The Chicago Association of Realtors has issued a statement following a seven-hour board meeting of MLSNI directors which took place August 25, 2004:

At its seven-hour August board meeting, the Directors of the Multiple Listing Service of Northern Illinois (MLSNI) addressed a full agenda which included a number of recommendations made by the Shareholders of MLSNI. The recommendations were voted on by the Shareholders in response to the report that the Shareholders recently received from PriceWaterhouseCoopers (PWC) on its work on a forensic audit report of MLSNI and its related companies and officials.

The Board approved some of the Shareholder recommendations, but the Directors decided against two critical Shareholder issues. The first issue was the Shareholders' recommendation to retain new corporate counsel for MLSNI. Instead, the MLSNI Directors approved a motion to keep the current counsel until well into 2005.

The second issue was the Shareholders' recommendation that the Board act immediately to resolve all issues related to Jay Huffman's performance as CEO of the company, including business actions and interactions with Brenda Huffman and REBIG. No action was taken by the Board on this recommendation. Instead, a motion for a vote of confidence in the CEO was made and seconded at the end of the meeting. There was discussion on this motion. Some Directors indicated their lack of confidence. One Director indicated that he felt that the Board should be working with Mr. Huffman to find a mutually agreeable and professional way for MLSNI to move forward with new CEO leadership. One Director urged the Board to be cautious about the motion because of the possibility that the motion might fail or pass by a narrow margin. After this comment was made, the maker of the motion withdrew the motion.

John Vranas, the voting Shareholder for the Chicago Association of REALTORS®, was disappointed in the results of the Board meeting. "It is clear that some of the current MLSNI Directors are not ready, or simply do not want, to take the actions necessary to properly resolve the issues raised by the PWC report. In corporate matters, sometimes good people trying to do the right thing make poor business decisions," said Vranas. He indicated that the responsibility for the ultimate actions and solutions may fall to the new MLSNI Board of Directors that will be seated in October.

"Leading up to the MLSNI Board meeting, some of you may have seen comments made earlier in the week by representatives from one or more of the smaller associations," stated Vranas. "These comments were widely reported in the press and through mass e-mails. The apparent purpose of these communications was to suggest (wrongly) that the audit request was some kind of witch hunt, and that the PWC report had found nothing that necessitated changes or immediate actions. These communications were factually inaccurate."

Vranas stated, "To our knowledge, every professional advisor who has looked at the PWC report has indicated that it revealed serious issues that require immediate attention. The Shareholders, Directors, and others who are taking the position that the PWC report revealed no problems, are simply not right. In making their statements, they appear to be trying to get into an unproductive turf battle between both the large broker and small broker communities and the large and small associations. We reject this approach. It is based on emotion rather than fact, and it will not produce a resolution that is in the best interests of the Chicagoland REALTORS® and the important core work that MLSNI provides."

"There was good news that came out of the meeting", said Darcy Dougherty, CEO of the Chicago Association of Realtors. "The MLSNI Directors voted to lower user fees for the next fiscal year which begins in October. The Chicago Association of REALTORS® will be adding those member savings to the reduction in fees that our leadership approved last month, making it even better news for CAR members."

A motion was also made for the Directors to reconsider their prior decision to shut down the MLSNI public website. That motion was defeated.

The election of a new Board of Directors will be conducted in late September. This election will, for the first time, involve the selection of the new Broker Directors and will shift the majority of Directors from the Shareholder associations to the Broker participants of MLSNI.

"CAR was in favor of adding the Broker positions to the governing body and is optimistic that the new Board of Directors will make the strategic changes at MLSNI needed to correspond with the changes in the industry and the real estate consumer", said Vranas. "Regardless of the outcome of yesterday’s meeting, MLSNI continues to function and provide excellent service to the 37,000 users in Northern Illinois. That is what really matters most to our members right now".

Published: August 27, 2004

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