Following are Minutes for the Cloverleaf
Center Condominium Board of Directors Meeting held 22 August, 2012, in
Conference Room A, Upcounty Regional Services Center, Germantown, MD 20874.
Farouk Youssef called the meeting to order
at 7:05 PM. Mr. Youssef received Kreg Williams’ written proxy for this
meeting. Andrew Kim and Peter Franke
were present. Noorul Hinaya Jainoor is expected to arrive later [Ms. Jainoor
arrived at 7:45 PM during the discussion of the County easement, see below.].
This meeting—delayed from the third Wednesday of August—was announced by a special
postcard and by the sign. A motion (FY/PF) was made to close the Meeting at
8:30 to discuss WTP & delinquencies (Vote: 4 Aye/0 Nay.)
Motion (FY/PF) to approve the May
16, June 20, and July 18, 2012 Minutes
(Vote: 4/0.)
Continuing Business and Management Report
Elan Krueger (Management) reported that letters
were sent yesterday calling for candidates for the four Board positions (two
Plex and two Town House positions) that will be open in October, and announcing
that the Annual Meeting will be held on Wednesday, October 24, at 7 PM, Conference
Room A. Management sent a letter to 13015B regarding a satellite dish, as the
wire may not penetrate the building and may not be tucked into the siding or
trim. That issue has been resolved.
Letters were sent to four owners for Contractor access to their units to
pull the sliders, in order to apply flashing. The four owners were all present at
the time requested. Some discrepancies were noted during the Quarterly fire
alarm inspection, but we have not received a proposal for fixes, yet, and have
not seen any life safety issues. An advance draft budget was sent to the Board
for review. It assumes no fixed contract for snow. [Later in the meeting, Mr.
Krueger announced that Bridget (Brickman) will accept a fixed contract for snow
removal at $12,000. Audience response was highly favorable. See below.] The
draft proposal also asks for no increase in Management fees, as last year’s—from
July 1, 2011 to June 30, 2012—inflation rate was about 1.4%. The Auditor was
confused about the schedule for the field work, which is now scheduled for Sept
5. We requested that the Auditor send the Draft at least three days before the September
19 meeting. The next Audit Engagement Letter will specify sending the Draft before
the March Board meeting, as the loan documents require that the Audits be
submitted to the Bank within 120 days of the end of the fiscal year (Dec 1.) The
WTP Collections printout and the July 31 Financial Statement were sent to the
Board for review. The MD Court of Appeals “Pit Bull Decision”, briefly, is that
anyone who has control over the presence of dogs has an absolute liability over
a pit bull attack. Thus, by association, a Condominium can be liable. Various
attorneys are talking to us about this, saying to muzzle the dogs, to
grandfather existing dogs, and to shift the burden of proof to hold the owners
liable. The Insurance Industry is behind on this and our insurance will cover
this for now, but that could change overnight. Attempts were made to talk with
Direct TV and with Dish Network [an owner noted that the satellite TV providers
offer otherwise unavailable international stations]—in order to inform these
providers that the Association owns the Plex buildings and the grounds, and
that the Board requires written approval prior to their touching the building—but
these attempts have been refused. Management therefore recommends sending a
card to each owner to inform them that the Board requires ACC approval before installing
a dish, regardless whether the Board can notify the provider companies.
Mr. Youssef, speaking about the Plex Project,
announced that each Plex owner will need to provide inside access so the Contractor can
remove the sliders and add the flashing. About every 15 days, the President,
Treasurer, Manager, Engineer and Contractor have held progress meetings. Last
Thursday, the Contractor stated that the reason that “Bldg 2” has not yet been finished
is that there has been extreme difficulty gaining inside access to perform these
changes. The side of Bldg 2 on Bridger Dr is about finished, but the back side
looks like a horror show. Nevertheless, Bldg 2 will be finished and closed
within 15 days. To advance the project to
an end on Oct 15, the Contractor has been opening the other buildings, and to
date all of the decks have been shored with brackets and hangers. When the time
comes to remove the sliders and windows, the remaining work will go fast. Mr.
Youssef asks that the people in the remaining buildings be aware of that on
short notice, we will ask to be let into the unit. [An owner commented that
during the installation of a new slider, the measurement was short and a panel to
the slide plate needed to be removed.] [Another owner mentioned pop-up nails.]
Mr. Youssef replied that as the Contractor has previously written in a letter to
the community, nail pops are expected; when the owner hammers in any pop-up
nails, it is better to seal them. Other mishaps will be taken care of. Finally,
the Engineer found some excess in the prices of some items, and we will be able
to save about $30,000.
Mr. Youssef opened the floor for any
other audience questions regarding the project. “Will you remove rotted wood
under the slider?” (Yes.) “Is replacement of a French door mandatory?” (No.)
(In some cases, in spite of the care of the Contractor, a door, because of its
age, may be unusable after removal. In that circumstance, the owner pays for
it.) (Owners will get a letter about 72 hours ahead of time to notify them when
they will need to be available for the Contractor to enter into their units.)
(The Contractor will try to schedule the work by tier (utility stack),so as to
avoid moving the scaffolding back and forth.) “I cannot now open the utility
door, and there is still a gap by the edge of the deck.” (The Engineer will
look into this, as the shoring cannot be removed without the approval of the Engineer.)
(The subflooring cannot be leaked into after the repair, so you won’t need to
change that.)
The Board previously voted to delay the
payment of WTP legal fees for collections for sixty days, but that didn’t work.
The problem is that WTP has not yet fought to collect the legal fees—which the Association has paid-for, up-front, without delay, to
WTP—after collecting delinquencies. That
is not acceptable to us. In one example, a case resulted in garnishment of
wages. Why did not WTP collect by garnishment the legal costs of collection? We
will put a stop to that. A motion was made (FY/PF) to pay WTP their fees upon written
approval of the Board. Vote: 4/0.
Easement Update: A year and a half ago a County
representative (Dennis Robinson) unexpectedly broke off negotiations that they had
initiated with Cloverleaf Century Condominium regarding a request for a temporary
lease of some of the Association’s property, for the purpose of installing
carbon filters (on County land) to remove pollution from drainage from Fr
Hurley Blvd, a part of the plan to extend Century Blvd to Kinster Dr. The
County cited at the time lack of developer funds. The Association, by a vote of
the Directors, accepted that offer, pending then-Director Diane Smith’s and the
County Forester’s choice of tree and shrub species for planting a barrier strip
near the edge of Cloverleaf’s and Cloverleaf III’s property. At the time, the
County had rejected as “too expensive” Cloverleaf’s suggestion for a structural
sound barrier. After an eighteen month lull, the County has now made a new,
unexpected offer. The previous offer was $6000 for an 18 month lease. The new offer
was $6000 for a ten year lease, without provision for a planted barrier.
That is unacceptable.
In
a related development, Directors FY, PF and KW note that County representatives
were present at (or supervising) a massive earth-works project that has occurred
adjacent to the end of Kinster Dr in Cloverleaf II, eastward toward the 270 SW
exit, NW toward the edge of the golf driving range, and SW to the edge of the riparian
forest, deer, fox, frogs, old growth oaks, and other natural habitat that is
the current border of Cloverleaf and Cloverleaf III. A surface water collection
basin—now partially filled with water from recent rains—has been created near
the Cloverleaf II edge of the forest. There was a small sign at the end of
Kinster Dr indicating that the re-grading project is to improve drainage. We
note that this means that drainage was not in conformity with EPA rules. We
note that the resurfacing may be to accommodate an office building, and the
procession of dump-trucks involved in the re-grading has already heavily impacted
the formerly quiet flow of traffic on Crystal Rock Dr to Kinster Dr. We note that altering the drainage may affect the
Condominium’s insurance risk, should the resurfacing of the former drainage pond
and flood plain make any part of Cloverleaf or Cloverleaf III more vulnerable
on the 100-year flood plain map. We note that for the past five years there has
been testing of the soil to see if it is solid enough for a road, and that these
tests have failed every time. Finally, we note that noise impact studies anticipate
that there will be unacceptable levels of noise at certain locations within our
community. We therefore ask: What are the County and the developer hiding, and
why have they not informed our community representatives? [A member of the
audience stated that a sign on 270S indicates that an office complex is coming
soon.] FY and PF note that Cloverleaf III representative Larry Harris has said
that he also received notification (not yet in writing) from the Mr. Robinson, and
that he told Mr. Robinson that CCIIIC will not sign any agreement, nor accept their
offer of money, without coordination with Cloverleaf. A motion was made (FY/AK)
to draft a letter to the County Executive requesting that the Executive inform Cloverleaf
Center Condominium what is happening in regard to the roads, buildings and
drainage, and copies to our County Representative, State Delegate [identified
by a member in the audience as Aruna Miller], and the County EPA (notification
of the US EPA pending.) Vote: 5/0.
The Treasurer reported that various reserve
bank accounts have been consolidated to separate the Reserve Fund from the Special
Assessment Fund. The intention is that 57% of current reserves and future reserve
contributions (the portion specified in the Reserve Study for items related to
the repairs covered in the Plex project, such as roofs, siding, etc.) remain in
Access National Bank (per the loan documents.) The remaining 43%, not related
to the project, is at TD Bank. After the Sept 7 maturity of a CD at UB, the
Treasurer recommends opening CDs of $50,000, the remainder as cash.
The Treasurer thanked Mr. Krueger for
preparing the first draft of the 2013 budget.
The loan documents require the special assessment income and fund and the
project expenses on the budget, and quarterly cash-based accounting statements.
The extra cost for these statements will be a Plex special assessment expense. In
addition to the $12,000 Brickman offer for fixed contract snow removal which
Mr. Krueger arranged, the Board would like some competitive bids for the next
annual audit (guaranteeing that the loan document conditions will be fulfilled,)
collections, insurance, and other contracts. A meeting will be arranged at the
earliest convenience with the new collections attorney at WTP, to discuss among
other matters FHA approval (estimate this date 15.3% delinquency), the above
mentioned need to collect the accumulated legal fees, and estimates of bad debt
in 2013.
New Business and Community Forum
Motion (FY/PF) to pay Katchmark for Invoice
#4, dated 6 Aug, 2012, and to submit same to the bank, in the amount of
$111,971.62. Vote: 5/0. Motion (FY/PF) to pay SRG Invoice #7756, dated 31 July,
2012, in the amount of $15,758.90. Vote: 5/0. Motion (FY/PF) to authorize
automatic payment of the next five loan payments to ANB (the interest only
period.) Mr. Youssef noted that the Board intends, after January, to pay a
large lump sum ($250-300K), and to pay about $18,000 monthly, rather than the
minimum (about $14,000) P&I payments, in order to avoid a balloon payment
at term. Our cash flow was examined by the bank prior to authorizing the loan.
Mr. Franke cautioned the Board to anticipate any “ups and downs” in the future and
to keep a large amount in reserve.
The Board received a letter from
12915B, written under the Unit owner’s company letterhead. The letter states
that due to our negligence, the owner incurred damages, and asks for a new
door, slider and paint. As soon as the Board knew of that Unit’s pattern of
leakage, the Board addressed the problem, at a cost to the Association so far of
about $10,000. Several Directors have examined the ceiling and found no water
stain. The owner harassed them about the $25K Special Assessment as they tried
to stop the cause of the complaints. It is now known that will not stop until
the siding is changed. The slider, which shows internal water condensation due
to its age, was not damaged by a leak, as claimed. The Board answers letters
sent to the PO Box; a similar claim was recently rejected. Motion (FY/PF) to
answer the letter and to refuse the claim. Vote: 5/0.
The Manager asked
whether the Board will allow a tenant to operate a daycare business at 20513 GCD.
Mr. Youssef responded that there is a licensed day care facility in another Unit,
20537 GCD, run by the tenant. According
to our rules, the owner must ask the Board for permission. The owner of 20537 GCD wrote that the tenant
living there has his permission to operate a day care facility on the premises.
In this instance, the owner should have written to the Board to ask for
permission. Mr. Youssef requested that Mr. Krueger take care of this. Now in
the situation at 20513 GCD, a real estate agent called Mr. Krueger to say that
a possible renter is interested in opening a day care center. That situation is more complicated. The prior
owner fell behind in the mortgage, and arrived at a compromise with the bank.
The bank paid what the prior owner owed, and the prior owner is staying in the
unit as a renter. Motion (FY/PF) not to approve this until we get in touch with
the bank. Vote: 5/0.
Motion (PF/FY) to send letters to
owners to notify them of Bylaws Art V, Section 14 (Restrictions on Use of
Units), part (b), which states (in part): “Nothing shall be done or kept in any
Unit or in the Common Elements which will increase the rate of insurance for
the Condominium applicable for residential use without the prior written
consent of the Board of Directors.” In one instance, a Unit owner did not ask
the Board for permission prior to putting a water slide on the grounds.
Open discussion: An Plex
Unit owner brought examples of boards with nails left on the ground during the
construction, and said that a downspout was left lying across a pathway. (These
issues will be addressed.) A Plex Unit owner asked that the branches of a tree
be trimmed away from the roof, so as to stop an ant pathway; a TH unit owner
asked that branches from a common element tree be trimmed away from his
property. (Mr. Krueger pointed out that in the second case, by MD &English
common law the encroaching branch is the responsibility of the Unit owner.) A
TH owner asked for Association help regarding continued Verizon disruption of the
landscaping. (Asked Management to look into the agreement by which the Board
allows a utility easement to Verizon for FIOS.)
The meeting was closed to
discuss collections, and adjourned at 9:20 PM.
