Unit Owners' Forum:
- A unit owner from the 26th floor complained about the persistent
water leak in his unit, which has been going on for a long time. According
to owners present, he was berating the Board and property manager for about a half-an-hour
for not fixing the leak. [NOTE: The property manager has noted in prior management reports
the efforts done by our exterior contractor to try to find and fix the
leak. They caulked the windows and power sprayed water on the windows,
but were unable to replicate the leak. This area will be looked at
again when the required building façade inspection and repair
is done again in 2012]. Since this discussion went
well beyond the normal time allotted to the owners' forum, it appears
no other questions were asked before the meeting started late.
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Board Meeting:
The Board meeting started around 7:45 pm and ended around 8:20 pm. All Board members were present, except Joanne who was
traveling overseas. The property manager and management company representative
were also present There were about 12 unit owners present.
This being a special meeting, there was no Management Report or
Treasurer's Report.
New Business:
- Winona Parking Lot Project. The contracts to do the work
on the required Winona parking lot fence and landscaping project were
approved. The landscaping and sprinkler system will cost $34,768.
The decorative black iron and wood fencing will cost
$33,150. The asphalt re-coating and re-striping will cost $32,750.
I'm told they also said the new spaces are required
to be wider than at present. They said we would lose 5 to 7 parking spaces
as a result of the project. The project will begin some time in the
spring.
- The Board renewed the RCN cable contract for three years. There
will be no increase in costs in the first year, but will increase 5% per
year after that.
- Real Estate tax appeal. Dave said our attorney's tax assessment
appeal for next year's taxes was rejected by the Assessor's
office, but the attorney is going to re-appeal. He doesn't
get paid if there is no reduction in assessments.
- Elevator set-up. Some of the Board members who park in the garage
have wanted to change the elevator set-up from the current all-call to
separate-call. [NOTE: All-call is where pressing the passenger
elevator call button also calls the service elevator. This is faster
and more efficient. Separate-call is where you press the service
elevator call button separately if that's the one you want. Residents
who park in the garage prefer to use the service elevator. In the
past, the maintenance staff would change the elevator set-up to separate
call during morning and evening rush hours, the re-set them to all-call
at other times.] A motion was made to spend $2,300 to purchase a
timer to automatically change the elevators from all-call to separate-call
during rush hours. The Board members voted two in favor and two opposed
to the purchase, so it didn't pass. The motion was changed slightly
to purchase the timer and install it later, and it was approved. A resident of the
16th floor who parks in the garage commented that he didn't
like having to switch elevators on the ground floor to go down to the basement.
[Note: I was very surprised to hear about this proposed purchase.
We just spent over $400,000 to renovate our elevators, including
a new computer that was supposed to make our elevators more "intelligent"
and programmable, as the Board is proposing. I don't understand why
we have to purchase additional equipment.]
- 5100 Parking. Board president, Chris, said our parking rules need
to be revamped because it hasn't been done since 1995. He said there
is a lot of sub-leasing of parking spaces. Board member, Jerry, [who has been opposed
to making changes in parking] said he wanted a separate meeting on
this, so nothing was decided. [Note: Our parking rules prohibit residents from
assigning or leasing "their" parking spaces.
Quite a few residents are renting out "their" spaces, which allows
other residents to have more than one parking space, which is also against
our parking rules because there is a shortage of spaces. The shortage will get
worse and the wait list longer when we lose more parking spaces at Winona.]
Old Business:
- There was no Old Business.
Ratifications:
- There were no ratifications.
Adjournment
The Board meeting adjourned around 8:20 pm.
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