Governance

A housing cooperative is a form of ownership in which a person purchases shares (or membership) in a corporation that was formed for the purpose of providing its members a place in which to live. Unlike a condominium association, a cooperative corporation owns the building, land, apartments and all common elements. The members, in turn, own the corporation. In the greater National Capital area, there are approximately 15,000 cooperative residential units, most of which are located in the District of Columbia.

The Broadmoor has been a functioning cooperative since 1948. It is a Delaware corporation registered to conduct business in the District of Columbia. It owns the approximately five acres of land on which the building is located. Unlike many other buildings, it is self-managed, and does not employ an outside management company. 

As with a typical business corporation, cooperative owners elect a Board of Directors with the legal responsibility for management of the corporate assets. The Board is charged with providing good management, maintaining the property in good repair and keeping the corporation financially sound. It also fixes the rate of assessment and the charges for various services. The Board is accountable to the membership and is required by law to meet the statutory and contractual obligations of the corporation.

The governing documents of the corporation (see the Members Only page) provide the framework for the operation of the cooperative and form, in essence, a representative democracy. Resident members meet annually to elect the Board, and each unit owner is entitled to an equal vote, despite the widely varying assigned capital values of their units.

Committees

The Board may also appoint ad-hoc committees from time to time to provide advice on a particular matter or conduct a special activity. There are currently five such committees:

• Archive/History Committee, which conducts oral history interviews with current and former long-term residents and associates of The Broadmoor and collects and preserves Broadmoor memorabilia.

• Building Projects Committee, which assists the Board with communications of the status of on-going building capital projects.

• Bylaws Committee, which investigates and collates potential issues with bylaws and suggests areas of improvement for Board consideration.

• Decorating Committee, which proposes elements of an Interior Design Master Plan and develops a scope of work to be used for solicitation of bids for development of such a plan.

• Landscape Committee, charged with upgrading grounds in accordance with the Landscape Master Plan.