated. And that’s just one person who happens to be a close blood relative—what about a residential community of unrelated indi- viduals? As the COVID-19 pandemic has spread and intensifi ed, attorneys, manag- ers, and Th e New Jersey Cooperator itself have been inundated with questions from residents, board members, and others ex- pressing concern—and sometimes anger— that they cannot be informed by name of neighbors in their building or association who have tested positive for the novel coro- navirus. Th eir argument is that knowing who and where the infected individuals are would enable others in the community to take more eff ective steps to protect them- selves and their families from the virus. While this may seem to be common sense, legal pros point out that compro- mising privacy in such a way could open boards, associations, and individuals to serious liability, regardless of whether an infected resident became the target of ‘public ridicule or shame’ (to borrow lan- guage from several of the responses to this question in our Legal Q&A section) or any other negative treatment as a result of their status being improperly disclosed. Th at said, a board-management team’s hands are not completely tied when it comes to informing community members about COVID infections in their building or HOA. According to a number of legal experts, if a board or manager has reason to believe that a resident has contracted CO- VID-19 or is experiencing symptoms of the HELPING OUT... continued from page 1 virus, they are advised to let building staff such as supers, porters, and other mainte- nance workers know, and direct them to follow recommended protocols from the CDC and/or local and state health agencies if they need to enter the resident’s unit for any reason, such as to carry out an emer- gency repair. Building staff should also be provided with the recommended personal protective equipment when calling on a resident who has tested positive or is symp- tomatic. In terms of notifying neighbors, legal pros advise alerting all residents that there may be a confi rmed case in their midst, reminding them to follow public health guidelines to protect themselves, and let- ting them know exactly what the build- ing or association is doing to prevent the spread within their community (rigorous cleaning/disinfection of high-touch/high- traffi c common areas, verifying that the infected resident(s) are self-quarantining, etc.). Michael C. Kim, an attorney specializ- ing in condominium community law and affi liated with Schoenberg Finkel Newman & Rosenberg in Chicago, stresses that ut- most care should be taken to ensure the privacy of individual residents, while at the same time assuring the safety of all others. According to him, “Boards and manage- ment may notify residents if a person has tested positive, but may not divulge that person’s identifying information.” And of course, Kim continues, if a staff member has symptoms or a positive test, “Have that staff not come to work, and only come back when they’ve been medically cleared as ap- propriate.” Again, a COVID-positive individual’s name and/or unit number should not be disclosed to anyone outside the board, management, and necessary support staff without the individual’s written consent. If other residents demand to know par- ticulars, boards and managers should re- iterate that it is both illegal and improper to disclose personal medical information. All that being said, however, if an infected person is not following proper protocols for self-isolation and containment, then community administrators are obligated to alert the appropriate public health authori- ties, such as their city or state department of health, or the CDC. What Is the Board’s Fiduciary Responsibility? According to Mark Hakim, of counsel with Schwartz Sladkus Reich Greenberg Atlas, based in New York City, “Th e board has a fi duciary duty, and must act in the best interests of its shareholders or unit owners. Th ey are on the forefront here, and have to make decisions for the building as a whole, taking into consideration the needs of the many, and not necessarily the needs of the few, or the one. Th is would include restricting or eliminating the use of ame- continued on page 14