– January 17th 2017
(Please forgive me for missing info as it is now very hard to hear in the new card room and the microphone is old)
All Board Members were present and the new board member Lucia Bonavita joined for the first time.
PK made an announcement that the November meeting minutes were not ready and also the December meetings minutes. (you can view both on this blog)
PK introduced herself and made a speech about her thoughts for her new presidency and how she would like to run things.
She announced that there will be basically only two committees: decoration and orientation.
GD- Treasury Report
We are $80,000 over last year but that includes the repair of the pool and card room that came out of operating moneys.
There are no delinquent accounts
From the audience, a question was asked by PR about the budget. He mentioned that there was a line item of a raise to the doorman and he had asked a few of the doorman and they had not been given raises. GD and Frank answered that raises are usually given on the anniversary of the person started working here and then the raises are given- PR reiterated that their salaries are very low and might leave before they get raises.
BG wanted to qualify when the audience can ask questions- PK said that the condo owners can ask questions or comments before the board votes on an issue. But only on agenda issues on that particular meeting.
Some discussion about The Sunshine Law about what the owners could discuss…did not hear also about a quorum which I also did not hear.
Frank said we used to have an open forum at the beginning of the meeting where owners could talk about different subjects. ( I think we should be able to speak before the meeting and during the meeting. This is our building!)
The Manager’s Report
The paving will start May 1 and the office has started calling people that do not stay here during the summer what their plans are for their cars.
The Cooling Tower:
Frank wanted to buy the tower which takes about 7 to 8 weeks to be delivered. We would purchase it ourselves at the cost of $83,000.00 and then bid out the companies that were going to install it. It seems that the architects /engineers/ contractors do not supervise the work. The installation should be about $120,000.00. He wanted to start this project this March but the board voted to start it next January 2018. The money will come from the loan that we took out. The majority of the board was not comfortable with buying the cooling tower and voted not to do it. Motion defeated. BG was the only vote opposing the board.
There is some new code that the fire dept wants to implement and have approached a list of 13 WPB condos. But what they are demanding would be incredibly expensive for old buildings to do so there is a lobbyist being hired to fight this in Tallahassee and the board voted to join the group and pay Poliakoff law firm up to $5000 to fight this new code. We were contacted by the Rapallo about this issue who saw our name on the list. The office said they never received the first notice. I think the lobbyist mentioned was named Donna Berger.
The window and door change:
Frank said that he received 20 inquiries that they would like to change their windows. ( See other post on the windows)
Our new Rule Documents will be ready soon for the condo owners to look at and read. They will have to sign an affidavit when they get the documents and if they are not in residence they will send the paper work by certified mail. There will be a meeting on Feb 13th with the building’s attorneys to answer any questions about the new rules.
Dock Key- new one is available at the office for anyone that wants one.
Orientation Committee- By M.D.
One new owner in 808, I renter in 203 and a boarder???
The tall building to our south has just added 12 more cell towers to their roof. Can’t remember of they did have them before and these are new replacements. Some are pointing in our direction.
Portofino South 3800 