Highview Condominium II
Board of Directors - Meeting Minutes
August 13, 2002, 7:30 p.m.

The Tuesday, August 13, 2002 meeting of the Board of Directors began at 7:30 p.m.

In attendance were Board members Vincent Alfano, Victor Bellini, Robert Boynton, Bill Geary, Stephanie Greenberg, Bob Malta, Frank Mattera, and Miriam Montalvo. Also in attendance was J.A.L. Diversified Management representative Jennifer Ogman. Absent from the meeting was Board member Carl DiLorenzo.

I. Minutes: The Minutes from the July 9, 2002 Board meeting were not available for approval.

II. Financial:

a) On August 13, 2002, the operating account balance was $10,520.82. The Reserve accounts totaled $103,336.80.

b) $5,000 was transferred from the reserve account to the operating account to cover current bills. This transfer was necessary due to a cash flow problem created by three delinquent owners whose outstanding balances exceeded that amount. The accounts of all three delinquent owners are with attorney Mike Swaaley for legal action. The arrears report was reviewed.

c) Desantis & Shall indicates that a draft of the audit will be available by the end of August. Maxwell-Kates was unable to provide any valid explanation to DeSantis & Shall for the several mysterious vendor bills and they were removed from Highview II's records.

III. Legal:

a) Jeromi Industries antenna has been offered a settlement reflecting the additional installation work performed by Quality Antenna to complete the job. Quality Antenna confirmed that the equipment installed by Jeromi was of excellent quality and that the building had paid a fair price, however various pieces were installed upside down, backwards, etc. Quality Antenna re-installed the equipment properly and will be returning one more time to finish the job by raising the antenna wire for the laundry room 10' feet off the roof - correcting the NYC building code violation that initially led to the building withholding Jeromi's payment.

b) Building property: Jennifer Ogman reported that the new refrigerator purchased last fall for the super's apartment remains in John Mangione's apartment. Jennifer reminded the Board that the unit was first noticed as missing in April when it was not available for food/beverage storage at the building's Coffee Hour event. She had spoken to Mangione in mid-June about the building's refrigerator, discussed how it had ended up in Mangione's apartment, and requested its immediate return. Ogman was told it would be in the building's possession by the end of the week. As of this August Board meeting, it has still not been returned and Ogman reported that Mangione has recently refused to return it, indicating that he will only do so when he's done with it. The Board discussed and agreed that if it was not returned by the court date, the cost of replacement would be part of the case against the super. The receipt for its $419.97 (plus tax) purchase last summer was verified as on file.

c) Coinmach washing machines: JAL is currently waiting for Coinmach to respond to condo attorney, Mike Swaaley. There have been several offers and counter-offers. None of the offers makes up for the $10,000 paid by a previous management company to Coinmach approximately seven years ago. As J.A.L. has pointed out to the Board, buildings usually receive a signing bonus of thousands of dollars for signing such a contract - rather than rece paying the vendor for renovation work and receiving no signing bonus. In the current negotiations, CoinMach has offered signing bonuses of up to $5,000 as well as room renovation. And, although the vendor said the $10,000 paid seven+ years ago by Highview II to CoinMach was for renovation work to the room, their signed contract indicated that renovation work would be performed at CoinMach's expense. Written correspondence of the last two years between Maxwell-Kates and CoinMach reflected this debate and CoinMach's unsatisfactory answers. None of the current Board members were on the Board at the time of the $10,000 payment, years ago.

d) Unit owners in breach of by-laws: Nine non-resident unit owners are currently in violation of the bylaws lease regulations. These cases will receive a final warning letter from JAL, then a $500 fine in addition to the legal action specified by the bylaws (Bylaws Article VII, Section 1-b and Building Regulations 2,3,and 8).

e) Building Superintendent: Miguel Gonzalez' court date for eviction is now scheduled for August 28, 2002.

IV. Old business:

a) Apartment inspections: Jennifer Ogman reported that owners continue to return the forms reporting water damage from neighbors and exterior leaks.

b) Annual Meeting: Tentatively scheduled for September 17, 2002.

c) Elevator Floor: Following the constructive criticism of three owners, a committee of Jill Bellini, Sanchie Bobrow, Tamara Keshecki, will work with Stefanie Greenberg to choose a new/revised floor pattern for the elevator. As the sole Board member of the committee, Stefanie Greenberg will be responsible for providing the final recommendation to the Board for approval.

d) Locks on the garage doors were replaced following an inspection that determined that the overhead door's key lock had deteriorated to the point that it was no longer secure. A squirt gun shot into the no longer water-proof switch would have shorted the electrical circuit and opened the door.

e) The boiler room door is being replaced at a cost approximately $800. This follows a recurrent problem with the boiler's pollution alarm sounding and a resident calling the fire department - who broke down the locked door. Star Boiler had already been called about the problem and it is they who have the building's NYC license to run it. It was noted that the system does not allow for the alarm to be disabled until the boiler is re-started and that two years ago the building was fined $1,000 by NYC when the alarm bell was disabled by the previous super in such an incident.

f) Resident complaint: John Mangione complained to management that his stove had been removed from the compactor room. Jennifer Ogman noted that no one knew the stove was anyone's personal property and it was assumed that it had been in the compactor room for disposal. Prior to disposal, it had been offered to the weekend maintenance person and Lou declined to accept the used stove without knowing it's condition. John was reminded that the storage was unauthorized, such a situation was unfair to the building's 67 other families who are not provided with any storage, and that the building held no responsibility for the stove. Jennifer noted that the stove was still awaiting garbage pickup in the refuse cage two weeks later, but that Mangione was obviously not interested in recovering the stove.

g) Redwood lawn furniture: The Board authorized Victor Bellini to sell the building's redwood lawn furniture. The furniture has been in storage since the building first opened, when it was determined that the roof was not appropriate for recreational use. Victor successfully sold the super's small 24" stove on Ebay this past month (which had been replaced with a standard 30" range during renovation) and expects to sell the furniture the same way.

h) Master antenna: Apartment 5-F is still having problems with reception from the master antenna (no reception at all from any station). Otherwise, all antenna problems have been corrected according to Ogman and residents are reporting good service (channels 2-4-5-7-9-11-13).

i) Repair of the rear wall garage leaks (by epoxy injection) has been completed. Front cracks awaiting preliminary landscaping estimates.

j) Stefanie Greenberg cited dissatisfaction with Mike, the temporary super of the last two weeks. The Board agreed with Jennifer Ogman to give Rob, one of our two interviewees, a try for the next two weeks. There was discussion of the current status of J.A.L.'s continuing preliminary interviews. Although Jennifer Ogman has met with a number of additional candidates, no additional and satisfactory candidates have appeared for the Board to meet.

V. New Business: There was no new business.

The meeting was adjourned at approximately 10:30 p.m.