At the Annual Meeting of the members, October 15, 2008, Mindy Culver and I were elected to the board, replacing Harry Harris and Mark Grigg.  I was elected president, Denise Katolin is vice president, Bob Shannon will continue as secretary, Mike Picard will continue as treasurer, and Mindy is a director, at large.

We look forward to an energized, more open, and productive board!  Thank all of you for your support!  The turn-out in terms of proxies was unprecedented.  I think I ended up with 104 proxies out of 150 units, that is, 69%!, and there were about 40 people actually present at the meeting.

In addition, we asked for and got volunteers for a communication / newsletter committee, a finance committee, a social / welcome commmitte, a grounds / maintenance committee, and a pool committee.  Now please be patient as we get the board business transferred and organized, and get these committees operational.  There is a lot to do. I have also already been in contact with the auditors, and will be meeting with Armstrong as well as Dave and Greg in the on-site office.

One action I know you are interested in is that the new coupon books are on hold until we review the Tall Tree South budget. We hope to reduce or eliminate the fee increase, but that depends upon a detailed review of the projected expenses and the delinquency situation.

Stay tuned also for improvements to www.talltreesouth.com.

Thanks once again for your support!

The Annual Meeting of Tall Tree South Unit Owners will be on Wednesday, October 15, 2008, at 6:30, at the Braddock Elementary School.

Even if you have turned in a proxy, please come to make sure your voice is heard and your vote is counted.

It looks like we will have a quorum and hold the election!  I feel positive that we will prevail, but every vote is important.

I also hear that there will be food served, so come out and snack and chat with me and with your neighbors.

Thanks! Gracias! I am looking forward to seeing many of you there!

Last weekend, I spoke with Ed Smith, and later, Debbie Heizer, of Tall Tree Gardens’ board.  They passed a 0% fee increase.  This makes their condo fees signficantly less than those at Tall Tree South!

I have also examined the Tall Tree South budget in detail and do not believe it needs to have a 6% increase.

If I can get elected to the Tall Tree South board, I will definitely revisit the budget issue!  I won’t disclose my progress in gathering proxies, but I am optimistic.   Stay tuned!  October 15 is not that far away.

And if you have not given me your proxy, please do.  Or at least come to the meeting. We need everyone so that we can be sure to get a quorum.   By now, I have spoken to many, many people, both onsite and offsite owners, and it is so overwhelmingly obvious that changes need to be made.  Stay tuned!!!

Well, it’s October 2, 2008, and the 2007 audit reports are no where in sight.

However, I paid for my copies of the 2004, 2005, and 2006 audit reports and have finally scanned them to .pdf, so any other owner is welcome to them.  They don’t say much.  For example, they don’t even mention the fire that happened in early 2004.  Nor do they explain why the CD for $66,805.01, listed on the management company financial reports as recently as January 2008, does not appear in the audit reports.

Tall Tree South also showed a significant loss in 2005, with $82,171 listed as an expense called “Insurance Claims”, with no explanation.  I would be very interested in knowing what the insurance settlement was!

And there is also nothing about the other CDs that are in suspense now — we will need the 2007 audits for that!  As of the August 31, 2008 financial reports distributed at the September board meeting, the amount in suspense was $121,388.32.  I will share those with any interested owner as well.

The major event at the board meeting on September 17, 2008 was the adoption of the budget for 2009, with a 6% increase.  I will step through the other actions at the meeting.  All board members were present except for Mike Picard, the treasurer.  Dave P. was there for representing the on-site office, and Armstrong took minutes.

The minutes of the August meeting were approved.

Site Manager Report

1.  The tot lot will be repaired soon, but Jose is working on higher priorities — repairs from the recent hurricane.  He is trying to direct water away from the buildings and build french drains.  This should avoid excavation and re-sealing of buildings, which is much more expensive.  In 4921 / 4923, in the wells where the vents are for the basement, they are digging down and taking the drains to a lower spot.

2.  Roof leaks were reported in 4903, 4911, and 4929, which were leaking into units on the top floor. A roofing company is coming out to look at it.  It is possible that the roofs are still under warranty.

3.  The furnace inspections are due within 3 weeks.  Any heating company may be used. The response has been very light.  If an owner has had an inspection within the past 12 months, it is acceptable.  The policy is that each furnace be inspected every two years, but it has not been enforced for a while.

4.  The site office is in the process of changing smoke detector batteries.  An owner noted that the carbon monoxide detector in 4911 was still on top of the laundry lockers.  Dave will check.

5.  An owner asked about whether the carpets that were soaked in the hurricane were shop vacuumed.  Dave indicated that in the 3 buildings they knew were flooded, they got in Saturday night with a shop vac, and on Monday to shampoo the carpets.  This was in 4907, 4911, and 4921.  There was apparently a problem with the fellow sent out not understanding English.

6.  The sump pump in 4913 was not working.  Dave knew about this.

Old Business

1.  Barbecue Grills. Mark Grigg reported that the barbecue grills were in.  They are in the office, but now Jose is working on the water leaks.  He hopes to get them installed for the rest of the season.  In general, they will be put out in the spring and stored in the winter. He is working on getting a price for benches made of recycled plastic or Trex, not metal or wood, which will deteriorate.  He will report on it at the next meeting.

2.  Parking Passes. Bob Shannon reported that he got approached about the signs posted on the bulletin boards about getting new parking passes, complaining about the limited notice and the fact that there would be no Saturday office hours.  Dave said that the forms have now been mailed out, and have been pre-filled with last year’s information, so would be easy to use.  Bob stated that he had received his.  (Note:  As of October 2, I have not yet received mine!).  Parking passes are being re-issued so that people who are delinquent in their condo fees don’t get them.  In addition, tying it with the annual meeting notice means that people can turn in their proxies to the office when they get their parking passes.

3.  The Pool. Bob Shannon reported that the board had a joint meeting with Tall Tree Gardens, but that Maplewood did not attend.  He said that there was a debate over closing the pool.  He said that Tall Tree South needs to be prepared for a “pool catastrophe” even if it seems to be sound.  We need to plan for that in this year’s and upcoming budgets.  He said that there was a “consensus” with Tall Tree Gardens that we were “facing pool issues” and that the pool closing is an issue.  He stated that with regard to the pool budget, repairs will be split over this year and next year.  (Note:  I attended the meeting and I don’t think that there was ANY agreement with regard to closing the pool.  Gardens appears to support keeping it open.  I also don’t know whether or not it will be necessary to split the repairs over 2 years.  We will get bids in the Spring and see what we can do!)  Harry Harris also stated that he believes that the diving board should be removed, because that will result in lower insurance premiums. Bob stated that the budget we put together for the poool was appropriate, because it has not had maintenance for a number of years.

4.  Dumpsters. Bob Shannon reported that the board discussed the dumpster situation with Tall Tree Gardens as well.  The two associations will work together with regard to the parking lot.

New Business

1.  Electricity.  Harry Harris reported that some units had their power shut off, and were running extension cords into the hallways.  This is not allowed.

2.  Painting Quotes.  Harry Harris reported that the board will consider quotes for painting of the exterior of the building, in Executive Session.  This will include the furnace doors.  Possibly replacing the louvers and using fiberglass. (Note:  companies asked to bid were not discussed.)  They spoke of replacing the louvered doors with 12 x 12 panels of a plastic or fiberglass insert. This could cost as much as $40,000.

3.  Snow Removal Contract. Harry Harris expects to have quotes by the middle of next week.  He said that the association will use the same company as last year.  He said that the association has taken a chance on signing each year rather than signing a multi-year contract. (Note:  does not appear to have multiple bids.)

NEW PARKING PASS RESOLUTION

A new parking pass resolution was approved, making the fee $100.00 for the loss of any parking pass or visitor pass, EVEN THOUGH the notice just sent out says the fee is $50.00!  Bob made the motion, Harry seconded it, and it passed, to increase the fee to $100.00, effective September 17, 2008.  (Note:  to my knowledge, by October 2, 2008, this new resolution had NOT been distributed to the owners.)

ANNUAL MEETING NOTICE

The offical notice of the annual meeting has apparently been sent to the unit owners with the parking pass letter, however, I had not received one.  I heard also that it had asked anyone interested in running for the Board to submit an application to the management company.  I brought this up and Harry told me that the letters had supposedly been mailed the previous Friday.  Isn’t this nice, since I plan to run? (In fact, by October 2, when I’m writing this, I STILL have not been sent an official annual meeting notice!)

BUDGET DISCUSSION

The treasurer not being present, Harry Harris also presented the budget.  He said that bad expense accounted for a lot of the increase. He said that the association had $89,000 of delinquencies as of the end of August.  I noted that the August 31, 2008 balance indicated that “Assessments Receivable” were less than this amount, and asked why.  Harry Harris did not give me a clear answer.

Harry Harris further stated that he expected a probable loss of $13,000 with two bankrupcy filings, and a probable writeoff of $60,000.  I asked why, if that were the case, didn’t he budget more for that?  No clear answer.  He did explain in his typical fashion that when these units get abandoned, the banks don’t pay the condo fee and the association doesn’t get the money back. I don’t know if that is always the case.

I asked Harry why the association was running a $124K surplus year-to-date, and how that squared with the 6% to 7%  fee increase he had proposed. He said that it wasn’t a true surplus, because he had not paid various bills including $21,000 in attorney fees.  I asked him whether that was in addition to the $13,000 attorney fees he reported that he had not paid last month, and he said that no, it included the $13,000.  Apparently the $21K covers at least a 3-month period.  He said it was because he was waiting for a complete list, and that the attorney had mailed his invoices “to the management company instead of to the board”. (Note:  That makes no sense to me!).

Harry said that he does not know of any condominium association that hasn’t had a significant fee increase, because 60% of it is based on delinquencies.  He said that he knows of one association that passed a 16 1/2% increase.  He then “closed this for owner comments”, and asked for a vote. Denise “moved a 6% increase”.  It was not seconded.  Harry asked “is there a motion for a 7% increase?”  Bob said “I do”.  Harry said that he himself would second it, “for discussion”.  He said that either option, 6% or 7%, “would run at a deficit”.  Mark added “because of the bad debt”.  Harry added that “people coming in will be able to afford the condo fees”.

Owners asked why Tall Tree Gardens had lower fees. Harry said taht they just don’t have the same problems with their buildings.  Bob added that Gardens “was just starting their replacements”.

Harry pulled his second back.  The board voted to pass the 6% fee increase.  He said, “we will get that figure out to the owners”.

THE AUDITS

(Note:  I didn’t completely follow what Harry Harris said, but will record it here as best I can.)  Harry Harris said, “We try to be as open with the owners as possible.  There was some discussion about the 2007 audit.  Going back several months, there was a question about some CDs.  I want to report to you that 1 CD was corrected in the 2005/2006 audit.  That auditor was satisfied that that CD had gone to payment for the fire.”  “There was a CD that was listed by the previous managemet company as a CD when we went through the transition, but I was not comfortable with that. I was instrumental inhiring a new auditing company and the board approved it.  Now, there are a lot of unaswered questions.  I was not satisfied.  I started pursuing what I could to resolve the issue.  Last week I got a breakthrough.  Some encouraging factors came up with regard to it.  Now, it is in a legal status, with the Association’s attorney.  We are pursuing it and can resolve it.  I said that we could have an answer in September, but I don’t know.  Maybe it will be at the Annual Meeting.  We are on a path to resolving this.  I won’t take any more questions on it.  Above all, I want that CD resolved and put to bed.”

I tried to ask some questions about it but didn’t get much of an answer.  Stay tuned!

OWNER INPUT

A number of items were brought up — here are some of them:

1.  A broken window in 4907.

2.  4915 needs an interior floor mat to extend the life of the hallway carpet.

3. Why is there no treasurer’s report?  Because Mike Picard is not here.

4.  Vacant units should be checked for water leaks.

5.  If the roofs were replaced 4-5 years ago, we should be under warranty.  Why the $8000 budget for roof repairs?  Dave said, for gutters, flashing, and vents.

6.  Tree removal - outside of the pool.  Mark Grigg reported that of 3 bids he got, the cheapest was $1200.00.  The board voted to drop itand not haul it away.

EXECUTIVE SESSION

The board went into executive session. “Thank you. The annual meeting will be on October 15th.”

Note:  There was no discussion or information provided with regard to the annual meeting. No nominations were taken at this meeting, nor was the nomination process discussed!