Board Present: Zlatan
Beca, Makarand (Mak) Dehejia, Monique Fridell, Al Muller, Lyle Schwartz, Christopher
Wemple
Board Absent: Rhonda
Taller
Others Present:
ECA General Manager MaryAnn Hall, Assistant Manager Romaine Cureton, Jeremy
Tucker (ECA legal counsel, Lerch Early & Brewer)
President’s Report:
President’s Report had two items: the
garage project which was covered in the GM report with more detail and that a
monthly newsletter will be restarted with a first publication planned for 8/15.
Gary Costello, Robin Schattman and Dorothy Marette will work on it but more
volunteers were encouraged to contact either Board members or Gary to
help. Gary also provided more detail in his subsequent Committee
report. No legal report was presented.
Treasurer’s Report:
ECA Treasurer
Lyle Schwartz on the shift to having the B&F
committee, with the members’ financial expertise, vet financial issues and
provide their recommendations to the Board for possible action. Jimmy
Whalen’s report was the outcome of their first project to streamline the
financial reports. The next project would be making recommendations on
investment of excess funds since the Board has to make decisions quarterly on
paying down the loan principal. To facilitate that process, ECA’s
investment advisor from Morgan Stanley would attend the 8/27 B&F meeting to
provide some general education and background on investment management in
condos. The Board must make a decision on payout amount in October.
Budget and Finance Committee:
Jimmy Whalen reported on the
Committee’s successful effort to re-organize the financial reports to make them
more understandable, tying together various related accounts so the Committee
and owners could, among other things, gauge cash flows and reserve levels more
easily. The committee unanimously approved the changes and asked Gates
Hudson to produce the financials in the new format for the B&F August meeting
to ensure the accounting system could capture all of the necessary
detail. If the committee was satisfied the report was accurate, the Board
could vote on the changes at their September 25 meeting.
Management Report:
Garage Project: An update from written report is that Phase 1B of the garage
project would start on 8/2.
Window washing—The window cleaners return
was delayed to the week of August 13 because of bad weather
Humidity Problems—High humidity in
hallways and units seem to be at the top of the complaint list for residents.
West Tower had a cooling coil replaced and same has been ordered for East
Tower. Nonetheless humidity seems to be causing sweating in various ways.
More information may be seen in the July 31,
2018 Management Report which may be obtained in the office.
Committee Reports:
Newsletter Committee: Gary Costello
described his experience in managing newsletters for other organizations and
that Robin Schattman who had professional experience in graphics and
layout was his partner. With a goal of producing a monthly edition to be
distributed electronically with some printed copies available at the desk, he
had contacted various committee chairs to provided regular updates on building
activities. Contacted were: B&F- Jimmy Whalen; Library- Stephanie
Olshan; Social – Celesta Jurkovich; Fire & Safety – Folake & Monique
Fridell; Short term Refurbishment of Halls – Judy Gann, Tobi Esler, Suzan
Stafford; Ad hoc Task Force on Communications & Party Room rules – Celesta
Jurkovich, Judy Gann & Connie Row, Making a Difference Committee – Molly
Frantz.
An email account now exists ElizCondoNewsletter@Gmail.com to allow any Elizabeth resident
to communicate about the newsletter.
Old
Business:
1.
Fire
& Safety would be working to let residents with mobility issues about what
to do if a fire alarm sounds.
2.
Al Muller described renewed effort to address smoking in the building. ECA’s attorney drafted changes to
the ECA rules to prohibit smoking in common areas and semi-common areas which
includes balconies. Such rules can be implemented by a vote of the
Board. The draft rule would impose a $250 penalty if balcony smoking was
reported after a unit owner had received a warning for a first
infraction. Repeated offenses would also impose additional $250
penalties. The amount was intended to create both a penalty and a
deterrent for violations. The Board voted to distribute the proposed rule to
owners per Bylaw requirements, so it can be considered at the September 25
Board meeting. Owners can comment on the draft rule both before and at
the Board meeting.
A draft Bylaw amendment was also produced that would prohibit
smoking in individual units. An effort was previously made to amend the Bylaws,
a process which requires a vote by owners, a more time-consuming process.
3.
Response to recommendations for minimally refurbishing the halls made at the last Board meeting:
President Beca reported that no additional hall wallpaper exists to do any
patching. However, ceiling tile replacements could be made as a
maintenance project and cords holding furniture in place removed by in-house
staff as time permits. He thought experimenting with brighter and
consistent bulbs in the sconces was a good idea since they could be purchased
at a minimal cost and replaced by in-house staff as part of regular
maintenance. He asked the committee to pursue the lighting issue. A
former Board member provided information that ECA’s lobby designer recommended
using CREE brand 2700 Kelvin (which determines color) bulbs in the sconces to
achieve the appropriate level of hallway lighting. Another resident also
identified some repairs that were needed in the lobby areas. Residents
can make these suggestions for additional maintenance needs using
BuildingLink’s work order system to alert the Management Office to the
problems.
Resident
comment session:
· Board minutes should
be posted on BuildingLink and on the bulletin Board. Chris Wemple
is working on ensuring that past and future documents will be posted.
· Regarding
issues related to evacuating during a
fire alarm,
· It was
suggested that ECA management shift to using
organic cleaners (especially for marble and brass cleaning which affect
residents with pulmonary issues) and for weed control, both for environmental
and health reasons. Contractors who do this are available.
· All notices of building meetings should
list the date, time & location of the event. This is especially
important to encourage new residents to attend.
