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June7th 2011
Dear Michel,
April 1st 2011 An open letter to all unit owners As a former president and member of the board of directors of the Nassau House for 6 years, I have many concerns over the direction that the new board, specifically one or two board members are taking as far as spending money on unnecessary repairs. For many years, I as board president took the attitude that the board of directors should listen to the will of the majority of owners. During that time the only repairs made were one's that were necessary (if it is not broke, do not fix it) or made the place look presentable. Just last year, the Fire Marshall gave us notice to replace our fire alarm instead of repairing it, and Sandi, the vice president, spent hours convincing the Fire Marshall that we could not afford it and he reversed his decision based on us having it repaired. In so doing we were able to keep the maintenance low and not require any assessments. This is especially important in the current economic crisis and in the fact that apartment values are dropping. Now we find ourselves with the new board and specific board members who are looking for major renovations or repairs that are unnecessary. Currently these repairs amount to approximately $650,000 and would cost approximately $5000 per apartment. Most of these repairs are unnecessary and would not increase the value of your property but may decrease it should you wish to sell, as the new buyer would want you to pay for the assessment. In the last meeting many owners appealed to the board not to go forward with their planned repairs but the board, specifically one board member, seemed determined, and although a compromise was reached, the board wants to go through with these repairs later in the year. It has also been revealed that the board is going to the city and offering to repair any code short falls. I personally have asked what the motive is to be spending all this money in this bad economic time. One of the issues that the board wanted to work on right away was the replacement generator. Just after hurricane Wilma I had many changes made to the generator and a city permit was obtained and since then we have had annual inspections and have run it every week. At no time has the generator come under question. The board is saying that it needs to be replaced due to a safety issue because it has to supply the elevator and fire pump. However, should we ever be in the situation that we have no power and a fire; the fire department would shut down the elevator as it is dangerous to be in an elevator when there is a fire. Just this past Friday we had a power outage for over an hour and the generator worked perfectly supplying the one elevator and lighting downstairs. Again I have to question the motive on the board member’s insistence that this be replaced. Another repair that I had to question is that of the pump house. Last year we had three contractors come to look at the problems with the wiring and one contractor said dig it up, while the other two contractors said patch until it breaks as digging up may cause more problems or even new problems. Also the current board wants to replace a fan on the roof at the cost of approximately $100,000. Several years ago I disconnected this fan as it was the reason for the mold in the hallways. Just two years ago we had a state mandated inspection of our building and it passed. None of these problems, i.e. fire alarm, generator, pump house wiring, roof fan, were brought up in that inspection which was done by an independent engineer, not by a contractor who would benefit financially. Another problem has arisen this weekend that involves Cheryl, our office manager. As you all know we have recently employed a management company and they wanted Cheryl to be employed by them but she was having problems following their instructions not to open mail or pass on e-mails to the board members even though she was instructed by the board to open the mail and forward all e-mails to the board president. Because of this Cheryl came to an agreement with two board members that she would work for Nassau House and not for the management company. The management company gave a board member an ultimatum either Cheryl or them, and he decided to go with the management company and promptly terminated Cheryl. My concerns here are why does the management company not want the board to see the mail or any e-mails coming in? As it is, monies from unit owners are being appropriated wrongly and bills are not being paid promptly, and meeting minutes are not posted in a timely manner. If you feel the same way as I do, make yourself heard, and if you have any questions, please feel free to call me at (954) 781-2125. In conclusion, I would like to appeal to those board members who want to spend this money to listen to the majority of the owners and not spend unnecessary monies and if they cannot follow the will of the people, to resign or face a recall. Michel Pytlarz
December 30th 2010 MAINTENANCE FEES The maintenance fees for 2011 will be as follows. These figures are the same as last year.
December 12th 2010 Our Flood Insurance renewed at the end of November, 2010. If you need copy of the Flood Insurance Certificate for your mortgage company, please call EOI Direct at 1-877-456-3643 and provide them with your loan number and apartment number. You may also go to www.eoidirect.com and register and get a copy faxed or emailed to you or your mortgage holder.
December 15th 2009 MAINTENANCE FEES The maintenance fees will be as follows. These figures are approximately 3% increase over last years.
December 27th 2008 Requests are coming in for the Mitigation Form that is required by the homeowners insurance carrier to bring down the premium. The form has been uploaded in PDF format and is available on this site in the Downloads page.
December 24th 2008 MAINTENANCE FEES The maintenance fees will be as follows. These figures are approximately 12.9% increase over last years.
August 11, 2008 NEW OFFICE MANAGER Dear Owners: Now that Doris has retired, we are very lucky to have found somebody to fill that difficult position. Cheryl Koski is a resident of the Nassau House and self employed in the Health Insurance business and has a lot of experience with computers and insurance matters. Over the years she has taken a great interest in issues concerning the condominium and owners rights. She will fit in nicely as our new office manager. Although Cheryl lives in the building, owners are asked to respect her privacy during non working hours. Just because she lives in the building does not mean she is available 24 hours. This means do not call her apartment and do not delay her when she is walking around outside of her office hours which are 8 am to mid-day Monday through Friday. Should an emergency arise, please contact a board member only, as you have always done, or wait until the office is open before contacting Cheryl. Thank you for your understanding and please join the board in making Cheryl feel welcome as our new office manager. Michel
August 8th 2008 Today was Doris's last day working for Nassau House. As most of you know, Doris had announced at the last Annual General Meeting that she wished to retire in August to coincide with the upcoming birth of her grandchild and to allow her to go on a European Cruise. Last Friday, the Nassau House threw Doris a surprise party and, as a token of appreciation, a check and a movie camera was given to Doris from all the owners.
June 1st 2008 The Board wishes to announce and welcome to the Board Dawn Jenkins, who has agreed to take over as Treasurer due to the resignation of Joe Hess, who has sold his unit and moved to a larger residence. We wish to thank Joe for all his efforts over the past two and a half years. He certainly made a difference!
December 12th 2007 Dear Owners, Some good news. The Board has been working on the budget for 2008 and after reviewing what we spent in 2007, the board found a great way to start off the New Year by reducing the maintenance fees. Even though some items will be be going up, due to Joe's aggressive work with the insurance company, the main expense of the insurance went down a little, and the small saving on insurance and other items this year allowed us to carry over a balance to next year. Water will go up 8-10%, and if we should have water restrictions again, our bill will raise 18%. Electric will go up due to fuel costs, but we do not yet know by how much. I would like to thank Doug MacKenzie for his advice to replace all our outside 300watt lighting with 26watt lighting, and for supplying the lighting at cost. Thanks to that, our electric costs came in well under budget, even though we experienced a 30% increase rather than the 19% we had budgeted for. So, for next year, the maintenance fees will be as follows. These figures are approximately a13.50% decrease over last years.
Over the past few years, Sandy DeCesare has been taking care of our grounds (thank you Sandy), and has made some fantastic changes to the way it looks outside. This is a major undertaking, so the board has decided to hire Ted Connors, a professional landscaping service to assist Sandy, and replace the company that basically just did the lawns. Also, our pool service has not been working out, so we will engage Ike Carter Pools to take over the maintenance of the pool and regularly check on the pump and heater, as they service these also. We came very close to having a large assessment due to problems with our fire alarm system, but we came across Bass Alarm services who were able to fix our existing system, and offered us alternatives when we have to replace the system. As a result, Bass will be taking over our maintenance contract in the new year. This past year has seen several changes in the building. The hallways have been repainted and carpet replaced. The recreation room has been completely redone (thank you Sandy, Ruth and Barbara) and all that remains is the replacing of the furniture, which is being worked on. The parking lot has been resurfaced, and, although I am not happy with the finish, I have been able to get a 3 year warranty. The front circle has been paved and the curb raised, and the back pathway repaired (as well as the leak that has given us problems for several years). We have also had the shutters in the breezeway installed, and thanks to an anonymous donor, the windows in the recreation room replaced. Michel Pytlarz
July 13th 2007 Comment page has been removed because of abusive comments placed on it. It is regrettable to have to do this, as we have had some useful dialog on this page. Blacktop is just about completed; they just have to come back in two weeks and repair any problems. Please remember when you look at it, that we have had a road grade (S1) put down, so it is not as pretty as a fine grade, but will last for many, many years. Also, like the road, it will turn grey and be settled by traffic.
November 15th 2006 Dear Owners; As this year is coming to a close and the board is working on the next year’s budget, we, the board, feel it is very important to all of you to try and make the annual meeting in January. By now you all should have received the 1st notice of the meeting or it is due to arrive soon. It is very important that you all know what you are up against with the maintenance fee for 2007. You will see a large increase just for the insurance alone. Wind Insurance has tripled. The problem is only one insurance carrier will give us wind insurance and that is Citizens Insurance, the Florida State owned company. Final figures are not in as of this date, but expect your quarterly maintenance to go up at least $100+ a month or $300+ a quarter. Sorry for this but we have no choice. All condos in Florida as well as home owners are in the same position as we are. Home owners insurance have doubled as well as tripled in their costs. The reason we have been dropped by QBE is because our building is appraised under $20,000,000. If a new appraisal shows our building to be higher, QBE would consider insuring us if we had 100% high impact hurricane windows or 100% shutters. That would require an outlay of $10,000 to $15,000 for those who do not have hurricane windows or shutters, but according to our insurance agent, might save us 10% on wind insurance, a savings of approximately $120 a year to each owner. There have been other increases this year and we have been notified of upcoming increases with water, trash, and elevator service, as well as the need to purchase new dryers. Michel Pytlarz
June 14th 2006 RE: Special Assessment for Hurricane Wilma Damages The Board of Directors met Tuesday June 13, 2006 and unanimously voted to declare a Special Assessment to address the damages that Nassau House sustained from Hurricane Wilma. A breakdown of the damage costs is attached as a PDF. Click here to download. The amount of the Special Assessment is $320,810.70 and the allocation is as follows:
The Special Assessment is due as of the date of this notice, June 14th 2006, but can be paid in three installments, each due no later than June 27th, July 18th, and August 8th respectively. However, it would be appreciated if those that could pay in one lump sum, do so due to mounting bills. Payments not received by the due dates will be subject to a late fee of $25 each. The payment breakdown is as follows:
Two copies of this letter and spreadsheet are being provided so that you can forward one to your insurance company. You should file a claim if your policy contains a Loss Assessment clause. Your check should be made out to Nassau House Association. Please indicate Special Assessment on your check, and do not forget the due dates.
Respectfully yours,
February 6th 2006 A/C is up and running. It is now very quiet! We will be shutting it down for a day for some preventive maintenance with the seals. New trees were delivered Saturday (4th). Thank you all that turned out to get them planted! Power washing of the building is underway and should be completed in the next 10 days. Builders next door are finally fixing the wall.
December 19th, 2005 Doris will be going on holiday for the rest of the year, as of Wednesday 21st December. See minutes for updates of meetings with Bell Painting, Roofers and Pavers. I am hoping to meet with adjuster on Tuesday to finalize coverage, and then to setup assessment.
The annual voting and budget package has been sent to all owners. Please review all voting ballots. Running for the board are:
December 14th 2005 2006 maintenance will be $457 (unit A), $624 (unit B), and $668 (unit C).
December 3rd, 2005 Met with adjuster. Still no answers, but a direction was given. See future meeting minutes. Three places on the board are up for re-election. If you are interested in running, please let Doris know and give her a copy of your resume and photo before December 16th.
November 29, 2005 Finally got a call from the adjuster. I will be meeting with him on Friday December 2nd.
November 27, 2005 Had a successful party at the pool. Many residents came and had a great time. Thanks Maria!
November 21, 2005 On Saturday, we had a tremendous rain storm that caused the back road to flood and washed the roofing trash back into our parking lot causing it to flood. According to Joe Hess, who's car died in the flood on A1A, the water was nearly 3 feet by the drains. Needless to say, several cars got flooded out in rows A & B. My car, probably the most damaged, had all its electrics shorted and will probably be totaled. Please check your car for any damage. Good news is that we did not have any leaks from the rain! We will be having a Board meeting tomorrow, so check the meetings page.
November 18, 2005 Last night had a 2hr power cut. Then it rained. There was some small leakage through the roof on the penthouse floor, but only a little along hairline cracks. Roofers are trying to seal these. I met with company that will repair and replace extractor vents. Crane finally came this morning, and even though it was raining, they spent the day clearing the roof.
November 16, 2005 The board met with the insurance agent in regards to the renewal of our building and flood insurance. The proposal will be discussed at the next meeting. Also met with National Pavers who will have the pool area cleaned, sanded and sealed. They will finish the back as soon as the correct bricks arrive.
November 16, 2005 I would like to open this letter with a deep felt gratitude to all the residents that helped in the clean-up and subsequent repairs after our hit from hurricane Wilma. As many of you may know, Wilma caused more problems than we had expected. Our building lost its entire roof, much of the landscaping was damaged, as well as parts of the buildings. As its stands at the moment, we are having the roof patched (dried out) but this requires that the whole roof be cleaned of debris. The contract with the roofers had them starting between 30 and 90 days, however, as many of you may know, the rains that came after the hurricane caused a lot of damage in several apartments. This was caused by existing large holes in the roof that were only covered with insulation and roofing material. The drains were set about 2 to 3 inches above the bare roof level so water built on the roof and the pressure pushed through the temporary patches. The roofing company felt the only way to properly patch this was to remove the debris and concrete these holes, and they had to do that right away before they could arrange for dumpsters and cranes. The outcome of this is that, although we are having the work done, the debris is still on the roof and is being blown off causing a mess in the walkways and in the parking lot. We are currently waiting on the cranes to remove the debris as we now have the dumpsters. Please understand that the mess is beyond anyone’s control. There is much work to do on the roof: resetting drains, replacing damaged electrical boxes, repairing extractor vents and drainage vents, besides replacing the roof. Currently we have started necessary repair work with the funds we have put aside from the parking black top funds, so that we do not have to have an immediate assessment. This will give us time to work out what the assessment will be and I hope to be able to spread this assessment over several months. Unfortunately, it is very difficult to get repair personnel, as everybody is trying to make repairs, so it is going to take time to affect the repairs. As far as the insurance is concerned we have a $282,000.00 deductible and the roof replacement alone is going to cost more than that ($295,326.00), so it looks like we will be making a claim. I have met with an assistant adjuster and have spoken with his superior; however I am still waiting to meet with him to finalize details of what our insurance will cover. Consequently I am unable to give you any information in regards to an assessment until I get these details from him. Our attorney has advised us to get a general contractor to oversee all the repairs and have the insurance company deal with them. Please make sure you notify your own insurance company, and do not forget to check to see if you have loss assessment coverage. The roof tar has caused a lot of damage to the building and pavers. As soon as the roof is done we will be cleaning the outside of the building and then the new pavers. Also, part of the exterior walls had water penetration, so we are having Bell Painting come back to reseal the walls and they will also pressure clean the exterior. The resurfacing of the parking lot will now be put on hold until May or June 2006, and the finishing of the pavers has been delayed for a few weeks. The damage to the landscaping is quite extensive; however this will be the last part of the repair process. This will give some of the damaged plants time to rejuvenate before we remove them. Anything that could be saved has been replanted and we are waiting to have all the dead trees removed. Unfortunately, damage to the landscaping is not covered by our insurance. Should you have any questions, please contact the office or myself. I will try to keep a Wilma update on our website, so be sure to visit www.theNassauHouse.com and look on the news page. Once again, thank you to all of you that helped out during the aftermath, and for all the meals, advice, and encouragement. It brought us all together and made all the discomfort bearable.
Michel J Pytlarz
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