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.
