BOD Meeting on Sept 8th, 2015

Newly Organized BOD

This is what I have learned about what changes have taken place after the last BOD election:

President: Cindy Potts
Vice President: Harold Scott
Wendy Hill: Treasurer
Carol Hazen: assistant Treasurer
Mark Morgenstern: Secretary
David Saldarriaga: Director
Tracy Thomas: Director

It was noted that Tracy Thomas is currently opposing the TAJ Association in a lawsuit involving her property, and that may have been a reason that she does not hold office.

Wendy Hill continues as the property manager.

Correspondence From TAJ BOD

This letter came in the mail on Saturday.  I was asked to post it on this blog. I did not write this letter.  I believe it to be factually accurate.  There is some additional information from the Property Manager that I will also be posting in the next day or two, when I get the time. 

An Unhappy Resident Urges a Recall Vote With Mass-Email

I recently received the email message that I have copied, below.  It had apparently been mass-emailed to about 70 others, presumably all TAJ unit owners.  I do not know what the issue is, but it is clear that there are some difficult feelings. From my own time on the BOD I know that re-construction and special assessments bring out the worst suspicions and worst behavior in everybody involved. 

**********

Hi everyone,

Please read and consider these individuals to replace the entire current board. We need to move forward and get things done. We need to get our community under control and with efficient management. Things are not getting done and will not get done unless we all do something about it. We all want a better community because we do care, I care. 

Please find the recall election ballot enclosed. Please place an x in  the recall boxes for the current board and  and x in the  "in favor of " boxes in the 2nd half of the ballot.

Very important to please only have the registered voter sign the ballot 

**********

Board of Directors Meeting

Halloween Celebration at the Clubhouse on Saturday, October 27th

Doorknob Flyer from the BOD

TOWNHOUSES AT JACARANDA CONDOMINIUM ASSOC.

8201 NW 8 Street · Plantation, Florida 33324

Phone: (954) 472-2283 · Fax: (954) 472-3857

Board of Directors

Wendi Hill, President

John Lovell, Vice-President

Phyllis Fabara, Treasurer

Paulette Watson, Secretary

Ben Odebralski, Assistant Secretary

Mark Morgenstern, Director

Carol Hazan, Director

Dear Unit Owners and Residents,

There have been some recent developments in regard to our Hurricane Wilma insurance claim for building damage. It looks as if we may reach a resolution on this painstakingly long ordeal we have been subjected to. Our appointed judge, after hearing a recent motion, has allowed the insurance company ninety days to investigate for mold damage. The short story is that we desperately need your cooperation in facilitating an inspection of the unit interiors. The inspection of the unit interiors will begin this Monday, the 22^nd of March. Our representatives from Epic Adjusters and maintenance staff will accompany the insurance company’s inspectors from Rimkus Consulting Group as they look for damage in the units.

Please be sure to let the inspectors know of any and every place that has leaked after the storm, even if the area no longer leaks, or has been repaired.

1. Please point out areas that were water stained, even if they have been repaired since the storm.

2. Point out any fixtures that are rusted due to leaks as a result of the storm.

3. Point out any soft drywall or soft exterior wood paneling, even if it simply got worse after the storm.

4. If you can see any water stains on the underside of the roof by looking in your attic, please photograph it, or let us know. This is to check for any damaged or failing roof structure.

5. Please provide to our office (and only our office) any pictures of hurricane damage that you have.

6. If you filed your own hurricane claim with your own insurance company, any documentation or records showing this will be instrumental in furthering our case. Please stop by our office and allow us to make copies of these items.

**Please contact the office and let us know the day and time that you will be available for inspections in order to schedule you in accordingly**

This is a very important and time sensitive matter and we greatly appreciate your cooperation.

With Regards,

Townhouses at Jacaranda

Let Your Light Shine...

The President of the BOD had promised that the light would be fixed. Years of disappointment had convinced me that it would never happen. But now I want to say THANK YOU to both W2ndi H1ll and the TAJ management and maintenance crew for fixing the light between buildings 35 & 36. It has been since Hurricane Wilma, in October of 2005, that our street looked like the picture below left. But this past week the maintenance crew did the hard manual labor necessary to bring the illumination, below right.

Building Reserves Funding

It is time, once again, for each building (each building is an individual condominium) to cast their collective vote regarding the funding of their building's reserve fund. By law, if the building does not vote, the owners will owe the amount that has been estimated by the BOD to fully fund the reserve fund for their building. In the years that I have observed the outcomes of the voting process, it is extremely rare that unit owners want to pay the fully funded amount. The forms below were mailed to unit owners to complete and return by the published date, January 28th at 7:30pm.

General Contractors, Etc

I recently received an email from a General Contractor who expressed an interest in working in the TAJ community (I have included his email* at the bottom of this post). He was apparently referred by a TAJ owner I have want to say "good job" to that person who made the contact. The more we can get qualified workers interested in our community the more we can all benefit.

Because I was on the BOD during a time when building refurbishments were in full-swing, and because my wife is the Chief Financial Officer of a very successful General Contracting firm, I know that the daily workings of a construction project are a complicated business that requires the expertise of people with specialized knowledge. Those people include

• General Contractor, Architect, and Engineer with a state license and in good standing with the DBPR
• Office bookkeeper with knowledge of construction accounting
• Project Manager with construction knowledge and the will-power to argue with a GC (a seemingly juvenile, but none-the-less necessary part of every construction job I've ever witnessed)
• Accoutant with expertise in construction loans, financing, etc
• Attorney to oversee contracts and to aggressively pursue claims of poor performance (again, an oddly necessary part of doing business with GCs)
• An educated, interested, and involved owner (or group of owners) that actively participate and ensure that the other experts do their jobs

Click the following link Protecting the Association Against Unlicensed Contractors to go to an interesting article written by Thomas Code. In other places on that same website are other very informative articles about Condominium Associations and their legal responsibilities and limitations, like

• Are E-mails, Instant Messages (IM), & Twitter Transcripts "official" records of the Association? (Round 2)
• Protect the Association's Funds from Fraud or Theft
• Posting Debtor Lists to Collect Delinquent Condo & HOA Assessments
• Roof Leaks and the Statute of Limitations
• Indemnity and the Association

************************************************************************************************

Good morning. A friend of mine who resides in your community suggested I contact your Homeowners Association regarding your needs for an honest, efficient quality General Contractor to provide numerous construction services for the development. We would be very interested in speaking with a representative from your Association regarding any needs you may have and look forward to the opportunity to bid your work and provide you with excellent service.

Please check out our website. We anticipate hearing from you on how we can take the next step.

Sincerely,

LANE BIRNBAUM

Bluewater Construction Group Inc.

(954) 551-2911 cell

www.bwconstruction.us

New Parking Spaces: Great Solution, but New Problem?

In the picture below you see two cars parked on 9th Court. Before yesterday the car on the right (near the building) would have been parked legally and the car on the left (near the canal) would have been parked illegally. But that changed yesterday and now it is legal to park on the canal side of the road but not on the building side of the road. Anyway, I think that is what is happening. I do not recall receiving any notice or flyer or other form of explanation from the BOD or Property Management regarding the parking change. The maintenance crewman that did the painting said that he added 10 new parking spaces and removed 2 old ones.

The old yellow parking stripes,on the building side of the road, were "blacked-out" and new yellow stripes were added on the canal side of the road (pictured below). I assume that the sign that reads "no parking, Fire Lane" will eventually be removed from where they painted parking places in front of it (below, top-right picture).

There is no question that the extra parking spaces are greatly appreciated. The big question, though, is whether the new parking scheme will create an unsafe traffic situation. Parked cars along the road will narrow the street so much that two cars may not be able to pass each other. Worse, there is a blind corner at the end of the newly painted parking area.

TAJ Sentinel, June 2009

Pictured below are the six pages of a flyer that was sent out by the office on behalf of the Board of Directors. I was not able to achieve a high quality scan of the document and so some of any blame for lack of aesthetic quality is mine. Click on the pages to enlarge them for reading.

For clarification, I had no part in this newsletter/flyer. I have published a newsletter in the past, both for the Board of Directors when I was the President and then also as a concerned owner when I published independently with my own money and delivered them myself. My newsletters are unmistakably marked with multiple citations and by-lines. Since the newsletter pictured below has only one by-line and no other discernible citation, I offer this clarification so as to avoid any confusion about the flyer's authorship.

Letter To Building Captains From BOD Member, Paulette Wilson

We need a Captains meeting. Scheduled for Thursday, June 11 - 7:30pm - at the clubhouse. I'll get an agenda to you before Thursday. Hope you all make it. See you then,

Paulette Watson
Bldg 14 Unit 3

Good Reading About Community Living

Below is an article from the Sun-Sentinel that has been passed around amoung active members of the TAJ Association via emails. I am posting it here as it seems like a very worth-while article for our whole community to read. Click on the link at the top to go to the original article on the Sun-Sentinel website.

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sun-sentinel.com/business/custom/consumer/sfl-condo-classes-condocol-b0408sbapr08,0,2335149.column

South Florida Sun-Sentinel.com
Online courses can help condo board officials
Daniel Vasquez on condos
Condo columnist
April 8, 2009

You don't have to have a PhD to serve on your community association board, but shouldn't you at least be educated?

Florida law requires condo board candidates to sign a form stating they have read and understand their governing documents and state condo laws. Lawmakers will soon debate a bill giving directors the option of taking a state-approved course in lieu of the attestation.

To find out what that would be like, I took a 90-minute online course (it took me two hours) offered by The Human Equation, an approved provider of condominium governance training. It offers nine courses in Florida Condominium Management alone, which cost about $10 each or $67 for the entire 10-hour curriculum.

I chose "Communication Skills for Condominium Association Leaders," which is meant for homeowner association directors, too.

Less than a minute into it was this lesson: The duties of a condo or HOA leader involve more than most people would think. They must conduct board meetings, explain bylaws and regulations to unit owners, express opinions clearly, negotiate with vendors, contractors and service personnel, defuse conflicts among unit owners and respond to all sorts of inquiries from unit owners.

Note how the unpaid directors are not only expected to know the rules and regulations, but also should make time to explain them to unit owners and find a way to clearly express decisions and actions.

This curriculum started out with a bang and made me want to continue. Then I took my first quiz and scored 70. That's a C, right?

(For the record, I rushed. And one thing I know I missed was the part about maintaining eye contact with someone at least 50 percent of the time when talking.)The 90-minute course was complex, but not too complicated for anyone willing to be on a board. More importantly, it was informational and useful.

Here are some examples of what I learned or had reinforced:

Strong communication skills are not recommended, they're required. To be effective, you have to deal with conflicts or challenges without expressing anger or loss of control. It is your responsibility to make sure each unit or homeowner understands key information, such as why a parking lot is being resurfaced, when it was approved and how it may save money over time rather than just communicating it will lead to an assessment.

There are natural and man-made obstacles to community communication. You will have to deal with difficult people. Some have difficult personalities; others are themselves dealing with tough situations (a job loss that makes it difficult to pay a special assessment). You'll have to control your reactions to those who question decisions or information and you must always speak with respect. The course acknowledges obtaining these skills takes work, but is still part of the job.

Failing to listen is failure. The course suggests that half your time be spent listening. That doesn't mean just keeping quiet, but also making sure you comprehend what is being said, taking note of important details and being able to restate what the unit owner has said and wants done. And you should listen even if the owner is a chronic complainer.

Put yourself in a unit owner's shoes as much as possible. If someone complains about a loud noise, check it out yourself.

But here is the best lesson I learned: You may bring a world of skills and experience to your association table, but learning more is well worth the time.

Anyone up for the job? Or for at least signing up for the job and learning how to do it right?

TheHumanEquation.com offers one free demonstration course on condo communication skills if you call 954-888-1267. The other state-approved online community training provider is the Community Association Institute: "http://www.caionline.org/">www.caionline.org

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Property Manager Progress

There is no news to announce about a new Property Manager, except to say that the Human Resources Committee has been hard at work and has presented the BOD with some excellent candidates. The BOD met with some of those candidates and that is as far as the process has gone. We are all hoping that the BOD can come to a decision and hire a good leader to help guide the Association.

2009-2010 Board of Director Members

[Wendi Hill, picture removed upon request]

W2ndy H1ll and John Lovell

Carol Hazen and Paulette Watson


Phyllis Fabara and Ben Odebralski


Mark Morgenstern

New Officers for the 2009-2010 BOD

The BOD met on Saturday for the purpose of appointing officers, which are as follows:

• President is W2ndi H1ll
• Vice President is John Lovell
• Treasurer is Carol Hazen
• Assistant Treasurer is Phyllis Fabara
  
• Secretary is Paulette Watson
• Assistant Secretary is Ben Odebralski
  

BOD Election Results

124... Phyllis Fabara
124... Paulette Watson
093... Ben Odebralski
080... John Lovell
054... Esther Leacock
050... Elliot Schertzer

• 147 votes were cast,
  
• 10 ballots were disqualified,
  
• the ballots were inspected by several unit owners and all appeared to have been individually filled out -- there were no photocopied votes

Participating in the vote count:

• Beth Lindie (the TAJ general purpose attorney)
• Beth G (office manager)
• Sue Cozia (building 44)
• Jill Mann (building 43)

The meeting was adjourned at 11:09pm.

[Haga clic aquí para la Traducción al español]

Confusing Signs Clarified

To clarify, the Finance Committee will be meeting on Wednesday, but the Candidates met on Monday night.

The placement of signs at each of the four the entrances is a brilliantly efficient way to communicate with the community.  However, the information posted on this last round of signs is confusing.  In spite of this one minor flaw, the BOD and office are to be congratulated for their efforts and encouraged to continue to communicate with the community.  

Even if it does not always come out right, keep trying.  We in the community need it and appreciate it.

Wildlife Other Than the BOD

Aren't squirrels fun to watch?  I love seeing them run, jump, and scamper with ease over and around obstacles. They navigate so well that it seems effortless.  But then, they should -- they are squirrels and their very life depends on their acrobatic abilities.

BOD members are not always so smooth.  Sometimes they look quite awkward and even foolish.  But then, it is to be expected.  They are volunteers without training, sometimes without strong traditions, often without leadership, and always with other demands on their time.

I like to feed peanuts to the squirrels. Lots of people do the same thing.  It is our way of rewarding the squirrels for providing entertainment while we watch them.  

We tend to give our BOD members less than peanuts. Usually we give them nothing until we have something to complain about.  I want to say to all those in our community that have taken the time and made the effort to represent us on the BOD, THANKS!  It is a very difficult job and anybody who tries to do it deserves some show of our appreciation.  THANKS AGAIN, BOD members past, present, and future.