Highlights of ECA Board Meeting January 25, 2023

 Board Present: Joe Bucherer (president), Karen Bues, Bianca Coles, Francine Klein, Elisa Siegel, Jeremy Siegfried, Christopher Wemple

 

Others Present: Richard Springer, former General Manager; Jeremy Tucker (ECA Legal Counsel, Lerch Early & Brewer), Leeanne Weir (incoming General Manager as of Feb 1, 2023)

 

Friendship Heights Village News

Friendship Heights Village (FHV) purchased the “Red House” 4608 North Park Avenue (across from the Elizabeth) September 2022 and currently is running a survey until February 3 to see how the community thinks  the building should be used. To take the survey use this link: https://friendshipheights.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_cUfcqmw2fsmFxqe (Find the survey on the FHVC website under ‘What’s New” / Red House Survey.

 

Try adding this suggestion for how to use the Red House: Create an Activity Room for children, teens and adults that has a ping pong table, pool table, board games.

 

President’s Report

The President kept his remarks short due to time set aside to discuss proposed House Rules.

—Next big project: Elevator renovation. Timeframe to start spring or summer 2023 and will run for one year. Very disruptive but necessary project.

—Replacement of the 50 year old boilers

—Why there was no hot water at the new year: the igniters failed.

—Storage: last chance to claim your things that are illegally in our common storage areas before they are disposed  of. Check with Management office for deadline and access.

—Security Audit by Montgomery County Police: done January 6. Meeting set for February 22 to hear recommendations.

—Upcoming events:

·      April 13—Townhall on Budget

·      April 26—Final Budget

 

 

Discussion of proposed House Rules

 

Over 50 people attended this monthly Board meeting and many residents spoke about the proposed house rules which were written by a committee led by Board member Francine Klein. Many non-committee members attended the open meetings, and many meetings were attended by Board president Joe Bucherer and then General Manager Richard Springer. While many people asked for a townhall meeting on this subject, the Board felt that the public nature of the committee meetings were adequate and that the two hours spent in this Board meeting with resident and Board discussions were additionally adequate coverage.

 

With a couple of points added to the proposed House Rules, this document was unanimously passed. There was some discussion that certain features of the House Rules, particularly pertaining to use of the West Lobby, might be reviewed in six months as to their acceptability to the overall community. Jeremy Tucker commented that the Board should keep an open mind if infractions of the Rules yield abuse that change to the House Rules might be in order.

 

The Board had no interest in editing the document for clarity and conciseness. The Board president said it would be up to the General Manager to carry out enforcement of the rules. One particularly disturbing incident reported at this meeting that points out how our rules are not enforced involved two large dogs living in the building, one of which lunged at the throat of one of our resident owners. Was this dog banished from our building? No, the dog now wears a muzzle.

 

The discussion of the New House Rules raises many questions. For example:

—What is the definition of a large dog?

—How many residents have more than one dog?

—What does the Board plan to instruct the General Manager to do with infractions of House Rules?

 

 

 

Zoom Link to Attend House Rules Discussion at Board Meeting Jan 25!

 I am posting the Zoom link for Board Meeting tonight January 25, 2023 because this is one meeting you should not miss. 

The Elizabeth Condominium Association, Inc.

    Board of Directors’ Meeting

Wednesday, January 25, 2023

6:30 p.m.

 

(Please Plan to Dial in 10 Minutes Before as  Meeting Will Begin Promptly at 6:30 PM)

 

Via Zoom

https://zoom.us/j/7648353586?pwd=c3RWOTZVeTBxcVZ3WlJxSGlHdHJ2Zz09

 

Meeting ID: 764 835 3586     Passcode: Lm5hmS
or

(301) 715-8592

Meeting ID: 764 835 3586   Passcode: 044470

Points to Consider about House Rule Changes

 

 

DOCUMENT REQUIRES LINE EDITING. The proposed ECA House Rules need thorough editing to eliminate redundancy and to establish clarity. Common sense informs us that no one will read a document that does not get straight to the point. This document needs to be part of the package presented to prospective buyers and renters BEFORE they decide to invest time and money here.

 

DOCUMENT REQUIRES A LEGAL REVIEW.

·      Has our legal counsel Jeremy Tucker read the proposed ECA House Rules? If he has, does he approve of this document?

·      I think we are opening ourselves up to lawsuits by allowing children and teens to “play” in our common areas. What is our potential liability for opening our common areas for “play”?

·      Who is going to serve as “lifeguard” to remind them not to run in these areas and to treat our furniture with care?

·      While people who are resident owners may treat lobby furniture and decorations with care, we cannot depend on renters to do the same. Many people, including some owners, may think of this property as a hotel where there is 24/7 cleanup staff.

 

EXPANDED USE OF COMMON AREAS

·      This will cause more wear and tear on our furniture and decorations as well as the physical plant (walls, floors, etc.).

·      This will accelerate renovation schedules and ultimately increase our condo fees.

·      Food in the West Lobby and on the terraces will invite rodents to our property. Rodents are naturally in our community already, but do we want to see them on a regular basis?

·      I’m in favor of Association sponsored events where supervision provides an element of preservation and careful use.

 

NOISE ISSUES. Expanded use of common areas will increase the level of noise and reduce the quality of life at the Elizabeth. It’s guaranteed that more residents will complain putting more stress on staff and Board members. Association sponsored events are more egalitarian and will cause less complaining.

 

BALCONIES. Inviting any kind of birds, including hummingbirds, to our balconies is an invitation to other pests, including bats, rats, and stinging insects.

 

PETS

·      Pets should not be allowed in our West Lobby.

·      Furthermore, it is time that Board enforce pet rules established in our Bylaws and be clear about the definition of one small dog. Keeping the building clean is a huge issue since we constantly have dog waste in all our common areas, especially elevators, that the pet owners do not clean up.

·      To avoid this problem, House Rules can be modified to require owners to carry their dogs in the elevators and throughout the common areas.  This was in our House Rules for many years from the time the Elizabeth opened its doors.  It had the added benefit of assuring that dogs met the requirement in the bylaws to be “small” and “orderly.”  If they can be carried, they are small.  And dogs that are carried are unlikely to urinate or defecate on their owners.

 

ENFORCEMENT OF OUR BYLAWS AND HOUSE RULES

·      Enforcement of Bylaws and House Rules is currently weak and indicates that if House Rules are more complicated that more infractions will occur and cause more contention among the residents.

·      In turn this will put more stress on the staff and on the Board who are tasked with upholding the Articles, Bylaws, and House Rules.

·      Furthermore, most of the infractions against our Bylaws and House Rules occur after the Management Office is closed at 5 pm as well as on weekends and holidays. Therefore, clean up and damage are not attended to promptly. Do we expect to hire more staff as if we were a hotel to manage these problems?

MORE COMMENTS ON NEW ECA HOUSE RULES

 

These are additional comments from Karren Alenier about the proposed ECA House Rules. Additional comments may be posted by others who contact me.

 

ISSUES AFFECTING PROPOSED HOUSE RULES

 

—Limited Resources: The Elizabeth Condominium Association (ECA) has limited resources for the upkeep of our building and well-being. We have invested a large sum of money in our lobbies and (now more than 10 years past) in our hallways. Many of the changes suggest greater wear and tear on our physical plant and more burden on our staff and contractors. Do Association members want our condo fees to increase to cover new and more frequent repairs?

 

—Enforcement of Rules: Many of the proposed changes require much more enforcement and quite frankly, enforcement is weak. Take for example the rules about pets (which come from our Bylaws—one small dog is allowed. How many residents now have medium to large dogs and more than one dog?

 

NOTE:  IN THE ECA BYLAWS: see the Declaration, pages 6-7, Section 3 regarding powers and duties of the Board of Directors.  The Board has a stated duty to "promulgate AND ENFORCE such rules and regulations.”

 

COMMENT on the overall document:

The house rules has redundant parts and needs to be thoroughly edited for conciseness and clarity.  Has our condo lawyer reviewed this document? Before people move in, they should be issued copies of the Articles, Bylaws and House Rules and made to sign they have read the House Rules.

 

SECTION 2.  RESPECT FOR OTHERS

E.         Residential Corridors, Stairwells and Storage Closets

3.         Door Decorations 

 

COMMENT: Has the committee working on house rules checked with the Montgomery County fire marshal about the safety of door decorations?

 

https://www.lashcondolaw.com/more-about-holiday-decorations/

 

…the Toronto Sun reported on a condo owner who was asked to remove a Christmas wreath from the door to his unit, as this was a breach of the condo corporation’s rules.  At a casual glance hanging a wreath on the door seems harmless.  However, in response to the article, Fred Collins, Chief Instructor at the Ontario Fire College wrote to the Sun explaining that in the event of a fire, one wreath could within seconds fill the condo corridor with toxic gases sufficient to kill all the residents of the floor who would use that corridor as a means of escape. 

 

G.        Conduct in the Lobbies and other Common Areas

2.         Eating and drinking in the Lobbies and Common

 

COMMENT: I object to allowing unscheduled people and private events to bring food into the West Lobby and on the terraces for several reasons and this includes my objection to renting out the West Lobby for private events . We have limited staff capacity to clean after such events which usually occur at night or on the weekends. Very few people who rent the party room can thoroughly up after their events. However, that area is closed off after the event. (This is good because any kind of mess is contained in one closed area.) I live on a lower floor and I am concerned that such events will attract rodents. Wear and tear on our lobby is also a factor. I think that people who want more events in our beautiful West Lobby should join the social committee to plan and execute more frequent community events for everyone.

 

3.         Playing in the Lobbies and other Common Areas

 

COMMENT: Our common areas are not set up for children to play. Allowing play is an invitation for a lawsuit. Children and teens do not follow rules easily and we have no “house lifeguards” to monitor them and their parents (who also may not be fully cognizant of their obligation to follow house rules).

SECTION 6.  BALCONIES

F.         Deterring Pigeons as a Health Hazard

 

            Pigeons are a serious health hazard.  Occupants should not feed pigeons from their balconies; or create any situation that draws them to balconies (such as feeding other birds).  Unobtrusive light-weight white or clear plastic spikes (readily available for purchase on-line) may be securely attached to balconies to deter pigeons. Residents may feed hummingbirds, which do not attract pigeons or other pests. 

 

COMMENT: Feeding any kind of bird from our balconies can encourage pests and that includes hummingbirds whose feeders can attract bats and rats, not to mention ants, wasps and bees. House owners often mount hummingbird feeders on poles away from their house.

 

https://homebirdfeeder.com/do-hummingbird-feeders-attract-rats/

 

 

 

 

 

 

 SECTION 7.  BUILDING EXTERIOR

 

COMMENT: I suggest adding a statement about prohibition of window decorations. The exterior of our building should be uniform in its appearance and that is why we mandate window coverings that are white or off-white. Holiday decorations, particularly ones that flash like a neon sign, disturb surrounding neighbors and give a commercial accent to our residence. The ECA covers holiday decorations with an annual installation of lights on the street level.

SECTION 10.  USE OF COMMON AREAS

A.        Special Events

4.         Rental of the Party Room and West Lobby Bar Area for Private Events

 

b.         Reservation Process

i.  Who may Rent

 

            An Owner or resident may only rent space on his or her behalf…

 

COMMENT: I object to renting out West Lobby Bar Area for private events as stated in Section 2. NOTE: the lead sentence is grammatically incorrect. It should read: An Owner or resident may rent space only on his or her behalf …

 

iii.  Guest List and Contractor Information Required 

 

COMMENT: While this is designed to help the  concierge with security I think the partygiver should station a volunteer at the front desk to assist with admitting invited people.

 

SECTION 14.  PLAY

 

COMMENT: Unsupervised children of any age physically playing in our common space is an invitation for a lawsuit. The Elizabeth is not set up for children’s activities. We have no activity room such as a room with pool or ping pong tables and we have no playground. I have seen teenagers using the West Lobby in ways that abuse our furniture and decorations. Would their parents allow them to abuse their personal furniture? Probably not but who is going to stop such behavior, especially after the Management Office is closed? And is it the Staff’s responsibility anyway?

 

SECTION 15.  PETS

 

COMMENT: The pet population at the Elizabeth has gotten out of control, we have residents with large dogs and multiple dogs. The Board needs to take action and be reminded that it is their responsibility to contact offending residents to resolve these issues. The Management Office should be screening newcomers to make sure they know the rules.

 

Review of New ECA House Rules

 *********ALERT

 

The Elizabeth Condominium Board will devote most of the January Board Meeting to discussing the revised ECA House Rules.

 

Whether you know it or not, Association members have been invited to send in comments to the Board via the management email:  ecamanager@elizabethcondo.com.

Joe Bucherer, our Board President, told me today (1-12-23) that you should send in your written cooments early next week. I'm going to say by Wednesday noon January 18

Where can you get the revised ECA House Rules?  Go either to BuildingingLink and find them there or go to the Management Office and ask Romaine Cureton our assistant manager to provide them to you.

Right now (without proper study of these new rules) what I am concerned about is 

1. allowing people to eat in the west lobby and out on the back patio in private parties

2. the overall issue of how the Association expects to enforce the rules.

Communal living is not an orderly affair.  People are constantly breaking the current house rules.

Our trash rooms are a mess despite the rules and signs to explain what is allowed.  Allowing people to eat in communal areas is going to increase the chance of rats invading our property. We have had a rat problem in our history so don't think it cannot happen here.

 The dog population in this building has exploded with residents breaking the rules about one small dog, We see residents with 2 dogs. We see residents with large dogs. We experience floors that have been messed on and not cleaned up by offending pet owners.

I urge you to read the draft rules and participate in the comment period.