Lauren Condominium Association
Minutes of the Board of Directors
July 31, 1996
President Brian Larkin called the meeting to order at 7:05 p.m. in Unit 109. Present were other board members Eileen Collins, John Doolittle, Joe Morris, and Waldemar Wajszczuk and Property Manager Walter Krolman plus owners Melva Caswell, Susan Dunbar. Attending selected portions of the meeting were owners David Lilling, and Mokhless Al-Hariri.
Treasurer's Report--
Closing out the first half of the fiscal year on June 30, the Lauren's finances continued to be in fairly good shape. As was predicted in last month's report, many of the renovation projects and capital expenditure bills came due in June, and as a result the capital reserves level dropped significantly to $199,904 as of June 30. This is a drop of $51,000 from the May 31 figure. However owners and tenants should not be overly concerned about this rather large decline, as expenditure of this money was planned.
For the first six months of the fiscal year, income was slightly above predicted amounts when transfers from reserves are excluded and for the month of June income was about $00 more than expected. Most major categories of the Lauren operating budget were under budget except for Insurance, Taxes & Debt Service which was over budget by $34,000. The insurance and taxes overage was the result of insurance loses in the form of paying an insurance deductible and the capital expenditures exceeded budgeted amount.
In June, capital expenditures were over $64,000, which is more than double the June budget estimate. However, as mentioned above, for the first half of the year we have still spent $16,000 less in capital reserves then we had planned to in the January to June period. Of the $64,000 total, more than $46,500 was for the removal of the underground oil storage tank, nearly $17,000 was for the hallway renovation, and $2,600 was for roof deck improvements. Continued overages in the capital expenditures category.
Action Items--
Records for live-ins, employees and sub-lessors The Board discussed the need to have a record of who is using the services of the building on a regular basis. It was decided that persons who have keys to units and the front door, receive mail and packages at the front desk, and are regularly admitted by front desk personnel should be registered with the Lauren. Therefore, all employees, live-ins, and other persons using a unit are asked to register with the staff at the front desk.
Waldemar Wajszczuk presented a set of policies for allowing alcohol to be served at registered events held on the Lauren roof deck. A synopsis of the procedures follows:
The policies were approved by the board and will go into effect immediately.
A proposal to replace all signs in public areas of the building was reviewed. Costs for the manufacture and installation of the signs are estimated at $2,500. The decorating committee will view a sample of the proposed design and then make a recommendation to the Board. All signs which appear on individual unit doors will be required to conform with the design that is selected by the Board. The cost of these individual signs will be borne by the unit resident/owners.
The decorating committee reported its recommendation to leave the woodwork which surrounds the lobby elevators intact rather than remove it and replace it with the new wall covering. However, if it can be determined that the master decorating plan for the lobby calls for the wood to be removed and replaced with wall covering used in the hallway and depending on the cost, the committee recommends removal of the wood. The committee will review the lobby plans and report back to the Board.
Committee Reports--
Chair Waldemar Wajszczuk reported that his committee will obtain a checklist of items and cost ranges that has been prepared for condominiums such as the Lauren. Those figures will be compared with figures for our building. The committee is also exploring ways of increasing revenues for the building and will be making a report on those measures to the Board.
Chair John Doolittle reported that the committee is in the final stages of preparing to conduct a focus group analysis of the Lauren with Realtors to discover the strengths and weaknesses of the building from the point of view of potential buyers. Vicki Black has been instrumental in organizing this project with other committee members. The committee plans to create a Lauren homepage on the Internet and explore other ways of making the building's strengths known to a wider community.
Chair Joe Morris reported that his committee is in the process of gathering information necessary for it to better understand the options for the Lauren regarding several zoning issues including the pending petition to receive exceptions for Certificates of Occupancy as well as the possibility of conversion to a commercial classification. He said the committee is concerned with the value of the property for each Lauren investor and the quality of life in the building that any changes in zoning will produce.
Review Status and Discussion Items--
Property Manager Walter Krolman reported that indications from a study done by an electrical contractor are that sub-metering would be expensive and the payback of the effort would be very long. Among the factors contributing to the long payback is that only 20 to 30 percent of the electrical consumption would be affected by the sub-metering. This is because the main air conditioning system would be charged to the Lauren account rather than individual units.
Property Manager's Report--
The Board requested that the Property Manager routinely provide a listing of persons who have recently moved in and out of the building.
Adjournment--
The meeting was adjourned at 9:45 p.m. The next meeting of the Board was scheduled for Wednesday, August 28 at 7 p.m. in Unit 109. Executive Session followed.
Copies of the Minutes of this meeting may be obtained via e-mail by sending Property Manager Walter Krolman a request at WKrolman@aol.com or WKrolman@jpop.erols.com.
Respectfully Submitted,
John Doolittle, Secretary