Highview Condominium II
Board of Directors Meeting
February 4, 2002, 7:30 p.m.
Meeting Minutes
The February 4, 2002 meeting of the Board of Directors started promptly at 7:30 p.m. with discussion/review of the last six months activities. The meeting was formally called to order at approximately 7:50 p.m. once a quorum was present.
In attendance were Board members Victor Bellini, Robert Boynton, Carl DiLorenzo, Stephanie Greenberg, Bob Malta, Frank Mattera, and Miriam Montalvo. Also in attendance were J.A.L. Diversified Management representatives Jennifer Ogman and Jerry Lemmermann. Absent from the meeting were Board members Paul Chelsen and Vincent Alfano (represented by proxy).
b) Walsh Electric re-wired (separated) the front exterior lighting from the lobby lighting so that lobby lighting can be turned on in the late afternoon and remain on after sunrise, separate from the exterior building light timer (as approved at 08/13 Board meeting for $250).
c) Rafael Luque, hired as building super in June, agreed to resign in mid-September and formally vacated his apartment on 10/20/01. Luque had not passed his 90-day probationary period with the building and there had been discussion of extending his probationary period another 90 days. There had been a number of half and full-day unexplained absences from the building, building security systems were repeatedly left disarmed during his absences (video monitoring, roof door, lobby side door), building service representatives and inspectors reported being unable to locate the super for building access, and several projects he reported to management as nearing completion were found to have not been started.
d) New entrance security system was approved at $10,020.85 on 08/28/01 by Alfano, Bellini, Boynton, Chelsen, Greenberg, Kepics, with no dissenting votes from Mattera, DiLorenzo, or Montalvo. The system was installed on October, 4, 2001. Residents were issued two coded proximity-reader tags (individually coded) for entering the building, replacing the key-pad code system that was repeated violated by delivery people, etc. Following installation of the new system, a notice was posted to remind all residents of our community responsibility for safety and security of fellow residents.
There was a brief discussion of residents continuing to allow unknown people to follow them into the building. Most recently in January, a stranger was allowed into the building at night by a resident. The person was reported wandering the halls late in the evening on several floors. Since the person was already in the building, it was assumed that they were authorized as the guest of a resident. The next morning, several residents reported these encounters. The super and several residents noted a strong smell of urine on several stairwell landings. Ultimately, it was determined who allowed the stranger into the building and he was reminded of his responsibilities to fellow residents.
e) In late August, dog feces were found on the building’s roof. The animal was apparently being kept tied near the Clove Road/Martha Street corner of the roof. On the stairwell landing to the roof, the window has been repeatedly locked by the super and then found unlocked again over the last few months. Miguel has installed a security bar to keep the window from being opened in the future. (Note: the window is not necessary for emergency evacuation.)
f) On October 9, 2001, a new 6-year laundry room contract was signed with CoinMach. Per the 08/13/01 Board meeting, Victor Bellini and Judi Kepics were authorized by the Board to finalize conditions of the agreement negotiated by Maxwell-Kates without further Board discussion. In order to keep the use charges unchanged over the course of the agreement, monthly rental from Coinmach to Highview was decreased from $700/month to $675/month. The agreement also calls for all new machines, painting the room, and a one-time bonus payment of $5,000 by CoinMach to Highview II.
g) On October, 22, 2001, Michael Gonzalez started as the building’s new super. This followed the interview of five candidates and a full-Board vote to hire Gonzalez. There were no dissenting votes.
h) On October 23, 2001, a brief Board meeting was held to discuss 3 items:
2) Board members briefly met with the new super, Michael Gonzalez, on his second day at Highview II
3) Options were discussed and resolved concerning the front door key lock. With the new entrance security system installed on 10/04 and the new super in residence by 11/01, the front door key locked would be changed. (The new entrance security system requires residents to carry an electronic key, which if lost can be de-activated. Issuing standard keys, in addition to the electronic ones, for the front door would negate the security value of the new electronic system -- which logs all entries according to user and de-activating a lost key does not affect the entry electronic keys of any other user.)
There was discussion of how other condominiums (without doormen) handle entry. A detective in the building indicated that if non-duplicate blanks were used, like at a condominium he used to live in; in case one key was lost, the resident was fined an amount equal to the cost of issuing new keys to all residents (which was a couple thousand dollars). In the case of Highview II, that cost would be approximately $1,000. The Board decided to not issue regular keys, but would revisit the situation if problems were encountered. Having spent $10, 000 to make the building more secure, issuing regular, non-electronic keys would undermine the security offered by the new system.
i) Final repair estimates for lintel and other exterior leaks were to be available by the end of August. Comprehensive financing of needed repairs was to be the primary topic of a September Board meeting that would be scheduled once Maxwell-Kates completed estimates. No estimates were received and a month later the Trade Center event made a September meeting impossible. Meeting dates were proposed for October and November, however Maxwell-Kates did not respond and meeting were postponed. The primary contractor was contacted directly by the Board in November, and indicated that he had been waiting since August for Maxwell-Kates to return his calls. (J.A.L. will be reviewing the situation/causes of the leaks and will complete new estimates by spring.)
j) On December 4, 2001, Maxwell-Kates resigned as the building’s managing agent upon learning the Board was dissatisfied with their performance.
Although Maxwell-Kates offered 2-months notice, as required by their contract, Board members agreed that Maxwell-Kates’ unsatisfactory performance was likely to deteriorate further in the weeks ahead, whereas urgent improvement was critical. Accordingly, a majority of Board members agreed to seek and obtain a new agent as quickly as possible with the legal guidance of Highview’s attorney.
It was noted that on December 4th, the building’s super had not been paid in three weeks; thirteen Highview II invoices in the last Maxwell-Kates management report were listed as unpaid by Maxwell-Kates and all 13 were more than 60-days past due; no financial reports had been received for 08/31/01, 09/30/01, and 10/31/01 despite several email requests; Gene DeGidio failed to respond to repeated requests for proposed October and November Board meeting dates; M-K failed to pay a year old Verizon bill (brought to their attention by both email and telephone conversation on 11/14/01, with response from M-K that it would be taken care of immediately, yet was still unpaid without any reason on 12/17/01 after addition reminders in late November); Maxwell-Kates failed to schedule estimates for exterior repairs (noted in January 2001 Minutes as repairs scheduled for May and expressed at the annual General Membership meeting in May by Gene DeGidio as then being scheduled for June/July.); and Gene DeGidio failed to respond to phone calls and letters of residents, owners, and Board members.
k) New managing agents were interviewed from December 8, 2001 through December 18, 2001. Five firms were interviewed.
l) On December 18th, Judi Kepics (treasurer) resigned from the board. Vinny Alfano, who had agreed at the last board meeting to act as assistant to the treasurer, became acting Treasurer.
m) On January 19, 2001, a vote was taken by the Board for new managing agent. Seven votes were cast in favor of J.A.L. Diversified as the building’s new managing agent. Stefanie Greenberg was not present or reachable by telephone. A contract was signed with J.A.L. Diversified Management on December 20, 2001. The effective date on J.A.L.’s contract was made January 1, 2002 with an agreement reached with Maxwell-Kates by Highview’s attorney to end their services and turn over all Highview II records effective 12/31/01.
n) On December 19th, legal actions were begun against two owners with delinquent common charges. Maxwell-Kates had reported that these actions began in August, but our attorney never received the information. As recommended by J.A.L. and Highview’s attorney as a standard practice, ninety-day delinquencies will automatically be forwarded by the managing agent to the building’s attorney without Board prior review.
Highview II Bylaws indicate: (Article V, Section 5), the Board "shall take prompt action to collect any common charge due from any unit owner which remains unpaid for more than 30 days from the due date for payment thereof" and (Article V, Section 6), the Board of Managers shall have the right and duty to attempt to recover such common charges or assessments together with interest thereon, and the expenses of the proceeding, including attorneys’ fees, in an action to recover the same brought against such unit owner.
o) On January 16th, Bob Malta (apt. L-J) was appointed to the Board’s vacancy. The full-Board vote was 6/2 in favor of Malta; Alfano, Bellini, Boynton, DeLorenzo, Mattera, and Montalvo voted for Malta; Stefanie Greenberg voted for the selection of John Mangione (3-A) and Paul Chelsen voted for Chris Manginelli (2-D). This appointment is temporary and only valid until this summer's annual meeting. At that time, a new board member will be elected by the condominium's general membership to assume the remaining 2 years of Judi's 3-year term.
p) Other items: the suit brought by Tom Finnerty against the building was dismissed in court on September 25th, an Ice Cream Social was held on November 14th, and the December Holiday Party was held on December 11th.
B. Following a review of the last 5+ months, the next order of business was a 90-day review of Michael Gonzalez performance as building super. After discussion, the Board voted to affirm that his probationary period has been successfully completed.
C. Michael’s health insurance was discussed. Maxwell-Kates was to arrange for insurance, but had not. J.A.L. reported that they are attempting to resolve the situation quickly.
D. Next on the agenda was a discussion of finances.
b) At the 2001 General Membership Meeting in May 2001, the building’s auditor John Shall (of DeSantis & Shall) reported that previous tax returns would be refilled in order to correct errors and gain a significant refund. It appears that no action was taken by Maxwell-Kates to re-file. This situation will be reviewed by J.A.L.
c) The Board approved a similar audit for 2001 by Desantis & Shall. J.A.L. will follow-up with John Shall.
E. Next, Jennifer Ogman and Jerry Lemmerman made a general report to the Board.
2) Highview’s investment account (operating and reserve fund) balance: $107,485.50 (maintained at Chase, not accessible to any managing agent).
2) As of this Board meeting, although M-K claims to have mailed checks to J.A.L. Diversified for $15,000 and $3,000, no checks have been received by J.A.L.
b) Communications:
2) The Highview II website also offers a repair request and complaint form which goes directly to J.A.L. Diversified for response.
3) J.A.L. is changing billing addresses on all supplier accounts from Maxwell-Kates to them. It was noted that Maxwell-Kates had not completed address changes for Highview suppliers to themselves from Finnerty Management, and that J.A.L. should not rely on forwarding from Maxwell-Kates or any listing of Highview suppliers provided by Maxwell-Kates as accurate and complete.
c) Repair updates:
2) The garage exhaust fan’s louvered door was replaced. A sensor will be installed to start/stop the fan according to auto activity in the garage.
3) Two new awning lights have been installed.
4) New mats (and runners only used for rainy days) have been purchased for the lobby.
5) Sewer pipe work on November 8th for apartments in the "A" and "B" lines required opening the bathroom ceilings of several apartments to replace rusted out drain pipes. Ceilings were repaired in apartments 4-G, 5-G, 5-B, 2-A, 2-B, 2-D, and 6-J.
6) The flag pole light has been repaired, but was valdalized several days later.
7) The sidewalk lighting was repaired.
d) In need of repair:
2) Apartment L-C repairs from water damage.
3) Foundation cracks (visible in the parking garage) will be addressed. Water continues to infiltrate through these cracks.
4) Continuing problems with the rooftop TV antenna and contractor work not performed to building code standards is being addressed.
5) A privacy (plastic) hedge will be installed on the building side of the new garbage enclosure fence.
6) Three hallway doors to the stairwell are not closing properly.
7) Sixth floor rain water leaks (attributed to brick work problems) and leaks on other floors (attributed to AC sleeves, window flashing, and/or lintel repairs) will be reviewed over the next couple months and resolved before summer. These repairs were to have been made last Spring by Maxwell-Kates (as noted in previous meeting Minutes), but action was repeatedly delayed.
8) The compactor will require either new parts or replacement. Estimates will be available shortly. There was additional discussion of garbage handling: residents leaving garbage on the floor of the 6th floor chute room and carpet stains from leaking garbage bags taken down to the lobby-level instead of being thrown down the chutes.
9) The carpeting in the elevator needs to be replaced. (Jerry will investigate tile.)
E. There was a discussion of snow removal. During the last snow, the building’s super spread de-icing materials every couple hours throughout the evening as snow continued to fall. It was agreed that a more detailed guideline for the super’s benefit needs to be established. Is snow removal to continue all night? At the same time, there was a discussion of when to get help for the super to remove snow. Jerry Lemmermann recommended that the building contract with a snow removal contractor, as J.A.L. has arranged with their other buildings. Jerry recommended that 3 inches of snow be used as the guideline to initiate professional snow removal of sidewalks, driveway, and the parking lot. The Board approved and J.A.L. will supervise the arrangement. Continuing discussion noted that although the building owns a large snow blower more than equal to the task, the super’s daily responsibilities inside the building are substantial and can’t be performed when the super has to spend the day outside tending to heavy snow falls.
F. There was discussion of several owner fines. One owner appealed a moving violation in writing. The Board read the letter, discussed the facts, and voted to uphold the fine.
G. There was discussion of Local Law 11 (exterior facade inspection), the boiler room’s stopped-up floor drain, the age of the boiler itself, several noise complaints, G&D Maintenance Sunday cleaning service,
H. The Board agreed to a standing schedule for future Board meetings as the 2nd Tuesday of every month at 7:30 p.m.
The meeting was adjourned at approximately 10:45 p.m.