On April 20,
2017, the Elizabeth Condominium Association held a program to allow candidates
running for the Elizabeth Condominium Board of Directors to present themselves
to the ECA community. The event was organized by the nominating committee,
headed this year by Jerry Feldman.
Eight candidates
are running. All are resident owners living in The Elizabeth except Monique
Fridell. Five were present at the Meet-the-Candidates program. Two of the three
absentees sent opening and closing statements.
The candidates
are:
Zlatan Beca
Charles Bressler
Peg Downey—absent,
opening & closing statements presented
Molly
Frantz—absent, opening & closing statements presented
Monique Fridell
Alfred Muller
Rhonda Taller
Christina
Theoharis—absent, no statements provided
First I would
like to thank the candidates for running because being on the ECA Board
requires a great deal of time and effort. I can attest to this demand on time
and energy having just served as an interim Board member when Jim Jones
resigned to focus on a new job with international travel.
As a long-time
owner (since 1978), I think it is helpful to understand whether a candidate has
previously served on an Elizabeth Condo Association Board. To prepare my
thoughts on the overall set of candidates, I asked that they email me their
closing statements. I received closing statements from: Zlatan Beca, Peg Downey,
Molly Frantz, Monique Fridell, and Rhonda Taller.
New to the ECA Board:
Zlatan
Beca
Rhonda Taller
Christina
Theoharis
Sitting Board Member:
Peg
Downey
Former Board Member:
Charles
Bressler
Molly Frantz
Monique Fridell
Alfred Muller
THOUGHTS
ON THE NEWCOMERS
Newcomers to the
Board of Directors can be a good influence on a board, bringing in new ideas and
different ways of working together. The emphasis here is showing up to do the
work.
Zlatan Beca, Rhonda
Taller, and Christina Theoharis all have substantial business experience as
borne out by their candidate biographies included in the ECA annual meeting documents.
Both Beca and Taller have expressed a willingness to work on behalf of our
community to improve and strengthen our community.
Beca said in his
closing remarks:
“The issues
facing our condominium are clear; we need to improve the infrastructure, our finances
and culture. The only way to achieve this is by working together, carefully assessing
the issues, evaluating recommendations from qualified experts, listening to our
neighbors and staff, and for all Directors to work as an effective team with the
General Manager. … I hope you will give me the opportunity to work hard on your
behalf, to protect our interests, champion improvements, move our condominium
forward in the 21st century, and bring a culture of cooperation and
respect to our community.”
Taller said in
her closing statement:
“My priorities are improving the financial position of The
Elizabeth and changing the tone of communications in the building to one
of a more cohesive neighborhood
all working toward the same goals.
I will work hard if chosen for a board seat to represent all the owners’ interests in
every scenario. I believe as owners we
have a mutual goal of living in a great building with a ‘healthy’ financial position moving
forward.”
Theoharis did
not appear for the Meet-the-Candidates program and failed to send opening and
closing remarks for that event when she determined she was unable to attend.
She wrote in her Statement of Candidacy that she has lived in the Elizabeth for
12 years but: “I have not been an active participant when it comes to
committees or social functions…”
THE
SITTING BOARD MEMBERS
For candidates who are seeking re-election, we
have a clear and current record of their statements and votes. This year, we have one sitting board
member seeking re-election.
Peg Downey has
been a constant, attending board meetings either in person or by
teleconference. Her voting record supports her thoughtful approach to group
decision-making on behalf of the Elizabeth community. In her closing remarks,
she wrote: “I believe the primary function of the Board of Directors is to
handle the business of the Association in a professional manner that will
preserve—or even enhance—property values by maintaining the hard structure of
the building. But, also this ideal Board should seek to nourish a healthy
relationship amongst all the building’s residents. …I am committed to preserving
the value of your investment in The Elizabeth. I am also committed to doing so
while seeking respectful communication within our home—thus bolstering our
property values and our reputation while preserving the feel of a real home.”
RECKONING
FORMER BOARD MEMBERS AND THEIR RECORDS
In the recent
past, when some of the Association members started lobbying for the replacement
of windows and balcony doors and we were told in 2008 and 2009 by the Board
president “run to failure” (meaning the Board was not going to fix anything
until it was too broken to function), Board members included:
Monique Fridell
(2007-2010),
Al Muller (2007-2011,
2013-2014),
Charles Bressler
(2009-2012), and
Molly Frantz
(2010-2011).
Of great concern
today is having enough Association money to pay our bills and our loan as well
as keep enough money in our reserve fund to ensure we are solvent, because
insolvency is a deal breaker to potential buyers and lenders. Over the years, our
boards were not savvy enough to build up our savings so that we could
comfortably manage our capital improvements for such projects as window and
balcony door replacement, elevator refurbishment, heating and cooling upgrades,
etc. How we build our reserve fund has largely relied on increasing the
condominium fee since we have no provision in our bylaws for implementing a
special assessment except by a 75% positive vote of all owners.
In 2008, the
Board which included Fridell as treasurer and Muller as an at-large director, voted for no increase in the condo fees
based on the unrealistic possibility that residents would save enough energy so
that the Association would realize a 10% drop in energy costs. Muller made the
motion for the zero percent increase and Fridell explained it. The energy savings
did not occur and, in 2009, the Board which included Fridell as treasurer and
Muller and Bressler as at-large directors passed a 10% increase in condo fees.
In Bressler’s
Statement of Candidacy, he writes “HARMONY – TRANSPARENCY” as his principle
platform as he moves on in this statement to attack the sitting Board and
president by saying they are using the ECA legal counsel to represent themselves
and not the Association. This kind of unfounded accusation was part of the discourse written
into the three installments of misinformation by the “Radio Free Elizabeth” group
which included Bressler and Muller. While Bressler said during the Meet-the-Candidates
program that he was sorry for his role in supporting the Radio Free Elizabeth group,
his candidacy statement isn’t consistent with his apology or his “Harmony”
platform.
Among the things
Muller said were:
—The Association
got nothing for its $5 million loan. (This is the loan that paid for leaking
windows and balcony doors. Muller made this claim that the Association got
nothing for the $5 million more than once during the Meet-the-Candidate program.)
Also, it should be noted that the signing of the loan note was October 15,
2013, and Muller served on the Board responsible for acquiring that loan.
—He disagrees
with people who want to run The Elizabeth Condo Association as a business. He
prefers to run the Association as a community. For the record, the Elizabeth is a $5 million business.
—He prefers a “pay
as you go” plan.
—He said that
the $22,000 spent on the grand piano that sits in the lobby was “small
potatoes.” For the record, Muller purchased the piano with his credit card and
then caused a big fight among Board and Association members when he demanded
reimbursement. The Board never gave him advance permission for this purchase.
Also consider
this—if you pay $1000 per month in condo fees, it would take two years to pay
for that piano, if all the money was going toward that expenditure only. In my
financial accounting, $22,000 is a large sum of money for an item we did not
need since we had an upright piano that had been donated by an owner.
In Muller’s
Statement of Candidacy, he writes that he wants “to help restore financial
stability so we prioritize urgent repairs and maintenance without excessive
condo fees…” An Association member asked Muller how he would do this and he provided no details. All of Muller’s statements
taken together raise many questions about his grasp of financial issues that
confront an Association of over 350 unit owners.
Claiming an
issue of transparency, in his opening statement, Muller attacked the sitting
Board regarding a visit from a developer who will be building next door to The
Elizabeth. He characterized this as an illegal
meeting. What Muller said was typical of the misinformation written into the
news from “Radio Free Elizabeth” group and which, Muller as a signatory, endorsed.
Luckily, the ECA General Manager MaryAnn Hall provided a clarification of what
happened during that visit to the Executive Session of the ECA Board, a visit
similarly made to the other condominiums of Friendship Heights, and how when
the developer veered into material that should be presented to the entire
Association, our legal counsel shut down the developer’s presentation and
invited the developer to attend an open Board meeting if they wished to make a
presentation to the community.
Unfortunately, Frantz’s
opening statement provided erroneous information about ECA finances, showing a
lack of understanding about basic accounting. Recently and similarly, Frantz
had written a letter asking questions and making erroneous assumptions about
the current financial picture and that letter was answered by the auditors of
GoldKlang Group and posted this past week on our BuildingLink System. Because Frantz prides herself on her “ability
to develop and analyze numbers and spreadsheets” (as stated in her closing
remarks), her recent misunderstandings about the ECA financial picture is
troubling. Also, please keep in mind that Frantz served as assistant treasurer
and treasurer during her 2010-2011 tenure on the Board.
Additionally, on
August 15, 2011, Frantz resigned from the Board in protest saying, “Instead of
focusing on and working towards what best serves the Elizabeth, I experience a
Board that is replete with personal ill-will, petulance behavior, hidden
agendas, and a penchant for taking offense at the slightest opportunity.” At
the time of Frantz’s resignation, Bressler was president and shortly after her resignation,
Bressler was forced to resign by a group of Association members concerned about
Bressler’s questionable financial practices. However, by October 24, 2011, Bressler,
at his request, was re-instated and took the office of vice-president. Frantz
also asked to be re-instated but by the time of her request, her position as Board treasurer had been filled.
QUESTIONS
TO CONSIDER IN CHOOSING YOUR NEXT SET OF BOARD MEMBERS
Do you want a
Board member:
—who declared
candidacy but failed to attend the Meet-the-Candidates program and didn’t send either
an opening or closing statement?
—who does not
live in the building?
— whose policy has been frequently presented as a run to failure—wait
to repair building infrastructure only when it fails?
—who has a
history of attacking a sitting Board and its president?
—who lacks a
realistic understanding of business and/or accounting practices?
— who has contributed to dis-harmony and misinformation by writing
and signing the “Radio-Free” under-the-door memos.
Finally, do you
want a board that will work together on behalf of everyone in the Association?
That only leaves the question about what we can do as a group to encourage
polite and civil behavior among attending Association members who seem to
forget that serving on The Elizabeth Condominium Board is a voluntary position.
Check
BuildingLink for additional information such as the recent GoldKlang letter to
Molly Frantz and various minutes of the ECA Board. This blog also has
additional information.
