In Wayne, a ‘landslide’ victory for Brittany Chase unit owners
North Jersey Record
Philip Devencentis
09 December 2018
WAYNE — A dissenting group of unit owners at the Brittany Chase condo
complex won a pair of seats on the condo board on Thursday, closing a
turbulent election season that saw two lawsuits filed against the board
in less than a week.
But the victory for Gerard O'Neill and Francine Ritter — challengers
endorsed by "Wake Up, Brittany Chase" — appears only a means to an end.
The group wants full control of the board, and it has demanded
resignations from the other three board members, said its de facto
leader, Gopinath Sathyanarayanan.
"Wake Up, Brittany Chase" began to take shape in the spring, when
owners at the 395-unit complex of condominiums and town houses, off
Berdan Avenue, were told of a $3 million emergency assessment that
would cost some of them more than $11,000. The assessment, which was
delayed until next year, is to cover repairs of two town homes with
compromised foundations.
O'Neill and Ritter won in a "landslide" over incumbents Jack Boydell
and Linda DiMezza, according to an email sent by "Wake Up, Brittany
Chase" to its supporters on Friday.
Their victory was achieved almost entirely through a
boots-on-the-ground campaign to name Sathyanarayanan a proxy voter by
more than 150 owners.
"We ran the table," Bill Brennan, who is Ritter's boyfriend, said of his team's victory.
Results of the condo board election could not be independently
verified. The board's annual meeting, which was guarded by local
police, was not open to the public, and neither Jennifer Alexander, the
condo association's attorney, nor Boydell or DiMezza returned calls
seeking comment.
"Wake Up, Brittany Chase" supporters do not question work to the town
homes is needed, but they were angry the board denied access to project
details that its members claimed were proprietary. However, as a result
of action taken at Thursday's meeting, Brennan said, the board will
release records related to engineering and financing of the project.
Brennan said he and Ritter sued the board twice since Nov. 30 to obtain that result.
On Tuesday, a judge in state Superior Court in Paterson dismissed a
restraining order filed against the board that sought to enable
proxy-holders at the meeting to do more than vote in the election.
"Wake Up, Brittany Chase" had planned for Sathyanarayanan, who held the
most proxies, to call for a special meeting to oust the board members
its supporters still wish to remove from office.
That would not be allowed, Judge Randal Chiocca ruled.
But, on Thursday — hours before the meeting — a second order was filed
against the board by Brennan and Ritter to ensure proxies in
Sathyanarayanan's possession would count toward a quorum. With a
quorum, and approval by a majority of owners in attendance, an owner
could make demands of the board.
Brennan said the judge in that case agreed with his position, which is
how he was able to win the release of documents related to the
assessment.
"It took legal process, parliamentary procedure and the overwhelming
will of everyone in attendance to force that board to call the order of
business prescribed for in the bylaws," Brennan said. "It shouldn't
have been that hard."
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