Highview Condominium II
Board of Directors - Meeting Minutes
May 12, 2004, 7:30 p.m.

The 7th regular meeting of the 2003-2004 Highview II Board of Directors was called to order by Vice President Marjorie Cannon at 7:50 p.m. In attendance were Board members Victor Bellini, Miriam Biren, Robert Boynton, Marjorie Cannon, and Richard Re. Board members absent : Sanchie Bobrow, Stephanie Greenberg, Tamara Keshecki, and Frank Mattera. (Frank Mattera was available if needed to achieve a quorum.) Jennifer Ogman attended from J.A.L. Diversified Management.

1) Approval of previous Minutes. A draft of the minutes from the April Board meeting was discussed. Resurrecting the approval process of three years ago, the Secretary will distribute a draft of Minutes by email, Board members will offer corrections/edits within 7 days of the email, and the secretary will then have them placed on the website. The Board's email approval of the minutes will be formally recorded in the next regular meeting's minutes. Accordingly, a draft of Minutes was distributed on 05/11/04, edits and/or approvals have been received by Boynton from five Board members, and the edits will be included in a final revision. Formal approval of the final edited April Minutes will be at the next regular Board meeting on June 9th from the website version printed by JAL and included in the management report.

2) Financial Report:

a) The Operating, Operating Reserve, and Capital Reserve account balances were not included in this Board meeting's discussion. The Treasuer, Tamara Keshecki, has scheduled a meeting for May 13, 2004 with the Assistant Treasurer and John Lipuma to review the budget and building expenses. A special full-Board meeting will be then be scheduled with Lipuma. Date still to be determined for the full-board financial meeting.

b) A report of owners currently in financial arrears was available for review but not discussed pending the finance meeting.

3) Legal Report.

a) No update on the apartment in foreclosure. Ogman will discuss with Swaaley tomorrow.

b) There was an update on the three apartments with noise/carpeting violations.

c) Deposition on the court case set for June 9, 2004.

d) According to Jennifer Ogman, the building passed its NYC Local Law 11 Inspection. The report will be filed by May 2004 and the engineer will send JAL the completed report. Not received to date.

e) The Fire Safety Plan - confirmation of receipt forms were distributed to all owners to sign. To date, Ogman indicated that about 15 (of 68) forms had been returned. Until the file of receipt confirmations is complete and available for City inspection, the building is not in compliance. The City code was discussed and how it indicates that a document signed by the super confirming that he had personally delivered it to each resident would suffice. The Board had moved from this option several years ago when a previous super claimed to have made the delivery to residents while the forms were later found in his office (undelivered). The Board agreed to try this easier option once again.

f) T-Mobile's withdrawal from the negotiation of a contract amendment was discussed. Boynton reported that a draft of the amendment is expected from T-Mobile within the week.

g) A copy of the letter sent to Wagner about correcting the erosion and ditch on Howard Ave. across from Highview was brought to the meeting by Ogman. There has been no response from Wagner to date. Boynton will pursue with Wagner administration.

4) Maintenance & Repairs.

a) Roof repairs: Three proposals for a full replacement of the roof; estimates were $95,000, $105,600, and $109,000. It was noted that none of the estimates included any work on the wooden deck and support structure below the roofing insulation - which after 50 years, three roofs, and long-term leaks leaking may be deteriorated. However, the extent of any damage will not be known until the roof is removed. It was also noted that none of the estimates included removal or restoration of the incinerator bulkhead on the roof which is severely deteriorated and had been included in the Becht Engineering Study's estimated roof replacement cost estimates.

There was discussion about the Firestone warrantee and whether Firestone is within its rights to walk away from the warrantee in case of the sub-structure failures currently at issue. There was also discussion as to whether Firestone has declined to make future repairs to the roof coating caused by the popping nails from below or has just declined to repair the cause of the popping nails (possibly rotten wood no longer capable of holding the nails in place). Ogman will discuss Firestone's correspondence and the contract with Swaaley and report back at next meeting.

b) Parapet repairs: Proposals pending. No progress since August 2003.

c) Renovation of the Laundry Room was discussed. There was discussion of the laundry room, but no decisions were made pending the finance meeting. Ogman will get three firm estimates for removal of wallpaper, skim coating, and painting.

d) The $3,200 bid from Nu-Way Compactor for the addition of two recycling chutes in the recycling/laundry room was discussed, once again noting that the current recycling area will have to be eliminated as a fire code violation and hazard. However, it was agreed that no decision can be made until after the finance review meeting.

e) Chutemaster will be cleaning the ventilation system and compactor chute in late May/early June. Management will require access to every apartment.

f) There was discussion as to when the McGlynn, Hays & Co. elevator maintenance contract commences since the previous contract with Staley didn't end until May 1st. and the sample contract from McGlynn - Hays in last month's report indicated on April 1st contract date. Ogman said that since Staley had attempted to charge about $10,000 for the same repair that McGlynn, Hays & Co. ultimately made for about $5,000 last month, the one month overlap should not be of concern and delaying a start date with McGlynn, Hays would only expose the building to the possibility of another expensive repair.

g) The sidewalk lighting fixtures have been installed. However, there is a problem with the old wiring shorting out (uphill side from entrance area). JAL is getting estimates for repair which may require full replacement of the wiring between the units and the building.

h) Abassi has completed the remaining parking garage floor and wall repairs (around the main water gate valve).

i) There was an update on the parking garage clean-up and the Board reviewed exactly what items can be kept in the garage. Rules & Regulations were discussed. Rules #15 was read: "The parking spaces may not be used for any purpose other than to park passenger automobiles, excluding specifically, trucks, commercial vehicles or trailers."

In response to an owner's letter, there was further discussion as to whether any single parking space is legally titled for the use of two cars. Victor Bellini, the building's very first unit owner, once again recited that certain spaces were initially sold by the Sponsor for multiple vehicles at a price greater than the $3,800 specified in the prospectus for one of the 16 single spaces in the garage. However in a court suit that followed, the multiple-car spaces were declared void, potential purchasers lost their multiple-vehicle rights, and they received refunds for the difference between the single-car $3,800 outlined in the Highview II Prospectus and the additional rights they had hoped to purchased. It was noted that one of the issues that has brought this concern to the Board is that all cars in the garage have to turn around before exiting and the yellow lines defining the spaces also define the areas open for others to use for turning/maneuvering space, and that only a common understanding of the limits of a parking space to one car keeps all owners from bringing multiple cars into the garage and parking them anywhere in the garage without limits.

Since there was still an unanswered question as to whether the parking space owned by unit 1-J has legal documentation allowing for two cars, Ogman will request a copy of the documentation from the owner. Ogman will update the Board on her conversation about this with 1-J at the next meeting.

It was noted that the super is supposed to be washing the garage out on a monthly basis. Until two years ago, this task was specifically stated in writing in the super's job description as to be performed on a monthly basis. Two years ago, the schedule was modified and the monthly washing was removed so that it would be performed in winter only as needed. It was questioned exactly how often this task is currently being performed. Ogman will report back to Board with the monthly maintenance log which is to be part of the monthly management report in any case.

j) There was discussion of the new landscaping contract with Greco Landscaping. Jennifer Ogman stated that Greco Landscaping's performance was not satisfactory and the situation was serious enough that the Board must decide on a new contractor within the next 1-2 weeks if the lawn is to be salvaged before summer heat.

Specific problems and conversations with Greco were discussed. It was also noted that when Greco met with Bellini to review the corrective actions necessary, Greco agreed but did not follow through. Confirming Greco's accountability to Bellini, the Board re-affirmed Bellini as chair of the Landscaping Committee and as a matter of process that Bellini would be the primary representative from the Board in any discussions with landscapers and evaluation of their satisfactory performance.

The Board asked whether the decision on a new landscaper could wait until the June Board meeting and was told by Ogman that it could not. Ogman stated that by mid-June, when the weather gets much hotter, it will be too late to resolve all the lawn maintenance problems created by Grego's inattention. The Board voted unanimously to dismiss Greco as soon as new contractors can be interviewed and contract costs compared, and Grecos contract can be reviewed by Swaaley. Ogman will review the situation with Swaaley. Ogman will then work with the Landscaping Committee chairman, Victor Bellini, to summarize the proposals and Bellini will make a recommendation to the full-Board by email for the approval of a new contractor within two weeks. Once approved by the Board, Stefanie will sign the new contract.

k) Four proposals were received from Greco Landscaping for shrubbery replacement. Bellini will take these estimates for comparison to other contractors and make a recommendation to the full-Board as soon as possible following the finance meeting deliberations.

l) Elevator landing tile has been replaced on the 6th floor and the Board has had an opportunity to review. The super will now continue down through the rest of the floors.

m) There was no progress on replacing the entrance area's three floor mats. It was noted that the current mats are now tearing at the edges and perhaps even beyond use as the spare set. Dirt and grease in the mats is now being tracked inside the building, yet for slip concerns the mats can't be removed without the replacements in hand. By unanimous vote, the Board appointed Boynton and Bellini to decide on the entrance mats and have them ordered at once, as approved last November.

n) Stairwell painting. The stairwell painting project was completed by the super. However, one (and possibly three) residents ignored the "wet paint" signs and yellow tape across the doorway and walked on the wet paint. Only one resident was observed on the video tape and that person has agreed to help the super re-paint the affected areas.

The meeting was adjourned at approximately 10:55 p.m.