Highview Condominium II
Board of Directors - Meeting Minutes
March 20, 2012  7:30 p.m.

An emergency meeting of the Highview Condominium II, Inc. Board of Directors was called to order at approximately 8:00 p.m. by Stacey Cohen, President.  This was a telephone conference call.  Board members in attendance:  Robert Boynton, Marjorie Cannon, Stacey Cohen, Nora Colford, David Cutler, Michael D’Angelo, Natalie Hendrix, and Joseph Skonieczny.  Joseph Cann was absent, but represented by proxy to Robert Boynton.  

The purpose of the meeting, as stated in Cohen’s meeting request on March 17, 2012, was to discuss the performance of managing agent Linda Romolo and Wentworth Property Management, and confusion regarding the status of Local Law 11 Cycle 6 and 7 filings.  

In review of the Board’s meeting minutes concerning Local Law 11 façade inspection Cycle 6 and Cycle 7, the following time-line events were noted.  

In November 2006, TKR Property Management was asked to solicit 3 bids for Cycle-6 pre-inspection.  In September 2007, after nine months of delays by TKR, the Board had received only two bids.  The Board approved the bid submitted by Becht Engineering and TKR Management was fired in December 2007.   

Effective January 2008, Wentworth Property Management was hired to manage the building.  

At the February 2008 Board meeting, Wentworth reported that they had contacted Becht Engineering and that the engineering report had been completed.  Wentworth was waiting for a copy of the report to submit to the City and in March 2008 learned that the report was being held up by the engineering firm for the payment they were to have received in 2007 when the job was contracted.  

At the June 2008 and July 2008 meetings, Wentworth reported that the Cycle-6 engineering report was with Board president Richard Re for his signature.   

At the August 2008 meeting, Linda Romolo of Wentworth reported that the report had been filed with the City by Certified Mail.   

At the October 2008 meeting, the Board asked Romolo for results of the City's inspection.   

At the December 2008 meeting, Romolo reported that the City had completed the final inspection of Local Law 11 Cycle-6 and passed the building without requiring further repair actions.   

At the December 2008, January 2009, and March 2009 meetings, Boynton requested that Romolo provide the Secretary with a copy of the City’s certification of inspection for the board’s records.  

In April 2009, Romolo reported that the City of New York indicated to her that they had no record of the report’s filing by Wentworth with the City.  Accordingly the City had not performed the final inspection for completion of Cycle-6.  

In May 2009, June 2009, July 2009, Romolo indicated to Board that she was still investigating but was unable to provide additional update.   

In September 2009, Romolo reported that she had documentation for the board president to sign for the building’s re-submission of Cycle-6 engineering report.  

At the Board meetings of November 2009, January 2010, February 2010, March 2010, April 2010 and May 2010; Romolo reported that she was still in process of re-submitting the Cycle-6 engineering report to City.   

In June 2010, Romolo reported still in process of re-submitting the Cycle-6 engineering report and waiting for response from the City.

At the September 28, 2010 meeting, Romolo reported that the Cycle-6 preliminary report would be submitted again on September 29, 2010.   

At the October 26, 2010 meeting, she reported that the Cycle-6 preliminary report had been submitted to the City.  Romolo recommended that the Board proceed with bidding to perform Cycle-7.  No bids provided by Romolo at the meeting and the meeting, but to expiditie Board approved Becht Engineering as they had just completed Cycle-6.  

At the February 2, 2011 meeting, Romolo reported that Local Law 11 façade inspection (cycle 6): Cycle-6 preliminary report had been submitted to the City. No update as to when the City would perform their follow-up/final inspection.  There was no update as to when the Cycle-7 engineering would be performed.  

At the meetings of February 22, 2011 and April 26, 2011, there was no update on Local Law 11 Cycle-6 inspection.  

At the May 23, 2011 meeting, there was no update on Cycle-6.  Romolo reported that Becht Engineering would be performing the Cycle-7 pre-inspection engineering work next week.  

At the September 27, 2011 meeting, Romolo indicated that although Cycle-6 preliminary report has been submitted to the City, there was no update from the City on the filing of Cycle-6.  Romolo reported that the status of Cycle-7 submission and final inspection by NYC Building Department unknown. Another engineering firm indicated to Romolo that the Cycle-7 has not been filed.  Noted by Board that Romolo indicated she had not spoken with Becht Engineering since March 2011, but she believed that follow-up was complete responsibility of Becht, not Wentworth.  Board members disagreed.  

Romolo provided new engineering bid for Cycle-7 inspection. Boynton questioned why getting additional bid now for a Cycle-7 and asked for confirmation as to whether Becht Engineering had already been paid to perform the Cycle-7 work. Romolo confirmed that Becht had been paid. Since Romolo was now recommending a new contract for same work, Boynton questioned if Wentworth believed that Becht Engineering was at fault why she was not proposing legal action to recoup the several thousand dollars already paid. No answer from Romolo.  

Clarification requested by Board member concerning why management continues to refer to Fall 2010 filing of Cycle-6, while NYC Commissioner’s Order received by Wentworth in August 2010 and later forwarded to Board without comment indicated that Highview II was ordered by the NYC Buildings Department to file an acceptable Cycle-7 report within 30 days (letter dated August 27, 2010) and once the Cycle-7 report was accepted, the building would be credited for both Cycles 6 and 7.  

At the November 22, 2011 meeting, Linda Romolo offered no update on Local Law 11 façade inspection.  

At February 22, 2012 meeting, Linda Romolo offered no update on Local Law 11 façade inspection.  It was reviewed by Board that in the past, at least Cycle 4 and Cycle 5, the engineering firm forwards the completed engineering report to management. Management then gets the signature of the board president and submits the report to the City.  Accordingly, Linda Romolo was asked to follow through with her responsibility for completion of this project by getting a copy of the Cycle 5 report from whatever City office, get the completed Cycle-7 engineering report from Becht, get signature from Cohen, and pro-actively navigating compliance to complete submission of the Cycle 7 report.  

In recent emails between Board and Romolo, the record appears clear that Romolo continues to delegate instead of manage and is taking no direct responsibility for solving the problem; back to the August 2008 meeting when she reported submitting the Cycle-6 by Certified Mail, reported to the Board at the December 2008 meeting that the City had completed the final inspection of Local Law 11 Cycle-6 and passed the building without requiring further repair actions, and continued in Fall 2011 to advise the Board that despite the Commissioners’ Order of August  2010 (giving the Board 30 days to submit Cycle-7 or face fines) the building had until spring 2012 to submit the Cycle-7.  

Accordingly, the Board unanimously voted: 1)  Linda Romolo should be removed from the Highview Condominium II account immediately.  President Stacey Cohen will contact Cheryl Ruiz tomorrow morning and advise Wentworth that under no circumstances is Linda Romolo to exercise any management responsibility or otherwise be involved with the Highview II Condominium, Inc. account going forward.  As a short-term solution, the Board recommended that Wentworth consider placing Joanne Hernandez on the Highview account.  2) In order to solve the Local Law 11 compliance issues, it was agreed that a professional Expediter for the situation should be hired.  Michael D’Angelo will contact Steven Hirsch, Executive Vice President of Cooper Square Realty (Wentworth) and Rick Burke of Becht Engineering to discuss.  

Meeting was adjourned at approximately 9:00 p.m.  Minutes submitted by Robert Boynton, Secretary.