The Lauren, A Condominium
Minutes of the Annual Meeting
June 2, 2005
Call to Order
President Derrick Drummie called the meeting to order at 7:10 pm at the Washington Marriott Hotel, 1221 22nd St., N.W. on June 2, 2005.
Proof of Notice of Meeting
Attendees acknowledged the disbursement of the meeting notification
Attendance
Present were Board Members President Derrick Drummie, Vice President
Dwight Clark, Treasurer Joseph Morris, Secretary Elizabeth
VanderPutten, and a sufficient number of owners in person or
represented by proxy (64.1 %). Also present at the meeting were
Property Manager Walter Krolman, legal counsel Joe Douglass from the
firm of Whiteford,
Reading of Minutes
Reading of the 2004 Annual Meeting Minutes was waived by consent of Membership.
President's Report
President Drummie introduced Board members, the Lauren Lawyer, representative of the Property management firm and Walter Krolman, property manager.
The president summarized a number of
accomplishments and issues faced during the past year. The
Lauren continues to be a premium place to live as evidenced by rising
prices for units and a relatively strong rental market.
He stated that the Board’s primary
responsibility is to oversee finance and management. The Board
lives at the Lauren and is interested in ensuring that it remains a
good place to live. The Board recognizes that it is impossible to
satisfy everyone all the time but must make decisions that are
fiscally sound and in accordance with a “premium place to live.”
He said property values for the Lauren were increasing at this time, but rentals seemed to be a bit softer. There is a new fence around the parking lot, increasing security and even enhancing the look of the building.
The HVAC system was an area of considerable importance to the Board during the year. Before listing these, the President specifically thanked Eileen Collins for her work in summarizing the issues and communicating with the owners. He summarized some of the initiatives undertaken to enhance the HVAC system:
The board commissioned a study in June 2004 that found that there is generally adequate heating and cooling except in the 04 tier due to undersized piping and equipment.
The Board had begun investigating the possibility of upgrading the entire HVAC system to a more modern system. This might provide greater flexibility to individual owners, but could be quite expensive. The Lauren's current system based on Whelan units, is beyond its life expectancy and has signs of decay that could lead to major problems.
As part of the study, the Board also learned that the corridors lacked appropriate fire dampers and that the air intake are undersized, the fan coil unit piping needs to be rebalanced, the trash chute ventilation is inadequate, and the boiler re-circulating pump may need to be replaced.
In the coming year, the Board plans to consider various mechanical issues including garage and hallway air handling controls, old pneumatic controls, freeze protection for coils, ways of reducing corridor cooking odors, and laundry room air conditioning.
Energy saving items to be considered include automatic chilled water reset controls, computerized energy management system, and cooling tower fan variable frequency drive
Other initiatives the board would consider are a new electrical wiring and fire alarm study. an upgrade to the intercom system and the doors at the entrance, the garage door, and roof deck cushions which need repairs or upgrade.
President Drummie announced that Mr. McNabb, the HVAC consultant would be available to look at individual units
Treasurer's Report
The graphs distributed summarize the history of the finances of the association. These are updates of the graphs handed out at last year's meeting. The dollar amounts are from the annual audited statements through 2003. 2004 data are from the December monthly statement from the financial management company and are subject to correction.
The first graph shows the history of operating expenses since 1990. The three components are labor costs, utilities, and other (i.e., everything else). Both utilities and labor increased sharply last year (roughly 10 percent for utilities and 6 percent for labor). Utilities are up because of energy and water price increases. Labor is up because of salary adjustments, higher insurance premiums, and more hours worked.
2004 was a relatively slow year for capital expenditures (second graph), only $42,000. The only significant project completed was the parking lot fence.
In 2005, capital projects budgeted include improvements to the HVAC system, an electrical wiring analysis (which has not yet been started), and installation of a new intercom and front door buzzer system (also not yet started).
The third graph shows how the association has been preparing for needed capital expenditures. The graph, labeled "net cash" shows the sum of all our bank account and CD balances, less all amounts currently owed to employees and outside parties. In other words, we could pay all our current bills and have this amount left over. This measure excludes the association's other principal asset (in addition to bank accounts and CDs), which is the Lauren apartment we own. The unit has substantial market value, but is carried on the books at nearly zero, because its original purchase price has been almost fully depreciated.
This net cash measure rose in 2004 because of the budgeted regular annual contribution and because capital expenditures were below budget.
The fourth graph shows budgeted versus actual operating and capital expenditures. Historically, we have tended to over-budget for operating expenses and under-budget for capital expenditures. The last two years, the operating budget has been much closer to reality. Under-budgeting for capital expenditures occurs because we have never included an item for surprises in the capital budget, and most years there are unexpected capital expenditures.
The increase in utilities expenses raises the question of usage trends. The last two graphs show electricity and gas consumption in the Lauren for various years between 1989 and 2004. Electricity usage actually appears to have declined slightly over the period. The trend may reflect weather differences or some conservation measures that have been carried out. The increase in gas usage probably mainly reflects the removal of a backup oil burner that was used during peak heating periods in the winter until the early 1990s. (Oil consumption data were not available.) The only significant trend is that gas consumption for cooking (which is billed separately and is not shown separately on the graphs) has declined by about 40 percent from the level of the early 1990s.
Committee Reports
Wi-Fi Committee
Erin Erlenborn reported that in order to have building wide wi-fi, we would need to write the building and then each resident/owner could choose to subscribe. Brian Larkin pointed out that broadband DSL is inexpensive and already available to everyone in the Lauren who has a land line telephone. If there was enough interest, the committee might consider wi-fi for the lobby and roof garden areas.
Election of the Board
A Board of electors was voted on. Members were owners John Chester, Joe Drew and Natalie Peter
Election Results.
- Dwight Clark
- Derek Drummie
- John Filice
- Joseph Morris
- Elizabeth VanderPutten
Other Discussion
There was a discussion of noise created by early morning trash pick up. DC code says 7 AM to 7 P.M. except if the pickup is very close to a residential building. Several businesses in the area have been violating this rule. Erin Erlenborn reported that the Front Page Restaurant has agreed to make sure that pick up will occur after 8:00 P.M.
There were some questions raised that mostly dealt with the HVAC process and condensation in units. Maxine Schwartzman stated that her unit was so cool in the summer that she left the air conditioner off. She also stated that there is a problem with mold in her unit. President Drummie said the Board would consider getting a consultant to inspect a sample of units including hers.
Kudos
President Drummie thanked the Board and owners who participated in the discussions and in particular, he thanked Eileen Collins for her help through out the year.
Special thanks were given to Brian Larkin for maintaining the website for the Lauren
He concluded by thanking the staff for their excellent service in maintaining a clean, functioning building. They are, he said, a most important factor in making the Lauren a premium place to live, and thanked Salvador and Pedro, Letta, Thomas B and Thomas M, Celestine, Yishak, Hiskias, Ruta & Henry, Cacho, and Walter.
Adjournment
The Annual Meeting was adjourned at 9:30 pm
Respectfully submitted,
Elizabeth A. VanderPutten, Secretary