Highlights from the 7/14 HOA board meeting

The official minutes from the HOA board meeting on 7/14/16 should be available HERE in the next couple weeks or so. In advance of the official minutes, below are a few highlights from the meeting, attended by four current board members, with the absence of Kelly DeLaat-Maher. Building Manager Karen DeGraw and Property Manager Matt Brown were also in attendance. Approximately a dozen additional Esplanade residents were also on hand.


Treasurer's report:

• Board Treasurer Pat O’Donnell provided the balances in both the operating fund and the reserve fund, plus a few highlights of the spending in the last month. Pat explained that the balances reflect a recently-adopted system for reserving funds each month to pay for the yearly insurance premium.

Committee reports:

• Social Committee:
  Committee chair Sallie Zimmer explained that the results of the recent Social Committee survey are in. More detailed results from the survey will be made available at a later date, but Sallie indicated that survey participants expressed interest in weekend coffee socials, guest speakers, cocktail hours, etc. 

• Safety Committee: 
  Committee chair Pat Pound described several items of note regarding building safety issues:
• As requested by the board, the committee will look into sponsoring emergency training for Esplanade residents, specifically CPR training and/or CERT training. It was noted that such training can require several hours and may cost up to $100 per person (residents would pay for their own certification).
• As requested by the board, the committee did look into acquiring a portable defibrillator for the building. The committee suggested a couple different models, which cost in the neighborhood of $1,500, to be paid out of the safety budget. The board voted unanimously to spend the money for the machine, which will be installed on the first floor near the elevators.
• Pat also made a special note to thank Karen DeGraw for her willingness to work steadily but surely to address the Safety Committee's concerns, item by item, over the last several months.

• Finance Committee:
  Committee Chair Tim O’Donnell raised a few items of note regarding HOA finances:
• Regarding the adoption of an investment policy to guide the investment of the HOA's reserve funds: the board discussed various aspects of the sample policy which was previously provided by the committee. The general consensus was that more work is needed before the policy is officially added to the the building's CC&Rs (see Old Business, below).
• Regarding the committee's ongoing effort to make the monthly HOA financial statements more clear and "user friendly," Property Manager Matt Brown explained that it may not be feasible to produce reports exactly as the committee wants them, but he will continue to work on it. (To this end, HOA members may refer to the monthly financial statements on the documents page of "The Esplanade News," HERE.)
• Tim also pointed out that to avoid a late adoption of next year's budget, the board and the committee should begin work on the 2017 budget soon; board members concurred.

Building Manager's report:
Below are a few of the projects that Building Manager Karen DeGraw is currently working on. This is not a comprehensive list of all she is working on - it is merely a glimpse of a few projects.

• Installation of new security cameras; speed bumps coming 
  Five additional cameras have been installed throughout the building. The new cameras in the upper garage give a higher-resolution picture, making it easier to identify cars which may hit the garage doors. Speed bumps are also planned for the upper garage, to slow down traffic in that area.

• New landscapers on the job
  The new landscaping contractor, Greenleaf, has made noticeable improvements, trimming bushes, clearing weeds and laying mulch. At some point residents can expect to see more flowers incorporated into the landscaping as well.

• Miscellaneous projects
  Karen described several other ongoing projects, such as the installation of carpet in the P1 elevator foyer, and replacement of carpet near the elevators on some floors. Residents should expect to see this work being done in the next several weeks.

Old business:

• Changes to Conditions, Covenants and Restrictions (CC&Rs)
  Board President Debra Goodrich revisited the possibility of drafting changes to the building's Conditions, Covenants and Restrictions (CC&Rs), and then submitting those changes to the HOA membership for approval. Planned changes include the addition of an investment policy for the HOA's reserve funds; adding language allowing enhancement of the building's insurance coverage; changing outdated language regarding the "declarant," or the building's developer; updating language regarding the bathrooms on the building's north side; etc. HOA members will be given plenty of notice before any such changes are put to a vote.

• Policies/fees for use of Community Room and Club Room
• On Tuesday, June 7, the board held an open work-group meeting to draft new policies and fees for the Community Room and Club Room, which was attended by a handful of residents. Ideas under consideration include:
• Only requiring a fee/deposit for events larger than 15-20 people, with no fee/deposit for events open to all residents.
• Developing improved methods for determining how damage and messes occur in those rooms. Possibly creating a checklist of items in the rooms to clean and assess for damage; possibly improving security camera monitoring of the rooms; etc.
• Requiring a reservation for gatherings of a certain size, instead of allowing impromptu use of the rooms.
• Possibly holding a drawing for reservation of the rooms on major holidays (Christmas, Thanksgiving, etc.)
• The board is continuing to work on the language of these changes, and will vote at a future meeting.

New business:

• Hollander request for meeting with residents
  A representative from the Hollander Corporation, which owns the land parcel just south of the Esplanade and also owns the southeast commercial unit on the Esplanade's first floor, has requested a meeting with Esplanade residents. According to the representative, Hollander would like to present the latest information on their commercial developments, and also answer resident questions. The board decided to arrange a meeting, but will ask Hollander not to aggressively campaign for resident support of its various requests to the HOA board. (Requests have been made to use the Esplanade's parking circle, to use the Esplanade's commercial parking garage, to help finance a sound barrier along the railroad tracks, etc.)

Resident questions:

• A few clarifying questions were asked regarding items above.