Highview Condominium II
Board of Directors - Meeting Minutes
February 25,  2014  7:30 p.m.

The seventh regular meeting of the 2013-2014 Highview Condominium II, Inc. Board of Directors was called to order at approximately 7:30 p.m.

Board members in attendance: Robert Boynton, Joseph Cann, Marjorie Cannon, Stacey Cohen, Nora Colford, David Cutler, Natalie Hendrix, and Joseph Skonieczny. Michael D'Angelo called-in. Maria Arzano attended from Wentworth Property Management.

a) Garage masonry repairs: Masonry repairs by KES to garage access plates and French drain to control water on floor near side entrance. Originally approved at 10/22/13 meeting. No update.

b) Installation of backflow restrictor and water filtering: Possible “fix” for the servicing problem has been suggested and repairs expected next week. Payments by management to both Cascade and Boris Plumbing will be withheld parties until problem resolved and NYC certification received.

c) Laundry room: New washers and dryers have been installed, laundry room repainted, and new carts provided. Dryers not accepting 5-minute payment additions beyond the initial 20-minute charge. Vendor will be adjusting payment options on the dryers and adding remote monitoring from smartphones.

d) Hallways, Lobby, Elevator, and Entrance Area Renovation: Bids submitted for labor. Still need to determine materials. Decision to consider an interior designer for the project. Management seeking designer recommendations.

e) Entrance area repairs: No update since 11/27/12.

a) Unit arrears: Board reviewed unit arrears with managing agent.

b) FY2014 budget: Budget remains unapproved pending addition of the annually budgeted transfer to Capital Reserve of $36,500 required by the board vote of 2010 in order to achieve the $250,000 Capital Replacement Reserve mandated by vote at General Membership meeting. Arzano will amend FY2014 budget and present to board for vote.

c) The Board reviewed building super’s salary and benefits. In discussion of building’s salary and benefits package, first noted that many of the most significant increased costs of living unit owners themselves have experienced in recent years (housing, insurance, utility costs, taxes) have been covered for the super through his benefits package.

Benefits: Highview provides a larger one-bedroom apartment with paid utilities (heating and cooking gas). New York City water/sewer and real estate taxes are paid by Highview. The super is allocated a heated, indoor parking space. Highview covers all maintenance costs of the apartment including service items such as kitchen appliances, air conditioning units, and television antenna with 55 digital stations. The kitchen was fully renovated in 2007 (new cabinets, plumbing, floor tile, countertops, stove, refrigerator, and dish washer). The value of the apartment is approximately $250,000 and the common charge on a similar unit in the building is currently $367/month with indoor parking. Although it would be a cost savings for the building to sell the apartment and have an additional common charge income, the apartment and parking space are provided to assure the super’s after hours availability in case of emergencies. The parking space is also used to accept large maintenance project deliveries.

The super receives a monthly check of $75/month to be applied to his electric bill, to cover the electrical cost and inconvenience of the building security monitoring system which is maintained and monitored from within his unit. The super receives another monthly check of $75/month to be applied to his cell phone bill, in order for the super to maintain 24/7 availability for emergencies, except when on scheduled vacations.

The super is provided with health and disability insurance. Two weeks of vacation are provided annually (3 weeks after 5-years) as well as two personal days per year, six holidays (New Years Day, Memorial Day, Independence Day, Labor Day, Thanksgiving Day, and Christmas), and five sick days per year.

Annual bonuses: Industry standard recommended by management for building supers with 1-5 years of service is a holiday bonus equal to 1-week’s gross salary (1.9%). For super with more than 5 year term, they recommend a bonus equal to two weeks gross-salary (3.8%). Reviewing Highview records, super received a 2013 holiday bonus equal to 4-week gross salary (13 %). Holiday bonuses for 2012 and 2011 were also 13% of gross-salary. Super will have completed five years of service on 05/18/14.

Salary increases: Super received a 7% salary increase at his first year anniversary and 13% increase at the 3- ear anniversary. The Board voted a 1% increase effective on his upcoming anniversary date, May 19, 2014.

Work hours: The super’s salary is based on a 40-hour, 6-day work week (Monday-Thursday, 8:00 a.m. -4:00 p.m.; Friday, 8:00 a.m. – 5:00 p.m.; Saturday 8:00 a.m. – 12:00 p.m.; Sunday-off). His hours can be amended by management according to conditions. If a 40 hour week is exceeded, the super qualifies for either comp time or overtime. After his first year at Highview, the 40 hour work week was amended from a 6-day week to a five day 8:00 a.m.-5:00 p.m. work week to offer the super a longer 2-day weekend. While relieving the super of Saturday maintenance, the building hired a weekend porter for Saturdays. Initially, a weekend porter only worked on Sundays for 2 hours to service the garbage compactor and recycling area, freshen the lobby and elevator, but the weekend porter’s hours were expanded from 2 hours/day to 5 hours/day on both Saturdays and Sundays to assist with cleaning projects not completed during the week. All increases of the porter’s weekend hours were partially considered as benefits for the super.

As the super is often too busy to complete normal maintenance without occasionally bringing the weekend porter in for weekday support, questions were raised about utilization of the super’s time and whether certain projects should be contracted out. The Board asked to review the building’s daily maintenance log. Management was unable to provide the work log and indicated that one had not been kept for several years. Noted that according to Highview’s performance guidelines document for both management and the building super, a log book is to be kept and includes: “all repairs performed, projects undertaken and/or completed, building problems identified, resident requests, and rules violations. When projects are completed, completion date should be noted in the log. When projects involving residents are completed, residents should sign to agree that work has been completed to their satisfaction.” Management will review the process.

d) Status of FY2013 Audit: In progress. No further update.

e) Annual Meeting FY2013: No update.

f) Special Assessment or Building Loan: The Board agreed in principle to conduct either a special assessment or building loan to complete a comprehensive list of renovations and capital replacements. Items for the comprehensive list may include renovation of hallways (walls and carpeting), elevator cab, lobby, exterior entrance area, lobby doors, and emergency electrical backup system. Discussion will continue.

a) Local Law 11 facade inspection (cycle 6) and Local Law 11 facade inspection (cycle 7): No update for more than one year -- 06/26/12.

b) Violations listed on NYC websites: Open DOB and ECB building code violations reviewed. Arzano investigating to gain closure on each violation listed on website. Two Department of Buildings (DOB) and five Environmental Control Board (ECB) violations are presently listed as open. Management believes that building is in compliance, but each violation requires an inspector to re-inspect and some of the violations relating to Local Law 11 inspection go back years. Arzano seeking guidance on the matter and will propose engaging a special consultant to resolve.

c) Noise violations: Units 3-A, 4-A, and 5-A subject to noise violations and carpeting inspections from several incidents beginning on weekend of November 1st. Board reviewed that carpeting and padding are required to cover 80% of unit’s square footage. The unit’s total square footage will be the figure listed in the Highview Prospectus document.

Unit owner Donald LaPalme (unit 4-A) requested an audience with the Board and to discuss his unresolved noise complaints. He shared documentation with the Board (dates, times, details, and management contacts) for 14 separate noise complaint incidents recorded between November 1, 2013 and February 22, 2014. Board indicated that management is addressing his concerns, confirmed that at least several of the incidents continued until after midnight, and both warnings and then multiple fines have been issued.

d) Lease compliance: No update at this meeting.

e) Insurance compliance: Warning letters have been sent to unit owners in violation and fines will be issued in cases where there is no response. In cases of rentals, insurance declarations must indicate coverage of both tenant’s and unit owner’s property and liability coverage for any damage caused by apartment unit to surrounding apartment units.

f) Building damage from traffic accident: Insurance claim in process. No update at this meeting.