2017 Meet the Candidates for the Elizabeth Board

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 21^st 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.