Highview Condominium II
Board of Directors - Meeting Minutes
September 28, 2010, 7:30 p.m.

The eighth meeting of the 2009-2010 Highview Condominium II, Inc. Board of Directors was called to order at approximately 7:30 p.m. by Stacey Cohen, President.  Board members in attendance:  Robert Boynton, Joseph Cann, Marjorie Cannon, Stacey Cohen, Nora Colford, David Cutler, and Natalie Hendrix.  Michael D’Angelo and Angelo Morelli were absent.  Linda Romolo attended from Wentworth Property Management.  

1)   Appointment of new Board member:  Per email vote concluded 08/03/10, David Cutler (2-D) was appointed to replace board member Joseph Skonieczny who resigned from the board upon the sale of his unit.  David is the Financial Operations director of a hospital in the NYC area.  

2)   Minutes:  Minutes of the May 25, 2010 and June 29, 2010 meetings were approved.  

3)   Maintenance update from super:  Chris Brighina joined the meeting to report on building maintenance items and concerns.  

4)   Financial Report:  

      a)    Unit Owner Arrears.  Status of legal actions were discussed.  

      b)   Operating and Capital Reserve Account balances:  Combined balance of all accounts totals $225,000 (as of 09/30/10).  This includes Operating Reserve of approximately $74,000 including escrows for insurance and water bills (meeting the $74,000 balance required on 12/31/10 as 25% of the previous year’s operating budget), leaving $151,000 available as Capital Replacement reserves.  

      c)    Audit for FY2009:  The FY2009 audit with Wilken & Guttenplan nears completion.  Draft report expected later this week and anticipate scheduling the annual general Membership meeting for early November according to completion of the audit and the schedules of the auditor and building’s attorney.  

      d)   FY2010 Budget:  The FY2010 budget figures, both totals by cost-center and the amounts remaining unencumbered, are still not appearing in the monthly financial reports from Wentworth.  The board has made numerous requests to Wentworth to incorporate the budget in financial reports.  Jon Klein of Wentworth has agreed to move Highview II accounting services to Wentworth’s NYC office.  

      e)    FY2011 Budget:  It was discussed that accounting needs to be up-to-date with budget lines in order to approve a FY2011 budget at the October 26^th board meeting.  New board member David Cutler will partner with Michael D’Angelo.  

      f)    Capital Replacement Reserve Study:  The board tentatively approved a “Level-2” update of the Capital Reserve Study by Becht Engineering pending request by Stacey Cohen to speak directly with Tim Sullivan of Becht Engineering.  The update needs to be completed in time for incorporation in the FY2010 audit.  Ideally, the report would be completed earlier and available for discussion with the auditor at this fall's annual meeting anticipated in early November.  

5)   Legal Report:  

      a)    Unit Arrears:  Only one unit owner owes more than two months.  Legal action is being taken.  

      b)   Proof of insurance rule:  Twenty-nine unit owners and tenants have not complied with the building rule requiring proof of liability insurance coverage.  The rule has been in effect since February 2010 and multiple reminders have been sent to owners, remaining unit owners not in compliance will be fined $50/month pending submission of the declaration page of their insurance policy.  

      c)    Local Law 11 façade inspection (cycle 6):  Cycle-6 preliminary report will be submitted tomorrow, 09/29/10.  

      d)   Unit Leases:  Three unit owners are in violation of lease rule.  

e)    Laundry room:  CoinMach painted the laundry room and upgrade the load-payment system from coins to card-swipe in August.  Cohen will be supplying replacement television.  

6)   Building Repair & Maintenance Report:  

a)    HVAC:  Boynton reported that Becht Engineering has determined installation problems with several of the building’s roof exhaust fans and resolution is hoped for over next couple weeks.  

b)   Brighina will adjust fans to operate 6:00-10:00 a.m. and 5:00-9:00 p.m.  

      c)    Semi-annual smoke detector replacements and unit inspections:  Chris Brighina reported that the Fall 2010 unit inspections and smoke detector replacements will begin next week.  

      d)   Parking lot sealing/lining and repairs:  Parking lot was sealed and re-lined in August.  Parking lot walls were repainted at the same time.  

      e)    Lobby ceiling access plates:  Brighina reported that the remaining riser valve access plates cannot be easly replaced on account of their unusual sizes.  

      f)    Exterior water infiltration:  Engineering firm has been on site investigating the water leaks.  Additional leaks have since been reported which the engineer was unable to investigate.   

            As the building’s Local Law 11 Cycle-6 preliminary report will be submitted to the City tomorrow and depending on the results of the City’s follow-up inspection may possibly require exterior façade work with scaffolding, the board agreed to hold temporarily hold on exterior repair bidding until Cycle-6 is approved.  

      g)   Elevator:  Slade Elevator and VSA (Third Party requirement by NYC) inspected the elevator.  Work being performed to meet code deficiencies.  

h)   Garage Door replacement:  Christie bid for replacement of the garage door approved.  Replacement will include door, replacement of all track and spring hardware, remote opening, and safety systems.  

i)    Carpet cleaning:  Cleaning will be completed in early November.  

j)    Door replacement:  As common property, the damaged entrance door on unit 6-F will be replaced at unit owner expense without delay.  

k)   Elevator emergency service key/tool:  It was noted that the fire department did not have the emergency access tool the last time they came to the building for an elevator breakdown/evacuation.  Without the tool, the fire department was prepared to break the elevator door – which might have led to taking the elevator out of service for days/weeks/months for a lengthy repair or replacement of the entire door system.  A resident had a copy of the access tool and the fire department was encouraged to stop the rescue until the tool could be used to open the door.   

      Anticipating any future incident, the board suggested that management try to obtain such a service tool/key.  The tool would not be used by the super, but would be made available by the super to the fire department in case of emergency if they did not have theirs on the truck.  

l)    Window Guard installations:   Window Guards were installed in apartments with children under 10 years of age (2H, 5E, 5K).  

m)  Water service-line leak:  A leak in the high pressure water service line in the garage was located and repaired.  

The meeting was adjourned.

Minutes submitted by Robert Boynton, Secretary.