In Attendance 

George Pauley, President; Lorraine Meyers, 1st Vice President; Sandra Goldberg, 2nd Vice President; William Fortuna, Secretary; Laura Cossa, Treasurer; Steve Hanna, Property Supervisor; Tim Patricio, Property Manager; Mavis Mather, Assistant Manager Business Operations

Call to Order at 8:27 pm

All Board Members were present constituting a Quorum as defined by the Association’s Declarations and the Illinois Condominium Property Act.

 Agenda

Upon due motion by William Fortuna and seconded by Lorraine Meyers, the Board voted unanimously to accept the proposed agenda.*

*Sandra Goldberg was absent for the vote to accept the agenda.

Thank you to the Social Committee Members for their hard work preparing the 4th of July Party.  I know that a number of you were there for the party and I think that we had a great party with great fireworks.  We can thank Saddle and Cycle club for their fireworks.  I would like to thank all the people who helped on the party, Sheldon Atovsky, Margarita Bailey, Amy Diaz, Harriet Dominique, Paul Groeninger, Lorraine Meyers, Tim Patricio, Ruth Posternack, Scott Schmidtke, Bea Stieber, and Don Yuratovic.  Some of the people who worked were people who we hired, Bogie Gal, David Gallo, Chastity Kennedy, Danielle Kennedy, and Christine Sanchez.  I want to thank all those people, it takes a lot of work to put that party together and it seems to go pretty seamlessly once it actually starts.

Approval of Motions from Closed Session

Upon due motion by Lorraine Meyers and seconded by Sandra Goldberg, the Board voted unanimously to approve the decisions from Closed Session.

Approval of Board Positions

Upon due motion by Lorraine Meyers and seconded by Sandra Goldberg, the Board voted unanimously to approve the following Board position assignments: George Pauley as President, Lorraine Meyers as 1st Vice President, Sandra Goldberg as 2nd Vice President, William Fortuna as Secretary, and Laura Cossa as Treasurer.

ASCO Report (Lorraine Meyers)

The ASCO meeting was held on Tuesday July 7, 2009.  The most important item that came up at the meeting was the placing of meters on Ridge between Broadway and Clark.  This will make Ridge a single lane road.  The Alderman claims this will allow the residents that live on Ridge to park on Ridge.  However, this will make Ridge a single late road except for rush hour traffic which the Alderman thinks is between 8:00AM and 9:30AM.  ASCO is against this proposal and will fight it.  However, our experience has been that if the Alderman wants it, the Alderman gets it.  This time will be the first time that the Alderman has opposition against her in the election next year.  And there will be parking meters on all of those locations along Ridge.

At the general meeting on Tuesday August 18th at Malibu East, ASCO will host a seminar on the Ordinance Compliance Procedures of the Life Safety Requirements.  Schirmer Engineering will put on the demonstration as well as listing all of the requirements.  The meeting begins at 7:00PM.  Everyone is invited if your condo is a member of ASCO, and we are.

The dog beach next to Foster Avenue beach is open and operating.  If you have been down to the beach lately you will see it.

A green committee is meeting with Harry Osterman to set up dates for the resurfacing of Sheridan Road from Devon to Foster.  However, I’m telling you right now, don’t hold your breath.

The City is debating and evaluating elevator inspectors to see if they are necessary for yearly inspections.  We would hire our own inspector for the first two years and the third year the City would do the inspection.  This is another way for the City to save money and put the burden on us because we already pay them now.  They take a lot of time in City Hall figuring out ways to put it to us.

Health Club Committee Report (Sandra Goldberg)

I have a committee report from the Health Club Committee.  Unfortunately there is no one here from the Committee and there is no chairman for the committee.  At this point I have advised them of the need to pick a chairman, but nobody wants to do it.  One thing that we had wanted to discuss, and it’s unfortunate that Jacquie is not here this evening, is that when the gentleman comes to do repairs or routine maintenance on the equipment there is usually people working out on the machines which makes it difficult.  The committee suggested that the exercise room is shut down for two hours while the equipment is being maintained so that people are not disturbed while working out.  Jacquie informed the committee that the recumbent bike is on its last leg and we will very shortly need to get a new one.  Jacquie is going to look into the cost of replacing the recumbent bike.  Also, the committee mentioned that there were a lot of complaints about the appearance of the upholstery in the weight room, which is torn because people are putting weights on the seats and so forth which tends to tear them.  Jacquie is currently looking into the cost to replace the upholstery as no one fixes upholstery.  In addition she is going to post notices in the weight room asking people not to rest the weights on the seats.  A couple of the committee members had complained that recently the whirlpool is extremely dirty.  People will be sunbathing and then they get into the Jacuzzi with their sun tan lotion.  Apparently this is more of a problem on the weekend and maybe Tim could tell us, Jacquie said that during the week if this is a problem the health club member should contact Jacquie and she can instruct the attendant to clean the whirlpool.  One of the questions was who does the health club member speak to on the weekend if it is dirty from the lotion and stuff to direct the attendant to clean it.

Tim Patricio stated that they should contact any of the employees.  They should let the attendant know.

They did and the attendant said that they couldn’t clean it that day that it gets cleaned on Monday or something.

Tim Patricio stated that they should contact us.  At the most recent staff meeting which was last week or the week before, we did tell them that they should clean it if it is getting dirty.

Okay, this just recently happened.  A member asked the attendant to clean it because it was so dirty that she did not want to get into it.  He said no that he could not clean it because it was cleaned, what are the days that it is cleaned, Monday and Friday?

Tim Patricio stated that it was cleaned three times a week.

Which are when?

Tim Patricio stated that he did not know the exact dates, I would have to check.

Okay, so can you let the attendant know that if a couple of people say that it is dirty or they can see that it is so dirty from suntan lotion and stuff that they can go ahead and clean it.  Much to the dismay of the people who took Marty’s aerobics class, we found that there was one person interested in it, who was referred by Marty to teach aerobics, to take it over, and another person who was interested in teaching yoga in the building, they need insurance but the insurance would cost them $1,900 a year.  So they said it was way too expensive, one of the health club members said that he would speak to his trainer to see what type of insurance they got and who they got it from.  Based on what these instructors would charge, it wouldn’t even cover the cost of the insurance.  It’s unfortunate because that was a great amenity that a lot of the homeowners liked.  If anybody knows of someone through their own trainer where you can get insurance and about how much it would cost, please pass it along to Tim so we can try and continue the aerobics classes for people.  The other item is that I have been approached by health club members, in the meeting and also on the street, who are concerned that one of the health club attendants is scheduled for a 40 hour work week.  They are concerned because that apparently pushes this person into receiving benefits.  I don’t know how many hours qualify as a full time person.  Tim what qualifies as full time to get benefits?

Tim Patricio stated that a permanent 40 hour person would be considered full time.

Okay, but when would a person be eligible to get benefits?  Would they get it at 30 hours too, if they worked 30 hours?

George Pauley stated that it would not be until they became a permanent employee.  It is not governed by law it is covered by our own policies.

So that would be 40 hours right?

George Pauley stated that it’s not until someone becomes a permanent full time employee.

What does that mean by permanent full time?

George Pauley stated that they have to be hired as a full time employee.

Tim Patricio stated that in other words, he was not hired under the condition that would make him a permanent full time employee.

George Pauley stated that he could work 60 hours a week and not be entitled to benefits.

Okay, but there was concern expressed by homeowners that this person is working 40 hours which is considered full time and that we are not providing them with any benefits, and that this person could conceivably take action against the association because he is working 40 hours and not getting any benefits.

George Pauley stated that many employers do not offer benefits no matter how many hours you work.

Lorraine Meyers stated that she over heard them talking about this and I talked to a representative who works out at the airport and he said that they could sue.

George Pauley stated that was right because they have a policy that…

Lorraine Meyers stated that it was not the airport, but that they could sue us because of the 40 hours a week and that is full time.

George Pauley stated that they will have management look into that and follow up on it, but that he would not be concerned about it.

Okay, the other is that this is a particular attendant that is very good and dependable and reliable and a lot of the members, most of the members, like him.  They want him to stay and certainly don’t want him to feel as if he is being undermined by working 40 hours and not being able to get the benefits.  The last issue that was discussed, and they were concerns that I had emailed George about, was that I remain as the liaison to the health club committee, and I did read your email to the committee.

George Pauley stated that would be discussed when they get to the point of assigning the liaisons.

Okay then I will discuss it at that time.

George Pauley stated that he asked Sandra to respond to that many weeks ago.

And I am responding to it now as I wanted to get the input from the committee and they just met last week.  What I would like to say, just another word, and it has nothing to do with the health club committee, it’s in regards to Chuck Brown.

George Pauley stated that this was not in line at this point.

So I’m not allowed to say anything.

George Pauley stated not at this point.

Minutes June 8, 2009 Board Meeting

Upon due motion by William Fortuna and seconded by George Pauley, the Board voted to approve the June 8, 2009 Board Minutes.  George Pauley, William Fortuna, and Lorraine Meyers voted in favor; Sandra Goldberg voted against; Laura Cossa abstained, the motion passed.

Board Meeting Schedule

Upon due motion by Sandra Goldberg and seconded by Lorraine Meyers, the Board voted unanimously to approve the proposed Board Meeting Schedule for August 2009 through June 2010 and to have the schedule posted.

Meeting Agenda Format

The item was tabled.

Gas Purchasing

Upon due motion by George Pauley and seconded by Laura Cossa, the Board voted to authorize Prospect Resources to purchase gas for the 2011/2012 fiscal year with a deadline of December 31, 2010.  George Pauley, Lorraine Meyers, William Fortuna, and Laura Cossa voted in favor; Sandra Goldberg voted against; the motion passed.

Upon due motion by William Fortuna and seconded by Laura Cossa, the Board voted unanimously to approve the gas purchasing contract with Constellation Energy.

Market Lease

Upon due motion by Lorraine Meyers and seconded by William Fortuna, the Board voted unanimously to approve the Market Lease.

Voice Communication System

The Board directed management to begin seeking bids for a consultant to develop specifications and manage the project from start to finish.

Valet Parking Incentive

George Pauley motioned to initiate an incentive of offering the 12th month free to any resident that signs a valet parking agreement for 12 months.  There was no second, the motion failed.

Construction Requests

Upon due motion by Sandra Goldberg and seconded by Laura Cossa, the Board voted unanimously to approve the remodeling of units 414, 3210, and 3804 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.

Contractors Log

Laura Cossa motioned to create a contractors log that would include a list of contractors working in the building and their ratings based on the owners experience.  There was no second, the motion failed.

Treasurers Report (Laura Cossa)

As of May 31, 2009 the total operating funds were $128,000.  The Max Safe money market was $426,000.  The total replacement reserve funds were $1,200,000.  The total of all cash and investments was $1,300,000.

Upon due motion by Laura Cossa and seconded by George Pauley, the Board voted to ratify the CD transfer from BankFirst to Park National for 12 months in the amount of $98,000.00 at a rate of 2.30 % APY with excess funds of $452.26 deposited into the MAX SAFE money market account at Barrington Bank.  George Pauley, Lorraine Meyers, William Fortuna, and Laura Cossa voted in favor; Sandra Goldberg abstained; the motion passed.

Board Report (George Pauley)

First of all, on behalf of the Board of Directors, I would like to thank Carlos Vargas for serving on the Board for the past two years.  He has been an extremely valuable asset to the association and has spent long hours and been very diligent in his responsibilities and as his role as a Board member.  Thank you very much Carlos, you will be missed.

On behalf of the Board of Directors, I would like to thank the election committee.  This was a particularly difficult election because the difference between winning and loosing in this election was about the vote of one 2-bedroom apartment.  I do understand that the votes were counted three times to make sure that they were correct.  The Chair of that committee was Paul Groeninger; the committee consisted of Marian Shaw, Nancy Ledvina, Georgi Nowak and Homer Longoria.  I want to thank them all very much for their time and efforts.

On behalf of the Board of Directors, I would like to thank Chuck Brown for his years of service to the Association.  We are not allowed to use the ‘R’ word, according to Chuck, because if he is retiring than he feels it means he would be sitting on a rocking chair on a porch waiting to die.  Chuck has no intension of being inactive.  He has a lot of plans and some of those plans include serving on committees and perhaps even running for the Board of the Association.  Which I hope he does next year.  He continues to own in the building, you won’t see him around as much, because he will no longer be our head engineer.  He has done an amazing job and has been invaluable.  I don’t think that there are any words to thank him enough for his knowledge, his expertise, and his personality, being able to handle a crisis and get through it without making it worse.  I think that anybody who lives here knows that he had an extremely stressful job, in addition to one that required an extreme amount of knowledge.  I think that he will be very much missed as our head engineer, but he has a lot of plans and will be a very active person.  In a couple of weeks he is going away for a while to his vacation home someplace.

We have hired a new engineer, his name is Steve Bisping.  He is very qualified and will start shadowing Chuck immediately and will officially start in two weeks.  Tim and Chuck interviewed a number of candidates and Chuck had two interviews with this candidate one on one.  Chuck very much thinks that this is the right person for the job.  I don’t mean to minimize that Tim also thinks that this is the right person for the job, but Chuck’s vote carries more weight on this one.  The Board will be finding some time to meet with him, we have not as of yet.  He will be moving into the engineer’s apartment with his family.  That apartment was the one that we were renting, but the tenant moved out May 1st.  This is good timing, in terms of if there is ever a good time to loose a valuable employee.  You will see a shadow following Chuck in the later part of the afternoon for the next couple of weeks and his name is Steve.

Finally, I am going to assign the Committee Liaisons for our Committees.  William has graciously agreed to be the liaison to the Rules and Regulations Committee and also the Home Improvement Committee, which is a natural fit for him because of his being an architect and engineer.  His expertise is far beyond what the Home Improvement Committee would need, but I think that he will be a very valuable member.  Lorraine has agreed to continue as Liaison for the Social Committee, she has been a hard working member of that committee long before she became the liaison.  Laura, as treasurer, and I encourage everyone to go to the Budget and Finance Committee meetings, will be the liaison to the B&F Committees.  Laura has also agreed to take on the Health Club Committee.  Lastly, I never got an answer from anybody about the wiliness to take on the Garage Committee, so at this time there will be no liaison.

Management Report (Tim Patricio)

A couple quick issues I wanted to mention, that I received questions about.  We are still working on hiring a plumber, as everybody’s heard.  Hopefully that will happen very soon.  There has been an issue between us, the plumbers union, and insurance carriers that we are required to work with to bond the plumber.  That has been what we are working on right now.

As everybody has seen throughout the building, the second phase of the automatic door program is almost complete.  There is a problem with the laundry room door closing all the way, but that should be completed tomorrow.  The other piece that is not completed yet is the double door by the service elevators, the wiring will be imbedded into the marble tomorrow.

Just to let you know what I am turning my focus to now that WJE has presented their report, and now that the automatic doors are in place, I will be giving more attention to the signage out front, the front desk project, the weight room floor, and the pool area floor.  We presented several sampled of flooring for the weight room to both the Home Improvement Committee and the Health Club Committee and both agreed to the same sample.  That is what we are focusing on and the next step will be to go back to the vendors with that sample and present the Board with bids.

In the month of June there were 52 chargeable work orders in the amount of $2,842, and 143 non-chargeable work orders.  There was $7,233 for health club income with a total of 306 memberships.  There was $320 in party room income.  There were three sales, a studio for $102,000, a one-bedroom for $166,000, and another one-bedroom for $160,000.  Year to date there have been 7 sales averaging $201,667.  There were 10 leases for the month of June averaging $942.  There were 34 assessment late fees totaling $1,700.

Garage Report (Tim Patricio)

There is no garage report.

Adjournment

Upon due motion by Sandra Goldberg and seconded by Lorraine Meyers, the meeting adjourned at 10:12 pm.

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

George Pauley, President

William Fortuna, Secretary