In Attendance 

George Pauley, President; Carlos Vargas, 1st Vice President; Lorraine Meyers, 2nd Vice President; Sandra Goldberg, Secretary; Steve Hanna, Property Supervisor; Tim Patricio, Property Manager; Mavis Mather, Assistant Manager Business Operations;

Absent

Laura Cossa, Treasurer; Jacquie Kozinski, Assistant Manager Security Operations

Call to Order at 8:28 pm

ASCO (Lorraine Meyers)

ASCO did not meet this month because of the election night.  Zoning and Planning is meeting this Wednesday.  They will be discussing the closing of the homeless shelter and discussing the proposed location for a temporary location.  They would like to open next door to the Alderman’s office in the old French Vietnamese restaurant.  It will just be used this year until we find a more permanent location.  There are not currently any in Edgewater and the need is great.  We are going to vote this Wednesday.  Our building only has one vote; every building on Sheridan only has one vote; every block club has one vote.  Normally what happens is that we are out numbered, so we have to get a lot of other people to agree to open up this temporary shelter.  It is next door to the Alderman’s office so if anything goes wrong she will be right there.  My experience has been that if it is over crowded they call down to city hall.  They come and pick people up and drive them to a different shelter that is not crowded.  There are never people standing around outside.  Once you go into the shelter you are not allowed to leave, you have to stay.  There are no drugs allowed, you cannot smoke in the shelter, and it is very well monitored.  There really is not a lot to worry about and it’s a lot better than people sleeping under the viaducts or sleeping in the park underneath a tree.

Home Improvement Committee (Ruth Posternak)

Starting with the deck, the committee recommends that the Board purchase lights for the deck planters that are either currently missing, or missing parts, 50 should be purchased for this project.  There need to be more railings on the deck that are located away from a planter wall.  Research needs to be done on installing new railings on the stairs for the deck.  150-200 flat stones should be purchased for the fountain.  The recommendation for the fixtures on the wall, these have to be replaced, were included.  The committee does not recommend the circular (spherical) fixture, but the others are recommended.  The circle planter, instead of having flowers all over, it is recommended to have two rings of flowers.

George Pauley stated that the Board would not be involved in this decision, it would be between the committee and the landscapers.

The sign for Park Tower with the numbering is placed such a way that the numerals face south.  Until we get a new sign, can this be turned?  Also the two yellow rocks out front need painting.  Someone has suggested that the swinging door going to the cleaners on the outside needs painting, it is very sad shape.  Whoever uses the lower level of the garage with the new automatic doors has noticed that there needs to be a kick plate added as the door is being damaged from people kicking it open.  The last question, what about the new sign that has been promised for 25 years.

George Pauley stated that last time it came up some Board members voted it down.

One more thing, we have cameras, and I think they are wonderful, but someone said that the cameras are there to see if people smoke, but that people in the building should be notified as to where the cameras are.

George Pauley stated that the cameras are very visible and those are the security cameras.  There are other cameras that are moved around throughout the building in certain areas to try to catch smokers.  No we are not notifying people where they are.  If you find cigarette buts someplace a camera may appear.

Carlos Vargas stated that it was not just smokers, it was also illegal activities.

In reference to this room, the party room, the sheers that are hanging are original.  It has been suggested that we get the perpendicular blinds and if the measurements are the norm, the person suggested that we could get buy one get one free.  This is a rather large room so you would have to take into consideration how much that would cost.

George Pauley stated that it would be something that the Budget and Finance Committee would need to address.  If that money is spent here, it will be taken away from someplace else so it is a question of prioritizing.

Home Improvement Committee would like the place to look good.

Health Club Committee (Marty Fiesler)

We created a newsletter for the health club members that went out in September.  For people we have email addresses for we emailed it, and we printed several copies to leave at the attendants table.  So far there has not been any feedback either positive or negative.  We are going to assume that no news is good news and publish it quarterly.  If you do have things that you are interested in bringing up in the newsletter, come to a committee meeting, they are health the Thursday before the Board Meeting, and we will get your information in the newsletter.

As a committee we are looking at the Rules and Regulations and we are going to start reviewing them item by item.  There are some that do not make any sense and there are some that are worded one way but then posted differently on the doors.  We need to go through and look at all of them and get them in order.  As part of the newsletter we did send out a copy of the rules to the members and pointed out a couple of the obvious things; like take a shower, wipe the machinery off, those things that we keep pushing.

We have asked Tim and the management office to come up with a procedural manual for attendants.  While we have been giving them instructions, there really isn’t a process or any kind of procedure down there.  We are getting detail out of that now, these are the highlights, this is what the attendant needs to do at this time etc.  This way anyone who comes in for training will have a manual to go with that.  So we will be working with the management office on that.

With the machinery that we are trying to fill in that empty spot in there, Tim and I worked diligently with Power Systems, who turn out to be real idiots.  We dropped them and Tim went to Life Fitness who had very similar equipment for a much better deal and hopefully it should be here soon.  We do know where it is going to fit and how it should be configured, so once it gets here I will take some time off and we will get it where it needs to be.

The membership has really taken to those comment sheets really well.  Whereas we did get a lot of political things, and some inappropriate things, Jacquie has done really well at taking those down.  For the most part they are really utilizing that to let us know either ideas, or what’s wrong, or if something needs to be fixed, so they really are serving a good purpose and allow us to fix things right away rather than waiting two weeks to have it reported.

The other thing that we are working on is trying to increase some of the fees.  There are several recommendations that we are looking at, we did talk to the management office and they did not indicate that it would be any more work.  We are looking at beginning to offer three month memberships in 2009 for people who are only here for a short period of time, or they may only be able to afford three months at a time.  We also are going to recommend that we increase the membership fees for non-Park Tower residents by 15-20%.  They get a really good deal so we think that they need to pay a little bit more.  While we can share their pool, it’s only available three months out of the year, and we have this whole spread offered year round.  The other thing that we are going to recommend is that the Board look at is allowing the membership to buy gift certificates that people can use to purchase memberships.  Someone could give a friend a $60.00 gift certificate and they could use that towards the purchase of a membership.

Looking at 2009, we were working with Tim on items for consideration for budgeting for next year.  We are looking at the racquet ball courts, specifically the HVAC system that really doesn’t work.  Also looking at making the health club more handicapped accessible, we have the garage and the front door but now we are missing the main access to the health club.  I do know that there is one gentleman in a wheelchair that goes in and uses the cycle.  I know that it dawned on Jacquie that we are doing part of the building; we should extend it into the health club.  We are making sure that the machines are spaced far enough apart and we are looking at the moving the weights so that you can get in there and move yourself around.  We are almost there, but we missed the main part of being able to get the doors open so that you can utilize the facility.  Another thing is looking at changing the floor in the weight room.  We would like to remove the carpeting in there and change it to the vinyl which would be more similar to what is in the cardio room.  It would be a lot easier to clean and would last a lot longer.  Also when you have people who come in their street shoes or spill water or soda it would be much easier to clean.  The other thing, possibly for the long term, is looking at reconfiguring the south racquetball court to allow us to incorporate that into a cardio area.  If we really find that consistently people are not using both racquetball courts, it would be underutilized space.  If the HVAC gets fixed we could just take the glass out and extend the cardio in there and see if it works or not.  It’s something that we would like to work on the next year or two.

Carlos Vargas asked about the noise factor if the carpeting was replaced with vinyl.

It’s not going to make that much of a difference; it’s going to be just as loud as always.

Tim Patricio stated that you might see an improvement, the rubber will probably absorb more noise.  I have seen it improve situations like that.

Carlos Vargas asked if Tim heard the weights drop in his office.

Tim Patricio stated that he had not.

George Pauley stated that where you get the complaints is from the units above the health club.

Where you hear that is when it hits the floor it makes an explosive sound upwards.

Budget and Finance Committee (Paul Groeninger)

We have started reviewing the annual budget, but have only gotten through the first three expense categories.  We have some recommendations for the Board to review and they are in the packets in front of you.  I don’t know if you want me to go through each one of them, but they are there.  I am glad to hear about the things that you are anticipating for the health club, but we would like to remind homeowners that we are going to have to be a little bit practical.  Currently, right at the moment we are looking at a 7% increase for next year.  We are not finished with the expenses, but that is a pretty drastic increase compared to what is going on at properties around us so we are going to have to cut corners anywhere that we can.  Hopefully we will find other areas or other expense categories that we can cut to get the 7% down.  We also need to protect our reserves; we have been hit with some pretty costly items because of city code.  One of which is the life safety system which we are estimating will cost us $900,000.  If we could do with less of that type of thing from the city we might not have to be quite as drastic with our increases.  One of the other things that the committee is doing is long range planning.  We are not just looking at this year; we are looking at the next five to ten years.  We are seeing increases in the assessments that are nothing like the 3% we have been used to.  Unless something drastic happens, like a code change, our reserves will not be a lot better.  This year, I want to forewarn you, is looking more and more like a 7% increase.   $900,000 for the life safety systems is a big hunk of change.  According to the code you have to be able to get a hold of residents in their units.

Approval of Motions from Closed Session

A1.  Upon due motion by Carlos Vargas and seconded by George Pauley, the Board voted unanimously to approve the insurance fines for 36 units. A2. Upon due motion by Carlos Vargas and seconded by Lorraine Meyers, the Board voted unanimously to waive a fine for a move violation.  A3. Upon due motion by Sandra Goldberg and seconded by Lorraine Meyers, the Board voted unanimously to approve a $50.00 fine for a move violation.  A4. Upon due motion by Lorraine Meyers and seconded by Sandra Goldberg, the Board voted unanimously to approve a $300.00 fine for noise violations.  A5.  Upon due motion by Carlos Vargas and seconded by Lorraine Meyers, the Board voted unanimously to approve a $200.00 fine for an illegal move.  A6. Upon due motion by Carlos Vargas and seconded by Lorraine Meyers, the Board voted unanimously to approve a $1,000.00 fine for construction violations.  A7. No Action.   B. Upon due motion by Carlos Vargas and seconded by Lorraine Meyers, the Board voted unanimously to deny reimbursing a bike room deposit to a unit owner.  C. No Action.  D. No Action.

Minutes October 13, 2008 Board Meeting

Upon due motion by Sandra Goldberg and seconded by Lorraine Meyers, the Board voted unanimously to approve the minutes of the October 13, 2008 Board Meeting with corrections by the secretary.

Minutes October 20, 2008 Board Meeting

Upon due motion by Carlos Vargas and seconded by George Pauley, the Board voted unanimously to approve the minutes of the October 20, 2008 Board Meeting with corrections by the secretary.

Announcement for Holiday Fund

Upon due motion by Sandra Goldberg and seconded by George Pauley, the Board voted to approve the holiday fund letter for distribution.  George Pauley, Lorraine Meyers, and Sandra Goldberg voted in favor; Carlos Vargas voted against; the motion passed.

Bridgeview Bank Accounts

Upon due motion by Carlos Vargas and seconded by Lorraine Meyers, the Board voted unanimously to change the signatories on the social account at Bridgeview Bank to Sandra Goldberg and Laura Cossa.

Hiring Prospect Resources

Upon due motion by Carlos Vargas and seconded by George Pauley, the Board voted to approve hiring Prospect Resources to manage the Associations gas purchases starting in 2010/2011.  George Pauley and Carlos Vargas voted in favor; Sandra Goldberg and Lorraine Meyers voted against; the motion failed.

Gas Purchase
Upon due motion by Lorraine Meyers and seconded by George Pauley, the Board voted unanimously to approve purchasing 10% of the gas for this winter at a price not to exceed $0.69 per therm.

Upon due motion by Lorraine Meyers and seconded by Carlos Vargas, the Board voted to approve purchasing 15% of the 2009/10 gas at a price not to exceed $0.75 per therm.  George Pauley, Carlos Vargas, and Lorraine Meyers voted in favor; Sandra Goldberg voted against; the motion passed.

AED Contract

Upon due motion by Sandra Goldberg and seconded by Lorraine Meyers, the Board voted unanimously to approve the contract from The University of Chicago for the annual AED training in the amount of $675.00

Exterminating Contract

Upon due motion by Lorraine Meyers and seconded by Carlos Vargas, the Board voted unanimously to approve the contract from Anderson Pest Control to provide weekly exterminating services at a cost not to exceed $454.00 per month.

 Lease for 511

Upon due motion by Lorraine Meyers and seconded by Sandra Goldberg, the Board voted unanimously to not reduce the rent for unit 511.

Motorized Vehicle Policy

Upon due motion by Lorraine Meyers and seconded by Carlos Vargas, the Board voted unanimously to approve integrating the attorney’s suggestions into the proposed motorized vehicle policy and bring back a new draft for the Board to consider for adoption.

Homeless Shelter Closing

Upon due motion by Sandra Goldberg and seconded by George Pauley, the Board voted unanimously to authorize the Zoning and Planning representative, Lorraine Meyers, to vote in favor on the issue of the proposed homeless shelter.

Construction Requests

Upon due motion by Carlos Vargas and seconded by Lorraine Meyers, the Board voted unanimously to approve the remodeling of unit 4606 as submitted by the owner, 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.

Treasurers Report (Tim Patricio)

As of September 30, 2008 the total operating funds were $241,845.37.  The total replacement reserve funds were $929,342.50.  The total of all cash and investments was $1,172,699.05.

Board Repor (George Pauley)

There is no Board Report for this month.

Management Report (Tim Patricio)

There are three quick things.  Obviously we launched the DK condo website; hopefully most of you have had a chance to look at that.  I am trying to keep that updated, I visit it once a day and if there is something relevant out there I put it on there.  There are two months worth of the calendar posted with activities so that not only do you have November posted around the building, but you also have December posted on the website.  The food drive notices have been posted, and there is a bin in the lobby.  Hopefully residents will take part.  Also I have had several questions about the holiday decorations.  We have started, we did schedule with Anna Held to do the lobby tree, and obviously the staff has put up the tree in here.  Chuck did need to replace some strands of lights this year, but I understand that has been done.  We did walk around the grounds last week to make sure that we had everything that we needed for that.  We should be putting up the outdoor lights very soon.

Sandra Goldberg asked how much it was costing to have Anna Held put up the tree.

Mavis Mather stated that the amount was to include the tree, the wreaths, and the poinsettias that are done every year.

Sandra Goldberg stated that they did not do it every year, some years it was done in house.  We have the tree here as well as the decorations and the balls and everything that go on it.

George Pauley stated that we hadn’t done that for quite a number of years.

Sandra Goldberg stated that in years prior it was done in house.  Where is the tree?  We had a tree here.

George Pauley stated that Anna Held had done it for at least the past five years.

Mavis Mather stated that she would have to check with Chuck on that.  I remember that one year Anna Held brought the tree and decorated it with ornaments that we had, but I thought that they had always brought the tree.

Sandra Goldberg asked how much it was costing for that.

Mavis Mather stated that it depended on how much it ran, but that it was a not to exceed $1,000 to include the giant wreaths, the poinsettias and all the regular decorations.

Sandra Goldberg asked to check with Chuck, in previous years we have done it in house.

Lorraine Meyers stated that the outside planters were going to be done by ASCO around Thanksgiving.

Sandra Goldberg asked why the decorations were put up so early, it’s not even Thanksgiving.

George Pauley stated that the decorations were going up with the intent that the decorations will be turned on at Thanksgiving.

For the month of October there were 44 chargeable work orders that generated $2,731, and 128 non chargeable work orders.  $7,804 was received in health club income for a total of 299 memberships.  $180 was charged in garage late fees and 31 assessment late fees were charged in the amount of $1,550.  There was one sale in the amount of $107,000, and 8 leases reported.  59 units were exterminated.

Garage Report  (Tim Patricio)

The updated garage wait list has 14 parkers waiting for valet parking, 30 parkers waiting for 1-P self park, 39 parkers waiting for 2-P self park, and no parkers waiting for tandem.  For the month of September the revenue was $57,915, and the expenses were $45,631.  Year to date the income is $120,042 which is $9,740 under budget.

Adjournment

Upon due motion by Sandra Goldberg and seconded by Carlos Vargas, the meeting adjourned at 9:49PM.

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

George Pauley, President

Sandra Goldberg, Secretary