10/4/15 Town Hall Meeting on Property Management RFP Process

Board Members present: Sharon Bobb, Pat Batey, John McNerney

Folake Fabunmi, a member of the RFP Committee currently reviewing proposals from property management companies, presented an overview of the RFP process. Then questions and comments were invited from Association members. Here are some of the highlights.

Communications between the residents, owners (onsite and off), Board, and management company was commented on and emphasized in a variety of ways. Association members are interested in timely responses to their inquiries (whether done through email, BuildingLink, and/or phone calls) from a management company and some, though not all, were interested in more use of BuildingLink, our web-based service. Most agreed that communications should be done in a variety of ways to ensure that everyone can expect to receive timely information. This would include paper, email, BuildingLink, elevator notices, etc. In particular, the management company should follow up on issues reported to front desk and have clear procedures to encourage office/front desk coordination.

Financial Management was a matter of big concern. Such concerns voiced included:

—Integrating the financials with the maintenance budget and improvement plan (MR&R capital improvement plan); communicating on budget matters more clearly, especially dealing with condo fees.

—Presenting financial information in as simple a way possible so that everyone can understand.

—Budgeting and accounting for capital expenditures and appropriately tracking variances need to be emphasized.

—Understanding how to manage and update a capital management plan, such as the one the Elizabeth is currently undergoing.

—Understanding the management company’s responsibility in the procurement processes done on behalf of the Association, especially when the management company has made a vendor recommendation.

—Acquiring a robust database for daily updated and integrated information to provide custom reports as needed.

Human Resources. A number of questions were raised, particularly around the issue of keeping our current property management company. Some people advocated for keeping the Legum & Norman to maintain continuity with the employees.

—Can we keep some of the current employees if Legum & Norman is not selected as the ECA property management company?

—Can we give some points to Legum & Norman given their work on the capital improvement projects that the Elizabeth has completed?

—What are the trade offs between having a general manager who works directly for the ECA versus one who works for the property management company? The focus should be on competence.

—Can we start doing annual evaluations of property management personnel who work for the ECA?

Other areas of concern for our next property management team:

— Record Keeping.  There should be a clear record of current residents and owners in the building.

—Rentals. Ability of the management company to work proactively with the Board in an advisory capacity, especially around the topic of limiting the number of rentals in the building.

—Teamwork among management, Board and residents.

For the record, in the six years that Legum & Norman has been our management company, they have never been evaluated. While L&N has been in our employ, they have been given salary increase without annual performance evaluations.