Amending Southpoint's Documents

Snowbirds – I don’t like to rub it in, but yesterday was a wonderful day at Southpoint. The pool was about 85 F - 29C.   The ocean was a little cooler, but very clear and fairly calm. By the way, did you know that the pool holds 77,000 gallons of water?

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I am not sure about glass replacing the steel railings.  I think that Vinny has written off the idea—but in any event, there is a problem with changing to glass. It might be considered a material alteration, and the Southpoint documents would have to be changed. This would require a vote by all the owners. It’s a two step process:

·          First, the Board must approve the material alteration (the railings to be changed to glass.)

·         Second, the Owners must ratify the Board’s vote by a 2/3 majority.

The good news is that it is possible to make the change provided that 2/3 of us want it.  Getting the two-thirds vote will be troublesome, but there are a few other changes that may be wanted at the same time. A committee could collect votes here, on the property, and then a mailing could be done with telephone follow-up by the committee. 

Someone wrote to me asking about the condition of the beach. Our beach is an eyesore. The cabanas are in disarray, and are positioned willy-nilly on the beach. There are many different colors, some cabanas are in good shape, others should be tossed. 

So? Why don’t we reorganize them and get rid of the ones in bad shape? Reason: The cabanas do not belong to us. Each one is privately owned. Perhaps the next Board, can get some legal advice on the matter.

The hotels on Fort Lauderdale’s main beach have adopted a very beautiful plan. Umbrellas are set up for guests every morning and taken down every afternoon. Lounge chairs could be stacked by the gate and carried to the umbrellas by owners who want to spend time on the beach. If you haven’t seen this set up, drive South on A1A until you see the hotel beach area.

Let me know what you think.

Michael E Katz

Southpoint

Director

954-563-0959

Katz8356@comcast.net

Please email your friends about your blog  www.Southpoint-Condo.Blogspot.Com

"Can't we all get along?"

~~~Peace and Harmony~~~

Most of us are more comfortable in a condo where peace and harmony reign.  We could have that again. Our problem has been the inability of some of us to understand that disagreement doesn’t have to lead to rancor.  Perhaps we need training.  If Red Sox and Yankee fans can get along why can't we?

 For instance, why can’t those of us who want glass railings on the balconies understand and appreciate that there are other Owners who are happy to leave them as is?  This is one issue that can be addressed by polling all of the Owners, who, after all, will be paying for the change.  

Perfection may come for us in heaven, but on earth Perfection is the Enemy of the Good.  Waiting for the Perfect Answer is not productive. If we wait nothing happens; nothing gets done. Demanding Perfection causes Procrastination.

Compromise is really the answer. Everything isn’t black or white. There are many colors between. Usually, open minded people can arrive at compromise or consensus. When we close our minds we become obstacles to progress.   Sometimes inability to compromise or even to understand another person’s point of view leads to the hatefulness we see and feel at Southpoint.  

Most people look for and remember facts that confirm their biases, while they simultaneously avoid and forget facts that contradict those dearly held biases. We turn off our ears when a different point of view is expressed.

Let’s try to find a place of consensus…there always is a wide circle of possible answers to problems
for people with good hearts.  

I’ve received a few emails regarding the balconies.  I’m not surprised that people are upset.  But I know that Vinnie has been looking at the bids of three contractors. Soon we’ll hear the results and the work can proceed. 

Three people wrote to me  in favor of glass railings for the balconies. They both felt that upgrading the appearance of the buildings would add to the value of your apartment.  Two were vehemently opposed. They didn’t want to spend the money. I think that we should have a poll of all the owners—after all, the glass railings will add a substantial number to the assessment for the balconies.  The engineer should be asked whether we can begin work now and put in the glass later.  We could have a separate assessment for the glass railings.

Tell your friends about the Blog:  www.Southpoint-Condo.Blogspot.com

Write to me. You can be critical—that’s how we learn…

.mike 

Michael E Katz

Southpoint
Director
954-563-0959

Katz8356@comcast.net 

More on Construction Contracts

Hello Southpointers!

 By coincidence, Gary Poliakoff, one of South Florida’s leading Condo Attorneys wrote the piece quoted below for the Sun-Sentinel Condo Blog yesterday. Add his points to the 21 point check off list for contracts that I wrote about yesterday,  and you can feel pretty confident about engaging a contractor.

But: after a final agreement has been written be sure that our attorneys give the final approval.

Avoid paying twice for construction costs

by: Gary Poliakoff February 22nd, 2012 | 9:24 AM

Did you know you may have to pay a subcontractor, material supplier or someone else working on your job site, even if you already paid the contractor?  Did you know that subcontractors and others are entitled to place a lien on the property for non-payment?  Those liens can impact closings and financing needs.

Although construction contracting is not something most board members are familiar with, the State of Florida requires them to follow very detailed procedures when making payments to the contractors hired to do work on the condominium property. 

The first step to take when commencing a construction project is to record a Notice of Commencement. Florida Statutes require you to record a Notice of Commencement in the public records identifying the legal title of the property being improved, and the names and addresses of the owner (or association as the agent of the owners), contractor, lender, bond surety (if any), and any other individuals who should receive copies of documents associated with the Florida Construction Lien Law. 

This Notice of Commencement is an important document.  Please review the Notice with an attorney and do not rely on your manager or the contractor to fill out the information.  A mistake on the Notice of Commencement can come back to harm the association as well as the individual owners.

As your construction progresses, you will receive documents called Notice to Owner. Sometimes these documents are called Notice to Owner/Preliminary Notice and are usually served upon you via Certified Mail. If you included your fax number in the Notice of Commencement, the Notice to Owner may also be faxed to you. They may also hand-deliver it to you and, in some instances, it may just be posted on your job site. It is very important that you keep track of everybody who has served a Notice to Owner on you. The Notice to Owner is not a cloud on title; rather, it is a document from those entities, hired by your contractor, that you must ensure get paid to avoid liens on your property.

Every time you pay your contractor, it is vital that you ensure that all subcontractors and suppliers that have served you with a Notice to Owner have been paid in full. Before you make payments to your contractors, you should call everybody who served a Notice to Owner on you and find out how much they are owed.

When you make your next payment to your contractor, it is critical that you make sure that you get a Release from everybody who served a Notice to Owner in the amounts which you learned are due. If you do not get a Release in the company will look to you later for payment or lien your job.

The Florida Construction Lien Law also gives you the right to require a list of money owed to subcontractors from your contractor every time you make a payment. This Affidavit should be given to you by your contractor, but the law does not allow you to legally rely on whatever the contractor tells you. Rather, you have an affirmative duty to make sure everyone who serves a Notice to Owner is paid in full.

Do not, under any circumstances, make your final payment to your contractor until you receive final Releases of Lien from every entity who served a Notice to Owner. If there is a problem getting these releases, you must make sure that everyone serving a Notice to Owner gets paid before you issue that last check to the contractor.

GARY POLIAKOFF is a founding principal of Becker & Poliakoff, P.A. He has devoted a significant part of his career to the practice of Community Association law. Author of New Neighborhoods: The Consumer's Guide to Condominium, Co-op and HOA Living.

 _________________________________________________________________ 

Thanks for your comments, even the negative ones. My point has always been that we can get along without agreeing on every issue. Open discussion among intelligent, reasonable people always leads to better decisions. 

Michael E Katz

Director

Southpoint

Katz8356@Comcast.net

954-563-0959

Outsourcing at Southpoint

The  Cleaning Service

Lenny Champagne hired an outside cleaning service after the Board asked him to wait while we looked into other vendors. Lenny went ahead, on his own, brought in National Cleaning Systems.  Lenny asserts that the outside cleaning service will save us $100,000 per year. 

The company he picked currently has a warrant from the Florida Department of Revenue because they owe over 15 thousand dollars in sales tax.  In addition, they lost a court case in October where they had to pay a 23 thousand dollar judgment.  A federal tax lien that was placed on them in December 2010 was just removed this past December.

 Does this sound like a reputable firm? The contract, that was given to us and signed by Vinnie, calls for payment within three days—a sign of the lack of capital of the firm. We have no idea whether the staff now working in Southpoint has been checked. Had Lenny been in communication with Lisa and myself we would have checked the firm before allowing people on the property.

I had given the office a twenty point checklist for contracts. Obviously the checklist wasn’t consulted. Had we been in communication and working together I could have read the contract and seen the many flaws in it. Instead, it was sent to our attorneys, where for a fee, an addendum was written. The addendum was sent over to the office, but Lenny ignored it, and never got National Cleaning Service to sign it. Considering National Cleaning Service’s background and the lack of a proper contract, we should drop them immediately.

The same thing happened a few months ago, when Lisa Lamarca and Elaine Jaffe discovered that Best Bet, was (1) unlicensed; (2) uncertified and unqualified to do some of the work they did on balconies; and (3) improperly insured.  Best Bet received almost $400,000, of Southpoint’s money without a license or proper insurance. Some of the work that we paid them for will be re-done.

We need to be more careful, more professional, in regard to contracts.

Previously, I had refered to a contract checklist that I had written for Southpoint, based on my experieince in business and, more importantly, on one of the condominium classes that I attended.  I continue to attend them.

Here it is.

Southpoint    Checklist  for Contracts  

Michael E Katz

Down payment:  Zero or as little as can be negotiated.

 Rationale: if a contractor can’t afford to start a job, then he won’t be able to finish.

Bond: Performance bond should be required. On the other hand, there will be exclusions and we must be aware of them.

Subs: Each sub must meet the same standards as the General Contractor.

Start Date – Finish Date  Bonus? Penalty?

Substantial Completion:  To be defined in contract.

Liquidated Damages:   To be defined in contract by our attorneys.

Progress Payments:  must never exceed work done. We or an impartial party (our engineer) will sign off on each progress payment.

Releases for Progress Payments:  Must be obtained by contractor from Suppliers and Subs.

Notice of Commencement:   To be placed on Public Record—and signed off at completion of Job.

Named Insured:  Southpoint to be named with address, on every insurance policy including those written for subs.

Liability Limits:   To be determined by attorneys. Very important.

Certificates of Insurance:  including Worker’s Compensation. Delivered to Southpoint by GC to include Sub’s insurances.

Property Damage: GC is responsible for any damage to common areas, or unit owner’s property, whether caused by sub-contractor or GC.

Remedies:  What are remedies in the event of breach?  To be determined by our attorneys.

Work Schedules:   5 days, 6 days, hours  8 AM until 6PM. Set up times out of regular hours in order  to speed work.  Deviations only with Southpoint’s consent.

Proof of Payments:  As work is paid for any payments to subs or suppliers should be copied to Southpoint. At  Job’s final payment to GC will not be paid unless all proofs have been delivered.

Warranties:   Discuss with attorneys prior to awarding contract.

Damages for Delays in Performance:  Discuss with  attorneys.

Indemnification:  language to be supplied by Southpoint Attorneys.

Final Payment:   A very delicate and important matter.  It should be large (at least 10%)  and should be at least thirty days after completion of job to Southpoint’s satisfaction and all Permits have been closed.

Note: Relying on the City of Ft. Lauderdale to sign off Job, will not protect the Association. The City is not an expert, and cannot be held liable for mistaken approvals.

Concomitant Service Contracts:  During the Job, or at completion, the GC may request ongoing service contracts.  Each contract must be examined and priced with competitors. 

Michael E. Katz

Southpoint

November 2009

Using this check list for every contract would save us a lot of money and heartache.

_____________________________________________________________________________

Yesterday three Southpointers identified the source of the quote, and one of them was under forty!

The source of "Let's Look at the Record" was Governer Al Smith of New York who was the first Catholic to run for president in the 1920's. 

+---------Why the Police were Called --------+

"Let's Look at the Record"

On several occasions, including a Board Meeting, Vinnie and a resident declared that the previous administrations (Marty Glazer’s and mine) had received many requests for repair of the 305S balcony from the owners—and that those requests were ignored. 

When I was President I had all “Work Requests” by owners and employees listed on a spreadsheet.  A loose-leaf binder containing about thirty-five pages of “Work Slips” was left on the counter,although no new work slips had been added after I was no longer President. 

I didn’t recall a single request regarding balconies, and I knew nothing about the balconies in question. I wanted to look through the binder and find out whether there were any “work slips” or requests for repair on that unit.   "Let's look at the Record."  (A Florida orange to the first one to identify the source of that quote.)

Each of the thirty-five or so pages of the work request spread sheet has about thirty lines; so after reading a few pages I thought it would be better just to copy all the pages at Fed Ex. Then I could read it at my leisure at home.  I took the book, brought it to Fed Ex, copied all the pages, and returned it within an hour or two.

  

After I left with the binder Marie Abbott and Vinnie, called the police and alleged that I “stole” the book. It was one of four or five calls that they made to the police regarding Owners and Directors for various imagined or exaggerated infractions.  Police had never before been called to Southpoint by a President or an office worker.

Thus, at candidates’ night you heard Vinnie call me a “thief.”

Needless to say, there wasn’t a single item in the spreadsheets about those balconies. 

_______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

A few people have suggested topics for me to discuss or explain.  I want to thank them, and will get to each over the next few days.

.mike

Michael E Katz

Southpoint

Director 

954-563-0959

Katz8356@comcast.net

--Let's Talk Balconies--

Let's Talk Balconies

The Executive Committee, composed of Vinnie and Lenny Champagne, decided to have all our balconies inspected after problems were discovered in a few units. They brought in an engineer who inspected the balconies of the South Building, and took the tiles off 160+ balconies. This occurred several months ago.

The engineer had intended that  his own construction company bid on the repair of each balcony that he declared unsafe or in need of repair.

Vinnie and Lenny Champagne did not understand the conflict of interest in this arrangement.

I was skeptical by the number of balconies (160+) that the engineer claimed needed immediate repair and wrote to Vinnie and the engineer about it. I was ignored by Vinnie. A few days later the engineer offered to pay for a peer review or second opinion. Inexplicably, Vinnie ignored that offer. 

At the last meeting of the Board, owners from Canada, who are in the concrete restoration business expressed doubt about the project and the manner in which specs were written.  But the specs had already been sent out, and so we received several bids which were not comparable to each other. A second engineer was brought in, who re-wrote the bidding documents. At this time we are waiting for the contractors to send new bids.

In the meantime, a third engineer was brought in and paid directly by two owners and myself. He inspected several balconies in the South Building and declared that there was no question of safety and that most of the balconies were good for another five, ten or even fifteen years. He wrote a memo that I am attaching below. 

We may want to discuss using a different standard when we check the North Building.

Here’s the independent engineer’s memo:

"It was a pleasure meeting with you and members of the Southpoint Condo Board during our site visit of February 15, 2012.  Both I and my associate agree that the reinforcing steel corrosion-related spalls observed at select balconies does not reflect conditions that are unsafe.  (underlining mine.)

We observed the following:

• some small areas of spalled concrete exposed by the removal of tile flooring that was caused by insufficient concrete coverage (<3/4").
• no cracks at the balcony perimeters suggestive of corrosion-related spalls.
• no corrosion stains on the balcony perimeters or undersides.
• embedded door thresholds which could be another cause of spalled concrete."

My opinion is that a state of panic, engendered by one resident, came about due to the two or three balconies that actually needed repairs. There was no need to remove the tile from so many balconies at this time, and a great expense could have been avoided. Now, with the tiles removed we have no choice, except to bring each balcony to usable standards.

The next Board should discuss with an engineer the standards by which he will declare a balcony in need of repair.

As usual, feel free to write or call.  I am pleased (astounded!) by the number of Southpointers who have called or written.

Michael E Katz

Director

954-563-0959

Katz8356@Comcast.net

Welcome to Southpoint-Condo

Hello Southpointers!  

Well,  most of you must have received the email or seen the post from Vinnie and his lawyer prohibiting me from addressing you directly. Instead, I am going to use this Blog to communicate with you. It will be a little work for you--you'll have to remember the address --

  www.Southpoint-Condo.blogspot.com

or, to make it easy you can make it one of your favorites.

I will try to be an honest, objective commentator. I'll write short notes--always keeping in mind my father's dictum--"Brevity is the Soul of Wit," -- so I'll be brief in each post.    When I first mentioned my father's dictum at a Board meeting, I realized that it might have been Shakespeare who said it. Someone in the audience called out, "Shakespeare stole it from your father!"  Anyway, whether Shakespeare or Dad, I am going to work to keep my remarks brief.

Southpoint needs a Board that works together. All Board members should be informed, familiar with our Documents, and the State regulations regarding Condominiums.  Having a Board familiar with, and willing to abide by the DOCs, Rules, and Regulations, will avoid most of the problems that we have had this year.  No one comes to the Board fully educated, but by this time I would expect that officers  would have learned how to run a Board and how to run Board meetings.

Lisa,  Elaine,  and I have worked to understand the DOCs.  Lisa and I have gone to many sessions to learn the State Regulations:   Those who heard Tony Peccia at Candidate's night can tell that he will be a great asset to the Southpoint Board  and to Southpoint.  Elaine Jaffe is very familiar with state regulations and it was she who fought harder than anyone for transparency--even against me when I was President.   What is transparency?  It means that any Owner should be able to get information about their investment easily, without a fuss.  Remember, Owners are entitled to all information regarding their investment with a very few exceptions. I was impressed by Michele Biberman's presentation, and especially the fact that she has been a Director of two different Boards, and was relected to each several times.

Yes, Elaine fought my Board for transparency, as well as this Board.  But I learned from her-- Open minds learn easily.

This is all for tonight. More tomorrow.  If you're  in Florida , enjoy the beautiful weather--if you're not here--come on down...

Mike
Michael E.Katz
Katz8356@comcast.net.