In Attendance 

George Pauley, President; Carlos Vargas, 1st Vice President; Sandra Goldberg, Secretary; Laura Cossa, Treasurer; Steve Hanna, Property Supervisor; Tim Patricio, Property Manager; Mavis Mather, Assistant Manager Business Operations; Michael Rupert, Assistant Manager of Security & Operations; Sara Kacheris, Administrative Assistant Resident Services

Absent

Phoebe Helm, 2ndVice President

Call to Order at 7:37 pm

Unit Owner Open Comments and Questions (Board and Management responses in italics)

Vince DiFruscio – About the dry cleaners lease, I don’t know what plan the Board has if any to replace the cleaners if they were to leave.  I just want to say that if we hire someone for minimum wage to work a 12 hour day would be $90.00 a day and these guys are getting $500.00 a month.  If we were to do it in house we would have to worry about loosing some other services, and if we would have to get an outside cleaner I hope that they would look at the business plan carefully to see if they could get the kind of business that they are anticipating getting.  I think that this building does not sustain the business.  I think that $500.00 a month for these guys is a bargin.  They do a responsible job and its $0.69 per unit per month.  If someone thinks that the value they give this building is not worth $0.69 then I will pay the $0.69. George Pauley stated that the item is on the agenda tonight but the plan is to table that item until we can meet with the Kims.  We will have a meeting to discuss that with them.  Once that happens then we will know what is going to possibly happen or may change or may not change. Carlos Vargas stated that the Board is hoping to have the meeting before Laura goes.  The Board is hampered by only having four members.

Betty Terry Lundy – When you have your meeting with the Kims you might want to keep in mind that if someone else comes in and charges for the collection of packages it will cost the residents a lot more money and the owners a lot more money. George Pauley stated that the Board will be meeting with the Kims, I don’t think that there is intent to have the Kims leave.  I can’t speak for the whole Board but I don’t think that anyone wants the Kims to leave.  What I would like to say is that until we have the opportunity to talk to the Kims don’t make assumptions that something is going to happen.  We just need to meet and soon.

Susan Pestine – I want to know when the door downstairs will be fixed.  I only have one good arm and it is not that good.  I can’t manage that door downstairs by the cleaners.  It’s so tight and then with the wind it seems even worse, its terrible. Carlos Vargas stated that Tim is doing a very good job and he just came up with this very bad price of $9,000.00 to fix this door.  We are looking into the other doors.

Is it possible to make it looser in the meantime?  You could make it looser so that it is more accessible. Mavis Mather stated that maintenance did work on the door and it is as loose as they can get it.  Chuck Brown worked on it and adjusted it as much as he could.  There is nothing else they can do with the structure of the door.

Did they look at the laundry door too? Mavis Mather stated that she did not talk with Chuck Brown about the laundry door but would look into it. George Pauley stated that the Board is looking into getting bids on having automatic doors installed at several points in the building.  The laundry room will be one, the two doors down by the cleaners, and the doors that we have one automatic and one not automatic for the garage entrances.

We spent so much money fixing the garage; it was a lot of money and a lot of energy.  When it snows or rains there are puddles everywhere.  I am afraid, I am not fragile or porcelain but I do have a problem with falling.  Carlos Vargas stated that he was in agreement.  He was coming down a couple of days ago and thinking that we should be able to purchase a wet-vac because it is in our advantage to get the water off the floor. 

I just hate that we spent all that money fixing the garage and this is what happens to it. George Pauley stated that the problem is inherent to when the original slab was poured. Vince was president at the time but I do not believe that there was anything done other than to put it back the way it was.  If there were valleys in it originally they continue to be there now.

Vince DiFruscio – They did work to straighten it out but the problem is that then the water is stagnant in it. Tim Patricio stated that when you do have a waterproof barrier if the water doesn’t have an easy route to one of the drains, it is going to sit there until it dries up.  In this weather when people bring in ice and snow on their car, which you can’t control, then it will sit in those areas that do not lead to the drains.  Michael Rupert does have this on his list to look at because we identified it as an issue.  We are actually looking at solutions to bring to the Board, potentially adding a couple more drains in the problematic areas.  Again this requires an investment but currently they do try to squeegee the water to drain when the janitors and garage attendants walk through on their rounds.  There is not much more that we can do right now, but we will look at potentially presenting the Board with ideas to make this less problematic for you. George Pauley stated that the Board will try to address it, and that Tim is already addressing it.

Miriam Moss – Regarding the planters, there are other things besides putting the trees back in there as before.  Over at 5100 Marine drive what they have done is enclose their planter and then add one large planter on top of it.  It’s very nice and neat and you don’t have to worry about leaking into the garage.  The other thing would be putting in some Japanese miniature trees instead of big things with roots.  I thought too that we could blacktop the drive to match the building instead of the broken up cement, which will not cost as much as ripping up all the cement again. George Pauley stated that the Board voted down the whole front drive project last July.  We are not tearing up the driveway at all.  The driveway is staying as it because it has been determined that structurally there is no problem with the driveway.  There is probably a few spots with crumbles that do need to be addressed.  With the south planter we are not replacing the planter, which would be a costly project, and that planter is not leaking.  The north planter is leaking but the planter in the driveway does not leak into the garage.  The west wall of the driveway planter is crumbling so we are looking at replacing the west wall and doing decorative work so that it matches what we are replacing it with.  Since it is not leaking there is no reason to rip out that whole planter.  The problem with it crumbling is not related to the trees.  There is a design flaw in that planter that the drain is in the middle although the planter slopes down.  The drain is not at the low point of the planter.  It is in the middle so all the water runs down to the west wall and freezes.  Tim is going to report on this but my understanding is that we are going to look at putting a drain in at the low point so that the water does not get stuck there and then we will replace the west section.

The leaking into the garage at one time, in reading our original information from the building, said was from the sign that is there.  The sign was causing the leaking going into the garage.  I don’t know if anyone has looked into the sign. George Pauley stated that we have no leakage into the garage at the present time and have not had leakage in the garage in the recent past.  The north planter is leaking into the garage but not the circle planter.

That’s what I am saying is that sign that is there for the mall is what was leaking.  In putting it in there was something wrong during the original inspection from when the building went condo. George Pauley stated that he did not know if the whole sign was replaced but that we currently did not have leaking from that sign.  We have narrowed the leaking down to the planter and the terrazzo.

The other thing was the walk coming up there but that is not going to be pulled up.  As far as the incline, if we could have that bubble stuff that they put on corners; it would help as far as walking up and down it in bad weather but also because it would cover the doors from when the oil was down there. George Pauley stated that he did not know if we could cover the metal doors but that we would look into it.  What we are focusing on right now is getting the garage handicapped accessible and we are working on bids to do this.  This was set as our first priority because we got the most complaints from it.  That we are moving forward on very quickly and we have some things on tonight’s agenda.  Once we get that done and once we get the two planters fit and that all addressed then we need to look at the front entrance in terms of handicapped accessibility.  I will be honest that this is not on the top of the list because we need to do these other things first.  I hope that’s okay.

Robert Laskov – I have been involved with the Health Club committee for about 12 years, and I know that there have been some problems with getting approval for any expenditure in our budget.  I know that last year we were not able to use our budget and this year is near the end and we have not gotten approval to use some of our budget.  Some of the items are so minor and have been brought up a number of times.  I know that the Board, there were only three people on the last approval and I know that Carlos denied the expenditure for replacing broken fans in the health club.  I know that I have been asking since June, I went and bought one myself I did not care about being reimbursed but we did have the Board of Health close the health club down years ago because of mold growing and we need to have fans in there plus in the summer its like a hot box.  I don’t understand why we don’t get approval to replace a $20.00 fan and I am curious as to why. Carlos Vargas stated that he was wrong with his vote.  Later on I realized that it was a small amount and maybe we can reconsider the item.  I am not in agreement at this particular moment with the budget situation the way that it is, to spend $3,000 to $5,000 on new machines.  Now I don’t use that health club at all, so I am not familiar with it.  I go walk over there all I see is big machines well maintained and there are places that you cannot even walk because there are so many.  Why do we need even more? 

We don’t need more but we need to be able to use our budget to replace when something does break or it’s wearing out.  The health club is utilized by a lot of people it is a wonderful amenity for this building.  It’s a great selling point but we have to be able to maintain it and a machine only has so much life expectancy.  When its time to replace it we should be able to use our budget to pay for its replacement cost.  We have always in the past. Carlos Vargas stated that he understood that we have a maintenance agreement for some machines. 

Machines don’t last forever in the health club. Carlos Vargas stated that maybe we should reconsider, it’s a small amount here and you are right.

I have been asking since June that’s a long time for $20.00 fans and you say no. George Pauley stated that he believed that Marty has a report for us tonight requesting a number of purchases and Sandra was you going to add an amendment or make a motion to add health club purchases to this agenda. Sandra Goldberg stated that she was going to make the motion at the start of the meeting. 

George Pauley stated that he would like to move the committee report up with Lorraine Meyers ASCO report at the beginning of the meeting.  It doesn’t make any since to give the committee re[orts after the Board has voted on something.  Hopefully this will address if not all of your issues at least some of them.  I believe that the intent of the Board is to continue to replace equipment if something breaks or I think it’s the elliptical machine that breaks every week and would be cheaper to buy a new one than to continuously repair it.  Our intent is to do things like that; I am hoping that we will have the votes tonight because those are relatively minor expenditures that were in the report from the last meeting.

Beverly Storemont -Do you think that everybody knows about the recycling on 2P?  I have been down there a couple of times and it’s wonderful but there was nothing there but what I had put in to be recycled.  Do you think that everybody knows about it? George Pauley stated that there was a notice posted.  When the recycling was on the other side of the garage door, when I would put things in they were usually empty.  I would like to say that maintenance was taking it out the moment that items were put in but they are almost doing it but not quite.  It is in the newsletter that will be coming out very soon.  There is quite an article about that in there. 

Vince DiFruscio – When is the newsletter coming out?  We did give it to the Board to review. Mavis Mather stated that she was still waiting for approval from the Board. George Pauley stated that he voted to approve it. Mavis Mather stated that that was the only response that she received from the Board. Carlos Vargas stated that he had approved it. Sandra Goldberg stated that then it was approved. Mavis Mather stated that she would take the newsletter to the printer later in the week.

Laura Cossa stated that she had a comment on the newsletter, it is one thing to advertise businesses here but I would like to see it rotate between different businesses.  This newsletter focus was on the vitamin store.  The next issue should focus on another business because otherwise it looks like an advertisement.

Betty Terry Lundy – This is the first time that we have done a focus on a mall business. Laura Cossa stated that she was just saying that she wanted there to be a rotation with the same amount of details on other businesses in the future. Carlos Vargas stated that the newsletter was a beautiful piece of work. George Pauley clarified that it was the intent to focus on other businesses in future editions of the newsletter.

It was at the Boards request that we put this in and it will rotate between businesses. George Pauley stated that the Board did ask that in addition to focusing on the urban businesses that there was a focus on mall businesses to try to balance it out.  I wish that you could all see the version that we get on our computers because it is in color and it looks so much better than what gets putout to your doors.  The committee puts out a very professional job.  Tim is working on a website for us that it would be available. Tim Patricio stated that when the website is up you will be able to see it there but that you could request an electronic copy and we will email it to you.

The newsletter is also in text form for those that read Braille.  We can send that through email as well.

Sheldon Atovsky – Is it possible not only for newsletters but for any communication, memos, Board minutes, bills statements, to get it online? Tim Patricio stated that if you make a request we will forward it to you.  We are working on some options that we will present to the Board for a website in which this type of stuff would be available.

A website is a whole other deal; I am just thinking that all these things have to be on a computer because otherwise they would not get on the bulletin boards etc.  I don’t know what is going on but I don’t understand why its so hard to just have an email list and throw them out to everyone.

Beverly Storemont – The TV says no data on channel 196 maybe that could be another place to get information out. Tim Patricio stated that again if you make the request we will forward the information to you via email. George Pauley stated that one of the things that we have been doing since Tim came on board is to use his expertise since he is a younger and more adept at computers.  We are moving in the direction of getting as much available as possible.  The website is going to be our first project and I think that what you are saying is a very reasonable request and I hope that we get there.

Sheldon Atovsky – I think that it would be a lot easier than a website to have an email list. Carlos Vargas stated that he just wanted to put into perspective if you ask for email addresses and 300 people from the building give you addresses is there any way that you can send multiple notices at the push of the button?

That’s all it takes, it’s so easy. Carlos Vargas stated that then I think that requesting a memo would be easy.

Marty Fiesler – The problem with that though is the maintenance of that.  If you have a list for a building someone is going to have to maintain a list of addresses for the building tenants and then there is only information that can go out to the owners which is a different list than the tenants.  It’s a good idea but there is going to be a major maintenance process so that somebody will have to spend a lot of time making sure that the addresses stay up to date. George Pauley stated that we all have our own difficulties with just keeping our mailing list current and addresses correct so Marty does raise a good point that we have not had the best success at always having 100% of the correct addresses for the non resident owners.  That is not a reason that we can’t work at it, and try to get there.  We will try to get into the 21st century as soon as we can.

Vince DiFruscio -While on the subject, it would be great if those of us that have automatic payment for our assessments, or those of us that pay months ahead and have a zero balance, instead of getting a paper receipt, or a paper bill could we also get those electronically rather than with paper. Steve Hanna stated that it was coming via Draper and Kramer.  Currently Draper and Kramer is putting together a website called D&K condo where those very items will be available.  We are scheduled to put the first trial run of the website out in the second quarter of this year.  As they do that, those kind of issues will be addressed. George Pauley stated that the owners should be consultants; they are ahead of the curve.

Sheldon Atovsky – I came in late so this might have already been addressed, are you taking any questions about the budget now? George Pauley stated that there was a special meeting of the Board on February 25th, two weeks from tonight that will be the time to come with budget questions.  That whole meeting will be focused on the budget.

Amendments to Agenda

Upon due motion by Sandra Goldberg and seconded by Carlos Vargas, the Board voted unanimously to approve adding health club purchases to the agenda. Upon due motion by Sandra Goldberg and seconded by Carlos Vargas, the Board voted unanimously to table the Drycleaners Lease until there is an opportunity to meet with the Kims.

ASCO Report (Lorraine Meyers)

Unfortunately because of the election ASCO did not meet.  They normally meet the first Tuesday of the month but the election was last week so they are meeting tomorrow.  The Planning and Zoning Committee met on the last Wednesday of January and I thought that you might be interested in knowing that there is a long range plan to develop a major development at Berwyn and Broadway.  They want to make that a major transportation hub serving our community.  They are going to include the renovation of the shopping center, the renovation of the Jewel site, the Metra/CTA/RTA connections, transport from this location directly up to O’Hare, the Jefferson Park station, Ravinia and all of the other parts directly west of here.  The site will be suitable for park and ride as well as the I-go service that they currently have over there.  There will also be commercial development and housing and they are trying to think outside the box.  This is a long range plan it will not happen tomorrow or in five years from now.  They are planning for it to take at least 10 years to accumulate for that development.  On March 15th at Warren Park they are having foreclosure issues addressed and the 48th ward happens to be the most solid in the housing market right now.  There are fewer foreclosures in this area than in any other area in the city.  The major streetscape will be conducted along Broadway from the Wilson yards project all the way to Devon and they say that this is a long range plan so it will not happen next year but it will develop.  This will be long range planning and developing of Broadway.  What they are going to do is fix up the sidewalks and make some parking for the buses to pull in without stopping traffic. Sandra Goldberg asked what kind of housing is coming along at Broadway and Bryn Mawr did they specify the type of housing?

They did not but I would guess that it is going to be condos. Will there be a portion for seniors or for low income?

No they haven’t gone that far.  They are still in the developing of it.  They said to look in the paper because they are starting to acquire land for it and making plans for it in the future.  The other thing is that they have approved another beauty salon, because we don’t have any in this neighborhood.

Vince DiFruscio asked if they said what type of transportation they would be adding, is it going to be another line of a bus or what? They are trying to get as many cars off the road as possible so they will have straight lines going out there.  They are talking about building another L train, it would be like the pink line but straight out to O’Hare.

Carlos Vargas asked what happened to the building on the corner of Marine and Foster, they tore it down.
They are building a new building there it’s the new Admiral. Carlos Vargas said that he was not told about that.

That has been going on for years, I represented ASCO at that meeting.  Originally they were going to put a wall 50 stories high at Foster and there were two architects that live in that block and they spent hours and days and weeks and months redrawing the whole thing for these people and they came up with a beautiful plan and the Admiral is doing it so that they will not have that high cement wall. George Pauley asked if the tallest of the towers was going to be 29 stories.

There will be three towers and it will be very nice and open to the community with restaurants, a health club, swimming pool, and a park.

Committee Report (Health Club Committee – Marty Fiesler)

At this point we have 232 current members; in the course of 2007 we had 64 issues brought to our attention and were resolved.  These were issues related to things like the condition of the equipment, slip strips, dirty bathrooms, and all kinds of things that membership brought to us.  The concerns that we have are elliptical 3 is the worst, the elliptical are the most used in the cardio which is by the pool area, and its to the point that it is pretty much weekly that the contractor is doing maintenance on it.  In reverse it starts squeaking and then over time it starts squeaking at other speeds or directions.  Its getting to the point that we are not using as much as we should and we are looking at getting it replaced.  The one that we bought was a refurbished elliptical without a lot of warranty and we are looking at purchasing a new machine with a full warranty and a trial period so that membership has 30 days to play with it and see if we need all the bells and whistles.  Last year we were looking at getting more equipment in the weight room and we are still looking at getting a weight stand and a new bench press and things like that, this will not be pursued until the future.  This will be the first of the reports Sandra suggested that we come up with the reports and attend the meetings.  If I can’t make it I will send a replacement.  Some of the things that we have come up with so far we are going to start working on.  We have an idea that instead of the picture ID with all the information on it, everyone else issues picture ID’s so we should not be in the business of getting another picture ID.  We have good records of membership so what we are suggesting is that we phase out the cards as they expire and the attendants regardless of membership will be responsible for providing a picture ID.  They could take an ID and look at the list and have access to the pool and to the cardio room.  If you are a paying member than you can use your key fob automatically gives you access to the weight room so there is no requirement there.  We would save money on the laminating and the Polaroid for the cards, so we are looking to save money there.  Second is the wipes that we have, we go through tons of those.  They are only good for about 30 seconds and then the chemicals evaporate so if you use 10 machines you are looking at going through 50 wipes.  Most of the health clubs in the area use spray bottles and the membership leaves paper towels around, so we are looking at replacing the wipes with spray bottles of disinfectant and using the towels that we have.  We will be looking into other things to see where else we can cut costs.  As we find things we will report it to the Board for consideration.  The recommendations that we have are to get another loop for the life fitness machine.  There are three places to hook and we only have two hooks so we are looking to get another.  Also the membership would like to get some 7 lb weights.  They currently range from 5lb increments.  We have a 2.5lb weight then the next increment is a 5lb then it goes straight to 10lbs.  There is nothing in between that.  If you are just beginning or in rehab you need that lighter weight to go up gradually so we would like a set of 7lb weights.  They are about $8.00 at power systems.  We are looking at a couple of fans.  Rob bought one and we would like to reimburse him but we are also looking at replacing them all.  There are none in the weight room and two in the cardio room.  We are looking at exercise mats we have two in the health club now.  We would like to replace them because they are getting ripped and torn and the filling is starting to fall out and the straps are falling off.  These mats are used for stretching and for yoga and for abs exercises they are utilized by a number of people so we would like to replace those.  The last item is the replacement of the elliptical.  We are looking in the $3,000 to $3,500 range.  Michael has some information from vendors and I have been pulling up some information on the web for getting a brand new machine with a warranty and trial period and some bells and whistles.  The other thing that we are looking at we will need the Boards help and especially Draper and Kramer, we would like to create a list of email addresses for all health club members.  We think it’s a good idea to have that to send out meeting announcements, closures and any information relating to the health club because we have it posted here and there and an email system would be better and more effective at reaching out to everybody.  A lot of times we do surveys but the people not in our building do not get it, we are looking at having that to use.  The last thing that we came up with is developing an exit survey for people who don’t renew their memberships, we would like to find out why, are they leaving the building, do they not like the club, is the pool to hot or to cold, we would like to get a general idea to see if there is something going on that the club could handle or is it beyond our control. Carlos Vargas stated that he would like more rational about the vote.  When do you think you will come back requesting another elliptical machine?  How long do you think a new will last?

The ones that we have there are about 5 years old, they are commercial grade and should last at least 3-5 years.

Motions from Closed Session

A1. Upon due motion by Sandra Goldberg and seconded by Carlos Vargas, the Board voted unanimously to approve insurance fines.  A2.  Upon due motion by Sandra Goldberg and seconded by Carlos Vargas, the Board voted unanimously to approve the recommendation from the Rules and Regulations Committee.  A3.  Upon due motion by Carlos Vargas and seconded by Sandra Goldberg, the Board voted unanimously to approve the recommendation from the Rules and Regulations Committee.  B.  Upon due motion by Carlos Vargas and seconded by Sandra Goldberg, the Board voted unanimously to not approve a parking rule exception.  C.  Upon due motion by Sandra Goldberg and seconded by Carlos Vargas, the Board voted to approve waiving a late fee.  Sandra Goldberg and Carlos Vargas voted in favor; George Pauley and Laura Cossa voted against; the motion failed.  D. Upon due motion by Carlos Vargas and seconded by Sandra Goldberg, the Board voted unanimously to remove a $25.00 service charge.  E.  Upon due motion by Carlos Vargas and seconded by Sandra Goldberg, the Board voted unanimously to not waive a late fee.  F. Upon due motion by Carlos Vargas and seconded by Sandra Goldberg, the Board voted unanimously to not waive a late fee.  G. Upon due motion by Carlos Vargas and seconded by Sandra Goldberg, the Board voted unanimously to not waive a late fee.  H.  Upon due motion by Sandra Goldberg and seconded by Carlos Vargas, the Board voted unanimously to waive one late fee.

Minutes January 14, 2008 Board Meeting

Upon due motion by Sandra Goldberg and seconded by Carlos Vargas, the Board voted unanimously to table the minutes from the Board of Directors Meeting held on January 14, 2008.

Metal Maintenance Contract

Upon due motion by Carlos Vargas and seconded by Laura Cossa, the Board voted unanimously to approve the proposal submitted by Chicago Metal in the amount of $13,620.00 per year for a 2-year term contingent on receiving at least three references from Chicago Metal.

Owner Comments Regarding Scavenger Contract

Vince DiFruscio asked if there was any awareness as to whether the different companies actually recycle.  It was previously stated that Waste Management did not always recycle the items they picked up. Tim Patricio stated that it was also that our account representative was lazy.  When I came on Board we were trying to get her on the phone and via email repeatedly.  It took a couple of months for her to come out and see us.  When we contacted these other vendors they were here the next day.  Waste Management is so administratively top heavy and administratively disorganized you see their commercials on TV but it is not like this.  One of the first questions I was given was about the recycling issue, I guess that Christina and Mavis were trying for a while to get some written backup or certification because there was a worry that they were not recycling and that there was a concern with other managers that this might be a problem that would affect the scavenger rebate.  That being an overwriting financial factor, that was the tone of my initial emails going out to Waste Management.  We want you to certify in a letter form that you are doing this recycling as specified in our contract.  They really did not get to that until the last minute when we were working on the recycling information for 2-P.  When Mike Magliane was working with us on getting that improvement.  Finally our representative showed up and gave us the materials for the newsletter and the signage on 2-P.  I am happy that they finally did it, and yes they do recycle, but it illustrates why I don’t care for their company.

Vince DiFruscio asked if Tim anticipated that Flood Brothers or any of the other companies would recycle the same materials? Tim Patricio stated that any of the other companies would recycle just as much if not more items than Waste Management.

Vince DiFruscio stated that whatever the company that the Board decides to go with, I think that it would be good to give the newsletter committee whatever guidelines that the new company would like our building to follow. Tim Patricio stated that they will at least meet the existing services; if we want to make any changes to the existing services we would have to meet to develop a better program.  There are some options we could do for improving the recycling services, but some of the options would involve additional expense.  What we have proposed are the same services. Steve Hanna stated that Onyx services merged with another company and now they are called Veolia Environmental Services, I have asked Tim to contact them for a bid.  Veolia has been routinely high since this merger, but you will not see Onyx anymore.

Scavenger Contract

Upon due motion by Carlos Vargas and seconded by George Pauley, the Board voted to approve the proposal submitted by Flood Brothers in the amount of $23,432 per year.  George Pauley, Carlos Vargas, and Laura Cossa voted in favor; Sandra Goldberg voted against; the motion passed.

Building Audit

Upon due motion by George Pauley and seconded by Sandra Goldberg, the Board voted unanimously to approve the proposal submitted by Picker & Associates to perform the 2007/08 year end building audit in the amount of $4,900.00.

Workman’s Compensation Insurance

Upon due motion by Sandra Goldberg and seconded by Carlos Vargas, the Board voted unanimously to approve the proposal submitted by Employer’s Insurance in the amount of $38,215.00.

Cooling Tower

Upon due motion by Carlos Vargas and seconded by George Pauley, the Board voted unanimously to approve purchasing the Evapco cooling tower and the water pump in the amount of $108,755.  That is the amount of $92,450 for the cooling tower, and $16,305 for the B&G pump. Sandra Goldberg moved to have Carlos amend his motion into two separate motions, one for the cooling tower and the other motion for the water pump.  There was no second.  The motion failed.

Owner Comments Regarding North and South Planter Repair Specifications

Tim Patricio stated that there are two planters.  In the driveway we have the planter that is leaking onto the sidewalk.  This planter will require resetting the limestone coping.  If you take a look at it you will see that the limestone coping has shifted about two inches.  We asked them to take a look at that as well as a couple other areas around the perimeter that have additional deterioration.  Each of the firms is bidding with these specification to address the deterioration, limestone coping, the leaking, and we will add a drain at the western base of the planter.  As George pointed out earlier, the current drain is in the middle but the planter slopes down.  We believe that water over the years has accumulated at that western end and really increased the amount of deterioration that the planter experiences.  What would happen is that your landscaper would come in and remove approximately 3’ around the entire perimeter.  The engineering firm would perform an initial inspection of what is uncovered.  They would then begin by remove the area of deterioration reconstructing the wall underneath that immediate area, putting in the drain and then rebuilding the waterproof membrane around the area.  Finally the landscaper would bring the soil back.  That is what we are estimating will end the leaking in the front planter.  This should be a good long term solution with the drain, even if at some point you were to do more driveway work that drain would still be there doing its job.  The one thing that we are adding that is not there now is a modak surface to the concrete.  When you are finished with this work it is going to look kind of patchwork since we are not replacing the entire perimeter.  At the end of the process they would add a modak paint which is a kind of thick concrete paint that will protect the planter from deterioration but would also create even color all the way around the perimeter of the planter.  Essentially we are repairing it so that it is as close to new as possible without replacing the entire thing, adding a drain, and adding the modak paint to protect the concrete and give it a more even color.

George Pauley asked if there were other options for the exterior besides painting it?  I know that in the original driveway project plan they were suggesting a finish that would match the walls here.  Is that something that could be an option to look at so that we would have some kind of option rather than just one choice?

Steve Hanna stated that during the bidding process you could ask them for more options.

Tim Patricio stated that if we wanted to add an alternate for some type of finished surface to match something like this we could.

George Pauley stated that we should get one for the painted coverage, one to match the surface, and one for them to use their creativity since we are just asking for bids at this point.

Vince DiFruscio stated that his concern with covering the planter in the corrugated cement, if someone’s car were to scrape it or damage it it might be very hard to replace the finish and have it look decent.  This paint that we are talking about could we repaint it?

Tim Patricio stated that the modak paint could be touched up like any average painting surface.  Modak is designed specifically for concrete.  Modak is just a brand there are other types of barriers that we can put on it.  It will do two things, protect the surface, and it will even out that cover so that we do not have a patchwork concrete when we are done.

Gregor Hamilton stated that we were talking about the circular planter in the center of the drive, specifically the west section.  This section 8 says north and south planter repair.  Is that the north or the south planter and which one is the one that that isn’t?

George Pauley stated that this is the south planter, the circular one.  The one outside the mall is the north planter.  We are going to be looking at specs sent out for both of them.  They are very different problems.

Lorraine Meyers stated that we had the planter in the mall and it was all brick coming up and we covered it in the black metal.  Is it possible to put that same black metal that would match the front around that same front planter?

George Pauley stated that we could look into that, however, going back to what Vince said the metal would be more fragile in terms of denting than the concrete.

Lorraine Meyers asked if the lip would still be around the planter, they would hit that before they hit the planter.

George Pauley stated that if you looked at the current planter you can see where there are quite a few spots where it had been hit.

Lorraine Meyers  stated that the damage was caused when the electricity went out and we had that huge trailer parked in the front I think that the dents are from when they were trying to get the trailer into the drive.

George Pauley stated that the Board would ask for as many different options as they could.  If you look at some of the other planters around the city they are not concrete color they have been painted with some sort of tan or brown or gray finish.

Tim Patricio stated that the modak was what they used on a lot of different concrete surfaces and they are stained or colored.  It is not like wall paint, which will just chip away.  This would adhere a lot better than the average paint.

Lorraine Meyers stated that she didn’t want to see it colored; we have a black building.

George Pauley stated that probably the best example was the building right next-door where the painted the concrete 15 years ago.  It was originally concrete color and then they painted it whatever color it is now.  I’m colorblind so we could end up with pink, which is gray to me.  I don’t sit on that committee Lorraine.  At this point all we are going to do is go out to bid and get different proposals.  We are just giving permission to management to send out bid packages.

North and South Planter Repair Specifications

Upon due motion by Laura Cossa and seconded by Carlos Vargas, the Board voted unanimously to approve allowing management to get some bids for the planter repairs.

Owner Comments Regarding Garage Handicapped Access

Tim Patricio stated that the reason behind presenting the garage handicapped ramps the way that he did was because there were many parts that were being considered.  I got some initial estimates back from contractors; it was impossible to make any since.  What I did was itemize the scope based on the areas that we talked about improving.  I also included the doors that we talked about in front of the drycleaner.  I have received some numbers and what I gave you were initial budget estimates for each item that we talked about.  The level 1-P items item A was a ramp extension.  This is the area that is adjacent to the garage office in 1-P.  Right now you have a ramp that is approximately 4’ by 3’, which is awkward for individuals that have to go up that in a wheel chair or another device.  The budget for expanding the ramp to an 8’ by 6’ item will be approximately $5,500.  Alternate A was to automate the interior door, being that there is one door that is fobbed, but the interior door doesn’t do anything.  When individuals go through its awkward because the one door opens and then you get to the other door and you have a problem with pressures and it affects the elevators, so the ideal with the alternate is to automate the interior door in concert with the existing door.  When you swipe your fob both doors open automatically and a person in a wheel chair can go through there.  The other difficulty with that area is the distance between the two doors.  The second door swings in and the first door swings is so that they are within a couple of feet of each other.  A person in a wheelchair has to jockey their position quickly and deal with the weight of the second door, which is difficult to open.  To do that door to automate it and connect it to the fob system and existing hand controllers would be approximately $5,000.  Level 1-P item B would be the second drawing I gave you and I show you the existing and the proposed, which we talked about on our field trip.  The idea here you have the two double doors and the 1 ramp which leads out away from the handicapped access area in front of the double doors.  If you are trying to go through there and using the intended area for embarking your vehicle you have to go all the way around and up the ramp there.  The idea is to place a ramp adjacent and opposite of that which would comply with ADA by being 6’ by 3’.  To do that you would need a budget of $4,500.  The level 1-P item C is to automate the doors.  If you don’t do the ramp I would say at a minimum, based on discussions I had with everyone involved including residents who consulted on this with me, would be to automate those two doors.  If you don’t do anything else down there automating those two doors would make it significantly less awkward for those individuals if they are forced to go up the inadequate ramp that is there now.  If you can just imagine someone trying to get through those two doors in a wheelchair you can understand that.  The cost for item C automating the doors is $8,500.  On level 2-P installing ramps and a transition, the existing is just the one ramp that comes down from the direction of the mall door.  If you are coming out the residential door not only is there a trip hazard the way it is now, but it doesn’t make any since the majority of individuals on that level use the residential doors to get to the elevators.   What we propose is that we have two sloping ramps, one coming down as it is now, but it would be backed up and lengthened through 5’ by 6’, and a ramp coming down from the residential area with a transition between the two ramps so that there is no trip hazard at all.  Both ramps would be ADA compliant 6’ by 3’ and the budget for that would be $8,500.  A couple more alternates, alternate B is to automate the interior door on 2-P as you have the same situation as the door on 1-P.  This door is not as critical as there is quite a bit more space between the two doors, but it would make since at some point to automate that door and you would be more ADA complaint.  You are grandfathered; I am still searching myself to find out exactly how you are grandfathered.  Some of the contractors will argue that if you automate one door you have to make plans that at some point in the future you will automate all the doors that are similar to this.  I am trying to understand what you would have to do under the current standards there.  Gregor actually knows quite a bit about this.

Gregor Hamilton stated that there is another issue that I want to point out.  All of us have had this experience.  There are days when those doors are opened and the elevators are not properly working and another issue is brought up.  Instead of having the two doors in 1-P open together, which defeats the whole airlock idea, why not make that 2nd inner door a much lighter door so that it is easier to get through that, but have a 3rd door installed further down the hall.  Have some sort of lock so that you can guarantee that only one of those doors would be open at a time which would lessen the door problem with the elevators.  The whole issue is a balance with pressure.

George Pauley asked why wouldn’t we just time the two doors that are currently there so that only one at a time opens. Gregor Hamilton stated that because the two doors were so close it really is hard for either a scooter or a wheelchair.  Almost always if there is a person there they try to be courteous by holding open that inner door for a person in a scooter or wheelchair, which once again defeats the point of the airlock.

Lorraine Meyers stated that most of the handicapped doors in the stores, the second door wont open until the outer door is closed.  Its done automatically and you have to sit there and wait for the door to close and the next one to open.  We could have that and it would take care of the airlock.

Vince DiFruscio stated that if we did that, wouldn’t we have to take the inner door and have it open the other way?

Gregor Hamilton stated that the other option would be to take the inner door off and install a new inner door further down the hallway.

Vince DiFruscio stated that it would be easier to just have the door open out rather than open in.

George Pauley stated that the doors on 2-P both open in the same direction, whereas on 1-P the doors open towards each other and that makes no since.  You have to get ahead of one and then backup to get out of the way of the second door.  My concern here is that we budgeted $25,000 for this and the total of all the things comes to $52,900.  That is $27,900 over budget, I think that we will have to make some decisions on what we can afford to do this year and then do some next year.  One of the questions that I have and would like to know from the people here, is it necessary for 1-P to have both of the entrances into the building handicapped?  Meaning do we have to do both the entrance into the service elevators and the entrance into the mall elevators, is that one of the ways that we can divide this project up to try to keep it in budget this year, and then move forward with the next in another year?  Also we do have $9,000 to do the automated doors by the dry cleaners.

Vince DiFruscio stated that if we were going to separate it, it would be better to separate it floor by floor.  We have to be aware that people coming in for the doctors office cannot go in through the service elevator doors, they do not have fobs to gain entry.

George Pauley stated that we could do it that way, if we take out the 2-P project, which is a total of $13,500, and the drycleaner doors are $9,000, which is a total of $22,500.  That would get us close but the problem is that down on 2-P we really do have a hazard whether you are in a wheelchair, scooter, or on two legs, the way that it is designed now its going to get all three groups.

Marty Fiesler stated that 1-P sees the most traffic.

George Pauley stated that it would be currently the most traffic, we can also designate that most of the handicapped people would be coming in from 1-P.

Marty Fiesler stated that he thinks that everybody on 2-P knows about the hazard at this point.

George Pauley stated that he tripped on it the other day when talking to Tim.

Carlos Vargas stated that he believed that management should go ahead with the bid processing and then the Board can go through the bids and cut what they need to when they have the actual numbers.

Tim Patricio stated that the reason that he did this was because he wanted to present the Board with a menu of options not necessarily because he thought that the Board was going to do it all.  The automated doors are really what turned out to be the big thing, whereas the concrete work fell in line with what we were expecting.  I did add a line for unknowns because whenever you cut into concrete you there is always something that comes up that you have to address.  I also wanted to make sure that there wasn’t anything that I missed or that you wanted to add to the process, there have been some suggestions of maybe reversing the door on 1-P, adding a door, which I have seen done in other buildings and has been proven to reduce the stack effect and also energy loss.

Carlos Vargas stated that this was part of the process anyway introducing all of those options.  Lets bid it and then look.

Paul Groeninger stated that since you are looking at this and it is going to be over budget, it seems that one is a more serious issue and that is the ramps.  Why don’t we do the ramps first?  The doors are an inconvenience but not a hazard to your health.  By the way the door on 2-P which has not gotten much attention here, rarely opens automatically unless you give it a kick as you push the button.  The ramps I believe are a hazard no matter how you try to interpret it, if you bring the luggage carts in you will have luggage all over the garage floor not to mention the possibility of knocking someone over.  That I think should be a logical split and have the ramps done this year.

Tim Patricio  stated that to do the concrete on 1-P and 2-P is approximately 18,500.  I would again add about 15% for unknowns or another $2,500.  To do the concrete work that we suggested would cost about $21,000.

Steve Hanna stated that he would like to point out that these are just estimates, these are not contractor bids.

Garage Handicapped Access

Upon due motion by Carlos Vargas and seconded by George Pauley, the Board voted unanimously to approve the garage handicapped specifications as submitted by management and directs management to get bids.

Owner Comments Regarding Garage Spaces

Michael Rupert stated that we had created space 110 on 1-P for $115.00 per month.  Space 148 on 2-P is next to the fire door and would be $105.00 per month, and space 72 which was a single stall and converted it to a tandem stall for $182.00 per month.

Carlos Vargas stated that the space on 1-P was the car wash space but is now being rented out at a premium price.

Sandra Goldberg  stated that as a Board member it is her duty to protect the homeowners both financially and physically.  She does not support the two parking spaces on 2-P on either side of the fire gate because of these cars potential to block the fire gate from coming down in the event of a fire if the cars extend into the area of the fire gate.  A car has been parked to one side of the fire gate for over a year.  The previous manager told me for over a year that a concrete block would be installed to block the car from extending into the fire gate area.  As of this time there is no concrete block installed.  A car parked on the other side of the fire gate not only has the potential to block the fire gate but also to narrow the turning lane creating a hazardous situation especially for large cars and vans.  I was told that the fire marshal approved the two spaces on either side of the fire gate but declined to put the approval in writing.  According to the Association’s insurance company in the event of a fire if the fire gate is prevented from coming down because a car is blocking it, the Association will not have any insurance coverage.  It is for the safety of the homeowners that I am voting against approving the two spaces on either side of the fire gate on 2-P.  The income generated from these two spaces does not offset the potential loss of homeowner and employee lives and the Association’s insurance coverage.  I will approve the spaces on 1-P.  I appreciate the garage committees attempt to increase the revenue generated by the garage.  This is why I would like to see the garage committee enforce the rule as it is stated in our Rules and Regulations manual that any car leaking oil must repair their car, be assessed a clean up charge, and have their parking privileges revoked if the owner does not comply.  As you are aware last year the Association repaired the garage floor.  A large part of the repair was removing the oil from the floor.  The garage repair cost the Association in excess of $500,000.  The garage committee has the potential to save the association thousands of dollars in repair costs through enforcing this rule and I hope that they do so.

George Pauley stated that he wanted to make one comment because there are three issues.  One is that Sandra is recommending that we remove one parking space that has been there for over a year.  The issue about the fire doors, we have put posts in place.  They have not been drilled into the concrete yet because by putting a car there we want to take a look at how that works with the turning.  We are not drilling into the concrete to put the posts there permanently until we know that we are not having complaints from the people who park on 2-P about the turning of their cars.  Up until now Sandra is correct that there have been requests for over a year so that the car that had been parked there could not park under the fire door.  This had been a concern of the Board before this discussion.  The solution that we are proposing, that the committee is proposing, is to have the posts there that do prevent cars from parking underneath the door.  Posts are more effective than the concrete blocks.

Gregor Hamilton stated that he agrees with Sandra’s idea of limiting the travel so that the car does not accidentally get under the fire door.  But I like the post idea better than the concrete block because a different style automobile has a different kind of overhang.  Old GM cars had a tremendous nose overhang whereas a Chrysler car the front wheels are at the edges.  Where as I agree with the concept of the wheel stops, I really think that the post will be more effective as we don’t have to worry about someone buying a different type of car with a different overhang.

Carlos Vargas stated that right now there are four posts there and they have not been drilled in because we don’t want to mess with the floor anymore, we have enough problems right now.  These posts are heavier than the regular cones that are used all over the country for traffic direction.  I don’t see any problem at this particular moment.  We were able to get a small car into the space because we wanted to get him out of the place that he was in before.  We are looking into it and when we left the meeting that we had down there as a group, everybody was in agreement.

George Pauley stated that there were only three Board members there at that time.

Carlos Vargas stated that the way to start right now is to increase the revenue to keep up with the inflation.  Whereas this is a common element we have been parking cars in that side for years and I don’t see any problem with that parking space being there.  Right now there are some questions from people about turning but we are going to look into it and then we might get it out of there.

Marty Fiesler stated that he noticed the new car that was by the fire doors but had a question about whether the space would be shortened when we start redoing the ramps.

George Pauley stated that it would not affect the parking space.

Robert Laskov stated that the new space narrowed the area but the main problem is people speeding through the garage.  Where are they going so fast?  When cars are coming down there is no room to move and I have seen cars coming to screeching stops at the end of the ramp.

George Pauley asked if that was since they added the new space?

Robert Laskov stated that it was since the silver car was added.  Sometimes you have to wait or back up to allow another car by.  I just think that it is an accident waiting to happen.

George Pauley stated that he also had run into the problem of people racing up and down the ramp without their lights on.

Garage Spaces

Upon due motion by Carlos Vargas and seconded by George Pauley the Board voted unanimously to approve the creation of a parking space on 1P.

Upon due motion by Carlos Vargas and seconded by Laura Cossa, the Board voted to approve the creation of an additional parking space on 2P contingent upon an additional review of the space in 60 days.  George Pauley, Carlos Vargas, and Laura Cossa voted in favor; Sandra Goldberg voted against; the motion passed.

Health Club Equipment

Upon due motion by Sandra Goldberg and seconded by George Pauley, the Board voted to approve the purchase of another loop hook, a set of 7lb weights, 3 fans, 2 exercise mats, and an elliptical machine not to exceed $4,200.  George Pauley, Carlos Vargas, and Sandra Goldberg voted in favor; Laura Cossa voted against; the motion passed.

Construction Requests

Upon due motion by Carlos Vargas and seconded by Sandra Goldberg, the Board voted unanimously to approve the remodeling of units: 3407, 3707, 4505, and 5108 as submitted by the owners, following the recommendations of the chief engineer as outlined in their written specifications and in accordance with the Rules and Regulations and remodeling guidelines of the Park Tower Condo Association.

Treasurer’s Report (Laura Cossa)

According to the December 31, 2007 Financial Statements the total operating funds were $250,000 whereas last month they were $101,000.   The MAX SAFE account at Barrington Bank totaled $272,000.   The total replacement reserves fund was $1,420,000.  The total of all cash and investments was $1,672,936.

Upon due motion by Laura Cossa and seconded by George Pauley, the Board voted unanimously to ratify the rollover of the CD at builders Bank for 9 months in the amount of $95,000 at a rate of 4.85% with proceeds of $3,837.80 deposited into the MAXSAFE money market at Barrington Bank.

Laura Cossa left the meeting.

Board Report (George Pauley)

I would like to defer the Board report to Tim Patricio and Steve Hanna.

Management Report (Tim Patricio)

I gave my report in the body of the action items but I know that Steve Hanna would like to make some comments.

Steve Hanna stated that there was some unfortunate news, but he thinks that its good news.  Sara from the office had requested from Draper and Kramer that she be considered for a new position within Draper and Kramer.  She made this request 2.5 weeks ago.  She has gone out to interview with some of the buildings and has accepted a position.  Which is great for her she defiantly deserves it.  I thought that it would be appropriate for her to make a quick statement to the residents and to the Board.

George Pauley stated that the one thing that Steve left out was that Sara has been promoted to an assistant manager at the new building.  This is quite an accomplishment and a move up which we all support very strongly even though we don’t want her to leave.

Sara Kacheris thanked the Board for allowing her to learn here and to practice for a new position.  I really appreciate everything that you have done.  Thank you to the residents for allowing me to be a part of your lives, I wont forget you guys and I will miss you.  I’m really looking forward to my new job, thank you.

Steve Hanna stated that he would like to point out that Sara will be here for two more weeks if anyone wants to stop by and say goodbye.

Tim Patricio stated that there were 30 chargeable work orders completed in January.  Charges to the residents were $1,222.  There were 123 no charge work orders.  Health Club income was $7,359, there were 30 memberships added or renewed for a total of 251 memberships, which was an increase from last months total of 232.  There were zero sales in January, year to date sales were 26 with an overall average of $229,048.  There was one lease with a year to date number of 108.  The average monthly rental amount was $1,650.  There were 20 late fees in the amount of $1,000 with was down from December.  There were no changes to the Sales report other than the change requested last month of pulling out the combined unit.  I already reported the one lease that we added in January.

Garage Report (Michael Rupert)

We did spring a leak of lime in the garage today.  The Chief Engineer will look into it.

Adjournment

Upon due motion by Sandra Goldberg and seconded by Carlos Vargas the meeting adjourned at 10:10 pm.

Signed (as seen on pdf, clickable at upper right corner of these minutes)

George Pauley, President

Sandra Goldberg, Secretary