Board Present: Makarand
(Mak) Dehejia, Monique Fridell, Al Muller, Lyle Schwartz, Rhonda Taller,
Christopher Wemple
Board Absent:
Zlatan Beca
Others Present:
ECA General Manager MaryAnn Hall, Assistant Manager Romaine Cureton, Jeremy
Tucker (ECA legal counsel, Lerch Early & Brewer)
This summation
will focus on highlights of the meeting. Mac Dehejia chaired this Board
meeting.
Legal Report:
Legal counsel provided
new information on building-wide non-smoking policies as is happening in other comparable
Montgomery County, MD condominiums and co-ops (Grovesnor Park 2 & 3 and
Promenade). The Board has directed him to draft new ECA rules to eliminate
smoking in all common elements which include balconies and a new bylaw proposal
to eliminate smoking in all units. The bylaw proposal was considered previously
by the owners but did not pass. The rule proposal will be sent to all owners who
will have 15 days to submit comments before the potential Board vote which is
binding on the rule change.
He will also
draft the bylaw change which will be put to a vote by all owners. It will include a grandfathering provision, which
will likely have a town hall meeting about it before going to a positive vote
of 60% of the total ownership in good standing to be approved. Another bylaw
change be drafted for ownership consideration requiring owners to have
insurance to cover damages not covered by the ECA master insurance policy as
well as covering any required deductible if the damage starts in an individual
unit. New Montgomery County law emphasizing that owners have adequate home-owners
insurance to cover claims requires only a positive vote of 50% of the total
ownership percentage. He said a new bylaw will be written to conform with new
Montgomery County law emphasizing that owners have adequate home-owners
insurance to cover claims.
Treasurer’s Report:
ECA Treasurer
Lyle Schwartz reported that the Elizabeth is back on the desirable list
regarding real estate sales and accessing mortgages and insurance. The Budget
& Finance Committee has new leadership in Jimmy Whalen. The Committee is
working on improving financial information packages to eliminate redundancy,
improve clarity, and provide useful information to the Board for better
decision-making. The Treasurer’s report, which is more detailed, will be
accessible on BuildingLink.
Management Report:
Garage Project:
Step one (chain
dragging, to find cement weakness that needs repair) will be completed June 28,
2018. Results show more work needed than expected on G-1 & G-4 but less
work needed for G2 & G-3.
Step two
(concrete repair) is expected to begin July 9. So far, our contractor CPR does
not have the work permit needed from Montgomery County. CPR will use week of
July 2 to bring in equipment and supplies.
Landscaping—Legend Landscaping will
replace certain shrubs on the pool patio next week.
HVAC filters—Despite recent efforts
to educate attendees in other monthly board meetings, the question continues to
surface as to whether a suitable grade of HVAC filter is being supplied by the
Association. The MERV 4 filters used by our maintenance staff is ideal for our
purpose as long as they are changed every six months. Those wishing other MERV
graded filter may choose to buy themselves and can get help from our staff in
replacing the old filter at no charge.
Window washing—The window cleaners will return
July 2-6 to correct any windows not properly washed this spring. The Fall
window washing will take place November 1-2, 2018.
Fire Marshall Inspection—June 18 inspection was
completed and passed. However, the Fire Marshall asked for: a door closer put
on the Diving School door in the Arcade, trash chute door locks replacement on
three different floors. Our GM is arranging meetings for Elizabeth residents to
review what they should do when the fire alarm sounds and to ask questions.
More information may be seen in the June 26,
2018 Management Report which may be obtained in the office.
Communications Committee:
Celesta Jurkovich and Judy Gann are
working on a review of existing Elizabeth rules on building-wide communications
and use of public spaces in the building. As a first step, they are
surveying the policies of three other FH condos (4620, Carleton and Willoughby)
to gather information about their experiences/rules on these topics. The
Carleton is also has begun reviewing their communication rules and their Board
lead person on the project is interested in having ongoing contact. They
also use Building Link for communications.
Gary Costello
and Chris Wemple have also volunteered to get involved in the building
communication issues, including restarting a regular newsletter for
owners/residents. However, to develop consensus concepts on each of these
reviews and identify what is possible and practical for new initiatives, more
Building owners and residents’ participation is needed. It is likely these
two projects will be split up as they move forward so volunteers can
participate in whichever issue is of interest to them. Anyone
interested in participating in either of these reviews and research should
contact Celesta Jurkovich, #1211 who is available at cjurkovich@verizon.net
or 301-657-8134.
Refurbishing Committee:
This group
(Tobi Esler, Judy Gann, and Suzan Stafford) met to recommend immediate measures
to spruce up the hallways. Five recommendations were made: replace chairs with
benches (if there is a budget for a temporary fix), use uniform light bulbs throughout
the property, repair wallpaper as needed, remove notices from tables, and
procurement inexpensive centerpieces for these tables.
Other Items:
Car Charging Stations: The Board is again exploring the
installation of electric car charging stations in the garage. Information on the concept which was
considered previously will be reviewed and costs involved will be determined as
well how to charge those who would use such facilities
Owner Maintenance Requirements for HVAC
Units: The Board also
discussed distributing general information to all owners on appropriate unit
owner maintenance requirements for HVAC units to avoid leak problems.
