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NASSAU
HOUSE ASSOCIATION
ANNUAL
GENERAL MEETING
JANUARY 28,
2009 7PM
Board Members
Present: Michel Pytlarz, Tom Puntillo, Dawn Jenkins, Roy Regeski
Members
Present: Total of 94 members present with proxy votes.
Prior to the
opening of the meeting, Michel Pytlarz put forward a motion to select an
impartial committee of election inspectors consisting of Jackie Bazzinotti, Val
Davis. Nell Itahara, Marge Trani and Ruth Schneider to validate and count the
ballots for election of directors. Board members seconded this motion, no
objections were held; motion was carried and inspectors of election appointed.
Michel opened
the meeting and welcomed all owners.
Michel
certified that a quorum has been met.
Proof of
Notice of the meeting was posted.
Reading
of 2008 Annual Meeting Minutes:
Michel
Pytlarz, President read the minutes of the last meeting, and these were accepted
and approved.
Report of
Officers:
Michel opens
with his report on the “gripes for the building”:
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Apartment
Caretakers
– We are having problems with owners not having caretakers. Water must be
flushed down all drains in toilets and sinks at least once a month to
prevent gas fumes coming up the drains. |
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Balcony
- All balconies must be cleared off when leaving the unit for any period of
time. |
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Water
Heaters
– Several years ago, the Board introduced a policy that water heaters must
be replaced every 10 years. Some of the water heaters are getting to this
point and you must replace them. The date of installation is listed on your
water heater. Remember, in casualty claims, if something floods by
accident, the person below would have their own insurance cover their own
damages. However, if it is negligence on the part of the person above you,
then it’s their responsibility. As a reminder, water heaters as well as
water should be turned off when owners leave for more than a few days.
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Windows
– Michel, Roy and Cheryl had met with the attorney and a lot of new issues
have come up. If an owner has old windows that are not maintained and water
gets in and causes damages, the owners are responsible for the damage to
units below you. It’s very important that you have homeowners insurance as
you will be liable for the costs if you choose not to replace your windows.
It could come to a time when the insurance companies mandate that you need
up to code windows. |
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Contractors
– We’ve had some people who’ve had work done in the building by contractors
who decide to work at 3:00 in the morning banging nails in the wall. Owners
are responsible for their contractors, and we will fine you as needed. |
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Alterations to Apartments
– On modifications made to anything that is original to the building or
upgraded by the Association, any damage caused by that modification will
become the unit owner’s responsibility and remove the Association from any
liability. |
Work
Completed in 2008:
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Michel
stated that a good friend of his passed away this year, Tony DeCesare; he
was a very good man and Michel always looked to him for guidance. Michel
wants all to know that Tony paid for the new windows in the recreation
room. The windows were donated by Tony. |
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We
haven’t had a lot of money to do very much work on the building this year.
In fact, we were lucky we didn’t need to do an assessment at year end. The
reason we are short on the budget is because we have four units in arrears
with maintenance. One unit has not paid maintenance in two years, plus we
have three other units that are no longer paying. One of the reasons we had
to increase the maintenance 13% is to make sure we don’t have a shortfall
because of the people not paying their maintenance. Eventually, we should
get “some” of the money back. Once the units are actually foreclosed, the
banks are responsible for six months of maintenance in arrears or 1% of the
mortgage, and we believe the bank would be responsible for any maintenance
going forward. The owners of these four units do not live in the building.
We could foreclose on the units, and we could possibly rent it out, but that
income would have to go to the bank. To actually foreclose, it would cost
us $2500-$3500 per apartment in legal costs. But we wouldn’t own the
apartment, the bank still has the primary loan on it and the bank could sell
the unit. |
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We had to
get a new front door entry phone. The old system was no longer being made.
We would like to replace the phone in the back, but we will keep the one in
back as long as we can. The names and codes are programmed into the new
phone box. Some owners are confused with the new phone system and want the
old directory to be placed back listing all names and codes on the bulletin
board. Other owners think the old printed directory was tacky looking and a
disgrace to our building, and that we should all know our codes to inform
our visitors. The new phone system is more receptive to cell phones, and
owners are doing away with their regular home phones. You may need to
adjust the tone on your cell phone to allow a longer tone signal; most cell
phones already have the right tone set. Visitors should hold the # button
down until they get to your name to find your code, and press * button to
backup or reverse. The code from your phone to open the door is 9. |
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Last year
we were told the fire alarm has to be replaced to code. We’ve been waiting
for the fire marshal to come down and tell us. The fire marshal was here,
looked at our system, and only told us we have to get a dialer which we have
done through Bass Fire & Security. Our fire alarm system is not up to
code. They may be waiting until the sprinkler system is mandatory in 2014.
This will cost us about $100,000 and Bass told us they could spread the work
and cost over a year and a half. The attorney said we might be able to get
the fire marshal to approve an engineered life safety system in lieu of
sprinkler system. |
AC Water
Valves:
The valves
have been costing us a lot of money this year, and we found out we should be
billing the owner for them. Every time we have an air conditioning unit
changed, or worse case if a hose breaks, we have to drain the entire AC system,
put new valves in and then refill the AC water lines for the building. This is
fresh water from the city and we pay for every gallon. We’ve had to do this a
couple times in last few months. Also, the air needs to be shut down in the
entire building just to work on one unit. To do one unit at a time, it would
cost $350 plus cost of water to refill the building. The Board decided to
change the valves for the entire building. That is the reason for the $100
invoice you received.
Amendment to
Declaration of Condominium Document:
Regarding who
is responsible for putting in hurricane protection such as shutters or windows.
Currently our documents state that the unit owner is responsible. We are trying
to keep that the same way. If we follow the way the state wants to do it you
would have to pay as part of a full assessment even if you had some of your
windows already replaced. Some apartments have more windows than others, and
with the new law you would all pay the same amount. We can give a credit only
if you are up to current code on windows or shutters. The state wants to make
hurricane protection be the association’s responsibility. Then the Board could
make it mandatory that everyone get new windows. If the amendment passes, we do
not have to do this. But it is your responsibility up until the point when the
insurance company or the state says you have to get up to code windows. Michel
is trying to save everyone money, that is why we are trying to get the amendment
passed.
New Business:
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Water
Line Backups:
Grease is being poured down the drains. We had a backup six weeks after we
cleaned the drains, and another a week after we cleaned the drains, and it
was solid grease. People pour cooking grease down the drains. What you
should do is put the grease in a small container, freeze it, then put it in
plastic bag in your garbage and throw it away. |
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Elevator
Pads:
Please give the office 24 hour notice. You should not wait until the last
minute and expect Miguel to stop whatever he is working on and run and get
the pads up. |
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Contractor Work Forms:
These should be completed by owners having work done in their apartments and
submitted to office along with copies of permits, for the Boards review.
You should be using licensed contractors. |
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Homeowners Insurance:
The Board is now required to ask each owner for copy of their homeowners
insurance. The Board can impose that all owners have homeowner insurance
coverage. If your insurance company or Mortgage Company requires proof of
the buildings insurance policy, you can call 1-877-456-3643 or go online at
www.eoidiret.com. Cheryl found a way to bring down your individual
homeowners insurance premiums by giving your insurance agent a mitigation
form for our new roof. Michel cut his premium from $1200 down to $460, for
the same coverage. Michel put a copy of this mitigation form on our
website,
www.thenassauhouse.com, it is under the Downloads section. |
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Owner
Requests:
Michel has been in the office at times when owners come down with the rudest
requests. Cheryl has been on the phone with Michel for what should be a two
minute phone call but takes 30 minutes because of all the interruptions
while she is on the phone. Also, Cheryl lives in this building. Her
work hours are 8:00 am to 12:00 noon, thereafter she is not on the
clock. Unfortunately some people feel they can go knock on her apartment
door. If an emergency comes up when the office is closed, you need to let a
Board member know, not Cheryl who isn’t even working for the association at
that time. Cheryl also has a full-time job as a health insurance agent,
please respect her privacy. |
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Pets:
An owner expressed their desire to allow pets in building. Michel advised
owner on steps needed to bring item to the Board and would need 75% of
owners to approve it. |
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Rental
Policy:
Tom Puntillo brought up the fact that the increase in maintenance is a
direct correlation with the unpaid maintenance. Tom wrote a letter to the
Board about changing the rental policy. He feels owners have changed their
minds on this issue, and would like the Board to bring this up for a vote.
Roy Regeski had a rebuttal on this issue, he is against changing the rental
rule. We had two renters in this building last year, and they were a lot of
trouble. The building next to ours allows rentals, and they have a lot of
problems with their renters. Michel said we would need a petition of 20% of
the owners to bring this up to the Board, and 75% of the owners to vote yes
to change the documents. If we get more than 10% of the building occupied
by renters, our Citizens insurance company may drop us. That means we would
have to get all new windows put in so that QBE might accept us. Also, if a
renter is in a unit that is going to foreclose, we can’t kick the renter
out; we won’t get any money from that apartment. Michel can see both the
positive and negative side of changing the rental policy. |
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Tom
Puntillo:
Tom has decided not to run again for the Board and is at the end of his
second two year term. Tom said although it has been hard work at times, he
has enjoyed the commodity of the Board and the fellow owners, and expressed
his thanks in allowing him to serve you. |
Election of
Directors / Ballot Votes:
Based on
votes received from owners, our newest Board members for 2009 will now include
Sandi DeCesare and Pat Robinson. Michel thanked Tom Puntillo for helping him
out over the years and has enjoyed working with him. Dawn Jenkins thanked the
owners for getting their maintenance in on time.
Voting tally
for issues given as follows:
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Waive
reserves: Yes-75 No-17 |
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Waive
financial statements: Yes-72 No-15 (+2 unvote) |
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Waive
engineer inspection: Yes-75 No-16 (+1 unvote) |
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Surplus
funds rollover: Yes-77 No-17 |
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Amendment
(cannot be closed out until all postal votes are in, |
currently Yes-75, No-15)
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Opt-out
for casualty repair: Yes-76 No-16 (+1 unvote) |
A moment of
silence was given for the passing of three of our owners this past year:
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Tony
DeCesare |
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Barbara
Gruebel |
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Frank
Kirk |
Motion was
made to adjourn the meeting and seconded.
Meeting
adjourned at 9:15 pm
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