Board Present: Lyle Schwartz (president), Zlatan Beca, Makarand (Mak) Dehejia, Francine Klein, Elisa Siegel, Christopher Wemple
Others Present: Romaine Cureton, Assistant Manager (AM) Jeremy Tucker (ECA Legal Counsel, Lerch Early & Brewer), Robin Manougian, Insurance Broker
Meeting was called to order about 7:40 PM
Robin Manougian, our house insurance broker spoke about the implications of the new law that went into effect October 1, 2020 which increases condo owners deductible should something go wrong in your apartment. (e.g. stove/oven fire, lead from your bathtub, toilet, HVAC, etc.). She will provide a brochure to our management office on this subject.
One thing that came up in the course of Q&A was the issue of old breaker boxes and the need to have them inspected for possible replacement. There was a promise from the Board to identify appropriate contractors and possibly negotiate a deal that individual owners could benefit from.
President's Report:
—2020 annual meeting & election completed.
—Appointment of Budget Committee members made.
—Richard Springer, our new General Manager, scheduled to begin working on December 1, 2020, will be introduced at the November 18 Board meeting.
—MaryAnn Hall will assist in the transition to our new management.
—Jimmy Whalen resigned from the Board due to increased workload from his paying job. The Board is now accepting until COB 5 pm November 16 volunteers for consideration to fill the position.
—The Arcade owners are using guest parking excessively, a problem that needs to be addressed.
—Consideration is being given to an additional four-week project to treat and paint the floor of the G4 level. Planning to seek additional bids. (See issues at the end of this report.)
—Work is being done to repair the ceiling at the entrance of G1. (See Management Report.)
—Design work on
corridor renovation completed. Committee and Board will meet November 12. Expectation of having Hartman Group brief owners at some time in the future.
—Looking into a building-wide air flow study. Legal Counsel Jeremy Tucker has a possible contractor to recommend who was used by another client of his law practice.
General Manager's Report
Deaths of Association Members:
—Carmen Venturini, Unit 111
—Brian Murphy, Unit 1704
Garage Project:
—Per the original contract and the checklists, CPR has completed all the work in the garage. The General Manager is preparing the final payment, including the 10% retainage held back during the project. (See issues at the end of this report.)
Extensive repairs to the roof over the driveway entrance to the commercial side were identified in September, requiring that scaffolding be built to make these repairs. CPR asked for $17,500 just to erect the scaffolding. Resident Jimmy Kunkel who is a builder arranged for a contractor who will put up the scaffolding for $3500. O’Connor Plumbing will make the repairs but there is an issue with the possibility that the repair involves asbestos abatement.
Pool:
—Changes were made as to how reservations are handled. However, the online reservation still has not gone live. Some expectation that will happen October 30.
—Current rules allow a 30-minute swim no more than 3 times per week.
—Limited numbers of people can swim during each session. Possibly 2 but maybe more if the swimmers are family members?
Elevators:
Inspections have been done and elevators safety certified.
MOTIONS
—Board voted unanimously go forward with an additional loan paydown.
—Board voted unanimously extend working with Goldklang Group for another two years. (We have already worked with them for four years.)
Dates to Mark in Your Calendars:
-November 18 ECA Monthly Board Meeting on Zoom
Issues from the Floor:
—Window cleaning needed for Tier 02 because rain runoff coming from the building clouds the windows. This tier has no balcony.
Other Issues (not discussed):
The Garage
—Accounting for the detailed costs of the garage project. (We were told in September that we would get these figures in October.)
—The floor of G4 is now being considered for additional concrete crack repairs, smoothing of the floor and application of an epoxy coating. Due to pending cold weather this project would be put on hold until the spring. One proposal put this work at $231,000.
This project raises several questions, especially given the cost and how much has already been spent on garage work in the last three years. My understanding is that the project grossly exceeded the original budget project and many extensions for cost overruns were approved without any clear briefings to the Association.
Here are some questions: Were the cracks in the G4 floor there when the original garage project was evaluated for cost? If so, why weren’t these cracks repaired already? Since the industry doesn’t recommend treating the foundation floor, what advantages besides aesthetics are there to preparing the floor and then treating it with an epoxy coating? Does this epoxy coating hold up since it is the foundation floor? There must be some reasons why the industry doesn’t recommend doing this. What about the additional nuisance factors of noise and dust? Why isn’t regular washing of the entire garage floor sufficient?
The Pool
—How frequently is the pool area disinfected and is it according to Montgomery County regulations? Cleaning was due to change because of the sessions being shortened from 45 minutes to 30 minutes. We heard nothing about this in the Management Report.
Guest Parking
—We were told that Arcade owners are using an excess of spaces but we were not told when residents would be able to have guests use the guest parking.
—Unresolved is the question about why residents with daily care-givers should be allowed to use guest parking. These people should be in rented spaces or else using the resident’s parking.
Pests
—The garage is infested with mosquitoes. Why hasn’t the exterminator been called for this problem.
—Has anyone noticed the numbers of birds visiting our balconies and making deposit there? Can’t something be done to discourage them?
Meeting was adjourned after 9 PM.
